Does this sound ok for dwarves diet?

Bright_moon · 10-23-2018, 09:32 AM

I haven't got my little ones yet but their arrival is imminent. It is a mum (approx 9 months) and baby (11 weeks).

Does this sound ok for dwarf hamsters diet.... (should the 11 week old be fed the same as her mum? Is she considered adult in her nutritional needs?)

Science Selective Hamster (Suitable for all breeds):

Composition: Ground wheat, ground soya bean meal, ground barley, ground oats, ground dried locust bean husks, whole brown linseed, soya bean oil, hydrolysed yeast. May contain genetically modified soya and traces of nuts.

And perhaps mix with this for variety?....

Rat Rations Dwarf Hamster Basic:

Ingredients

Buckwheat Canary Seed Yellow Biscuit Rye Flakes Soya Flakes Fresh Water Shrimp - SmallGroats Brown Lentils Mealworms Mixed Millet Paddy Rice Peanut Granules Seed Mixture Sunflower Whole Wheat White Dari

Protein 19% Fat 5.9% Fibre 7.8%

And then some fresh veggies.

Does that sound right?

mangoandmimi · 10-23-2018, 09:46 AM

Neither of those are foods I’d personally feed a dwarf - the ratrations for a number of reasons and then the science selective isn’t the best, it’s not necessary to feed a lab block style food with a seed mix. You’d do better with a higher quality seed mix and just supplementing the protein if needed.

Burgess dwarf hamster harvest is ok but does lack variety. Bunny dwarf hamster dream expert is better, the rodipet ones are also good. Probably go for the Bunny mix, it tends to go down well. For a protein supplement you could use shrimp, mealworms or freeze dried chicken. I’d try and feed a bit more protein to the baby but apart from that everything is the same.

Bright_moon · 10-23-2018, 10:06 AM

Thank you for the suggestions.

I found this one, which sounds good:

Bunny Nature Dwarf Hamster Dream BASIC 600 g

Additives
Oat, Barley, La plata millets, Canary seed, Pea flakes, Corn, Oat seed, Barley (flaked), extraction meal of sunflower seeds, Silver millet, Rice, Wheat, Lucerne, Carrot, Poultry meat, Grass seed, Parsnip, Dandelion herb, Yarrow herb, Ribwort plantain, Malt spent grains, Sesame, Camomile petals, Flaxseeds, Carrot pulp, Brewer's yeast, Herring meal, Inulin, Marigold flowers, Mealworm, Poultry liver extract, Dried whole egg, Carob, Salmon oil, Linseed oil, Lecithin, Rose blossoms.

Although I see you suggested 'dream expert' and that one appears to be Basic so I'll have another search. xx

mangoandmimi · 10-23-2018, 10:19 AM

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small...SABEgIfkvD_BwE

Ive not used the basic one in years so not sure what it’s like now, but I think the expert one is a bit better.

Bright_moon · 10-23-2018, 10:25 AM

Thank you for the link.

I see there is one bad review of it but it makes me wonder if the person suddenly swapped to it without doing gradual introduction and that's maybe why their hams didn't touch it.

mangoandmimi · 10-23-2018, 10:29 AM

I wouldn’t worry too much about one negative review, there will nearly always be at least a few things in a mix that don’t go down well but it really does depend on the individual. This mix has a good variety of ingredients so it should be fine. It does partially depend on what the previous mix that was fed was too. For example I’ve switched mixes after a year or so of feeding another before, and in a couple of cases the change wasn’t at all appreciated.

Bright_moon · 10-23-2018, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mangoandmimi

I wouldn’t worry too much about one negative review, there will nearly always be at least a few things in a mix that don’t go down well but it really does depend on the individual. This mix has a good variety of ingredients so it should be fine.

I agree, it sounds like a good mix. I'm not sure what they're currently being fed, I'll check with the rescue centre.

For the baby's extra protein, is that plant protein or animal protein or both? x

mangoandmimi · 10-23-2018, 10:43 AM

The extra protein can be either. For a baby you might want 20% protein - some people feed even more. If you make your mix around 18% protein and then supplement the baby’s diet it should be okay I would’ve thought. Dried mealworms, crickets, chicken, egg, tofu, the odd nut etc. The dried options have more protein in them though.

Bright_moon · 10-23-2018, 10:59 AM

Those are some great ideas, thank you.

xx

I see the Bunny Dream Expert food is listed as 15.5% protein, so should I add extra protein from your suggested list to make it nearer to 18% for Mum and then a little extra on top of that to reach 20% for baby?

mangoandmimi · 10-23-2018, 12:24 PM

Yes that’s the idea. If you’re ordering off zooplus probably get 2 bags of Bunny food and you could get Thrive freeze dried chicken while you’re at it. You might need to buy 2 tubes of that.

A bit tricky calculating how much extra to add but some people do mix their food this way, keeping animal protein separate. Anyway I’m not quite sure of the best way to do this but to be honest you’re only really looking an extra mealworm or 2 most days. That is a (very) rough estimate though as I’m not sure how long it takes 2 hamsters to finish that much food.