Hoarding problems

FurryBabyMama · 02-21-2019, 11:46 AM

My newest Syrian has a hoarding problem. As soon as I fill the bowl up he takes everything and hoards it. But then I think he needs more food because the bowl is empty, so I re-fill it, and then he hoards it. Every time I clean his cage I unearth tons of uneaten food which is obviously costing me a lot of money. My older Syrian has never hoarded like this, he only takes from the bowl what he needs so I know for sure when it is empty that I need to re-fill it.

I have no how idea how much food to give him to reduce the waste from his hoarding. Does anyone have a general guide on how much, and how often, to feed him? If you could tell me in tablespoons that would be great as I'm useless at measuring quantities.

mangoandmimi · 02-21-2019, 11:51 AM

Hoarding is natural for them, I'd say it's stranger for them to just pick what they want out the bowl to be honest! For a syrian it should be approx a table spoon a day. It'll depend on the size/weight but it doesn't matter exactly. It would be better to scatter feed so he has to work for his food, it's much more natural and keeps them occupied that way. Hamsters will keep hoarding no matter how large their food store gets so don't give too much.

FurryBabyMama · 02-21-2019, 11:56 AM

I guess I've just not experienced it before because my older Syrian is a freak hamster :') so I've been making the mistake of giving him way too much thinking he had no food and allowing him to create massive hoards! My bad. Scatter feeding sounds like a good idea.

Pebbles82 · 02-21-2019, 12:48 PM

Both my Syrians have done this

Although current one doesn't pouch absolutely everything. Maybe just put a level tablespoon out each day rather than a rounded one. It might seem like wasted food but it's important for them to have that opportunity to forage each day and feel secure about having a large hoard

I find food tends to last quite a long time so doesn't work out that expensive.

FurryBabyMama · 02-21-2019, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

Both my Syrians have done this

Although current one doesn't pouch absolutely everything. Maybe just put a level tablespoon out each day rather than a rounded one. It might seem like wasted food but it's important for them to have that opportunity to forage each day and feel secure about having a large hoard

I find food tends to last quite a long time so doesn't work out that expensive.

So a tablespoon of food, every day, scatter-fed is correct? If so I've been putting way too much food in so no wonder he doesn't eat most of it haha

Pebbles82 · 02-21-2019, 01:45 PM

I put it in the food dish but sometimes I'll put half in the food dish and scatter the other half. He will hoard the lot ha ha.

Fluffagrams · 02-21-2019, 02:58 PM

Some of my Chinese have been terrible for stashing the entire contents of their food bowls and others have not tended to bother with much of a stash at all so it's just one of those funny little personality quirks that we just have to work our way around.

Charlotte is my worst stasher at the moment and even though she empties her bowl fairly quickly, I don't give her any more until the scheduled feeding days and she tends to eat from that stash. I think in cases like this, it's a case of them wanting to eat where they feel safest and often that can be in their nest or in one of their hides.

Occasionally I've used enrichment feeding with obsessive stashers so would put their portion of food in a small cardboard box (like the kind that tablets come in) and they'd have to work to get the food out... that seemed to slow down one of my really bad stashers a bit.