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Old 10-01-2020, 02:56 AM   #1
projecthammy
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
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Default Hamster food label help!

Hello! I will soon own my very first hamster, a winter white dwarf. And since I am a complete newbie in hamster care, I am wracking my brain trying to understand how hamster diets work.

My question is simple. Let’s say a hamster food mix meets the requirements of a 17-19% protein (it says “crude protein ≥19%” on the label), so does it mean I don’t have to add any more protein sources (such as animal protein) to my hammy’s diet? Is that how it works or am I understanding it wrongly?

Sincerely, a genuine hamster noob.
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Old 10-06-2020, 03:27 AM   #2
MaryRobinson
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Default Re: Hamster food label help!

Quote:
Originally Posted by projecthammy View Post
Hello! I will soon own my very first hamster, a winter white dwarf. And since I am a complete newbie in hamster care, I am wracking my brain trying to understand how hamster diets work.

My question is simple. Let’s say a hamster food mix meets the requirements of a 17-19% protein (it says “crude protein ≥19%” on the label), so does it mean I don’t have to add any more protein sources (such as animal protein) to my hammy’s diet? Is that how it works or am I understanding it wrongly?

Sincerely, a genuine hamster noob.
Hi! OK: so I'm not an expert on Winter Whites, but I would say that relying on a commercial hamster mix to supply complete nutrition for any animal isn't a good idea. Younger animals and older ones differ in the amount of protein needed, and many of them will be fussy about their mix and leave certain parts of it anyway. Someone who knows winter whites better might be able to be more specific (I've only ever known Syrians) but I personally believe a varied diet is much better than relying on a dry mix to tick all the boxes. For examples, Percy is a baby and has Rodipet Junior Teddyhamster mix, which he loves, but supplemented with boiled egg white, crickets, shrimp biscuits etc on occasion as he's growing, plus all the usual extras (porridge, couscous, veggies, pasta, etc). Variety is the spice of life!
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Old 10-06-2020, 03:40 AM   #3
cypher
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Default Re: Hamster food label help!

Hi & welcome to the forum.
Basically if the food says that then you don’t need to add more protein but it does depend on the quality of the food & the protein in it, don’t want to confuse you more though, an you tell us which mix you’re using.
Hams are omnivores so it is important that they have some animal protein.
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Old 10-06-2020, 02:24 PM   #4
Engel
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Default Re: Hamster food label help!

crude protein and crude fat are terms that can cause confusion with a lot of people. “crude” refers to the amount of protein in foods that is calculated from the determined nitrogen content. Both meat and plant products contain nitrogen but unfortunately this lab test also includes types of nitrogen which have no value, like urea. So unfortunately it isn't a true representation of how much protein, fat or fibre that's present within the food. Hopefully that makes sense, I'm not great at explaining things.
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