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Old 10-22-2020, 12:00 PM   #1
pelicano
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Default Are there any good pellet foods these days?

It's been a while since I posted on here!

I feed the Bunny Nature mix to my syrian, because I'm not a big fan of Harry Hamster. He does enjoy a couple of biscuity pellets daily though, so I wondered if there were any good quality all in one feeds these days.

I used to feed the Science Selective one for this purpose, but they changed the formulation of it, and it seemed a lot less popular after that.

Thanks for any info.
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Old 10-22-2020, 01:31 PM   #2
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

Not really. Pelleted diets aren't suitable for hamsters, not just from an ingredient quality perspective but also because the all in one type foods just don't allow them to practice natural foraging behaviors and such that are very important to their overall health and happiness. The decent use of pellets I can think of would be for hamsters who have lost teeth and situations like that, but that's about it!

I would recommend considering a change to Rodipet which is higher quality than the Bunny foods in general.
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Old 10-22-2020, 02:09 PM   #3
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

Thanks for the reply..

Reading my message, I didn't make it clear that I meant just to add a few to my mix, not to replace it.

I have only vaguely looked at Rodipet before now. I seem to remember the shipping was really high, but I could be wrong.
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Old 10-22-2020, 04:05 PM   #4
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

Mixes add more enrichment especially if containing seeds and grains in their husk/shell.

Pellets claim to have everything they need in one pellet but all brands say that. It is worth noting that we don't really know what is 'ideal' for every hamster as things like age, gender, activity levels and species all play a roll so what may be ok for one may be rubbish for another. In all honesty there arent many occasions where pellets are recommended for these two reasons.

Another reason is ingredients. They normally are a tad rubbish. Don't get me wrong they'll eat them but they are kind of like junk food. One last thing to think about is what do they eat in the wild? Seeds, grains/ cereals, nuts, veggies, fruit, plants and flowers, even insects! So benefit from a mix unlike rabbits and guinea pigs who eat grass, plants and veggies, mostly grass (hay) so in those cases pellets are better than muesli as they're really only designed to eat one thing, vegetation. (Please note rabbits and guinea pigs diet should consist of 80% hay available at all times, 10-15% fresh veggies, 5-10% pellets which is roughly 20g a day per adult pig and 25g per kg, per day for rabbits).

In short, there isn't really any benefits to adding pellets in my opinion unless the food youre feeding is rubbish and you don't have access to anything else. By all means if you have an open bag of pellets to use up then mix them but I wouldn't go and buy them specially for this purpose.

Bunny basic/ dwarf are good. Not organic like getzoo and rodipet though.

Ultimately the decision is yours
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Old 10-22-2020, 11:29 PM   #5
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

Science selective has always been the go to one for a bit extra or for to soften for elderly hams & is popular with most, I don’t think there are any others in the uk so it’s a shame they changed the formula, I haven’t used it for years so didn’t realise that, good to know though.
If it’s only going to be one or two pieces for a bit of variety it wouldn’t hurt to use some good quality dog or cat kibble.
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Old 10-23-2020, 02:54 AM   #6
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

Thanks all.

I think I will order some Rodipet senior to try, since Bruno will very soon be in the range for a senior (he's just under a year, as far as I know). It seems a good time to order it, given that, and also all this madness with Brexit trade deals!

Yes, in the past I softened Science Selective for elderly hams too, and it was popular with them. It looks and smells completely different now.
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Old 10-23-2020, 08:28 AM   #7
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

I wouldn't get the senior. Stick with junior foods from Rodipet as they have more appropriate protein levels for hamsters.
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Old 10-23-2020, 12:46 PM   #8
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Default Re: Are there any good pellet foods these days?

It's fine to use your current mix and supplement with the odd science selective pellets - I do that as well - partly as treats to scatter and partly to boost the protein in the existing mix. The new formula is fine I agree the Junior rodipet syrian food is better - our hamster didn't like the senior one - too many herbs. I also found they weren't 100% fussed on it so I mixed it 50/50 with the Bunny Dream food and give a few science selective pellets once or twice a week.
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