Ok. So if she is not very old then soft food isn’t good - just for older hamsters. In fact she really needs hard food and hard chews to keep her teeth from getting too long. In terms of hamster mix, Oxbow, unfortunately is not good at all. It has far too much roughage - more suitable for guides pigs. If you’re in the US? Then a muesli mix like Harry or Hazel hamster would be good as a basic hamster diet - it contains all the vitamins and minerals etc needed, the correct level of protein and is sugar free. The pieces are a good size for Syrians. There are other mixes in the US but I am not familiar with all of them and you can’t really go wrong with Harry or Hazel Hamster. They are both identical in terms of contents (despite the contents being labelled differently) but Hazel is the US labelled version and Harry the Uk labelled version.
Most hamsters will pouch the food from their bowl and hoard it and then snack from their hoards. So you never actually see how much they eat but put fresh food out each day even if they don’t take it all from the bowl. If they leave some in the bowl I tip it up next day then the second day throw anything left and replace with new. For some bizarre reason they will ignore old food left on the bowl and go for the newer fresher food added. Depends on the hamster a bit.
They get very upset if their hoards are messed with. Or if they are cleaned out too much. It causes then stress and then they can have abnormal behaviours. Most people recommend “spot cleaning” mostly and not to do a full cage clean of everything all at once. That causes most stress as it removes all their familiar scent. They scent mark to claim territory but also to help find their way around as they really don’t see well at all!
Spot cleaning is just basically taking out the odd handful of soiled ubstrate and replacing it with a new handful. They are very clean little things and it is only their pee that is smelly or unhygienic. So a litter tray is your friend. You can get plastic corner litter trays that work well and a Syrian will use a litter tray reliably and neatly! IF you put it in the right place. The right place being their chosen place for peeing - that is often a corner of the cage. They have usually grown out of peeing in the nest by the age yours is.
So Chinchilla bathing sand in the litter tray (sand not dust). Then you just empty the litter tray once or twice a week and replace the sand. The rest of the cage stays clean and dry. I go about 3 months or more before needing to change the substrate with a litter tray and spot cleaning (the key is to have enough depth of substrate to start with - the bottom of the cage is then always clean usually). At least 4 to 6” deep.
Then just clean any other items as and when needed but not all at the same time. So wheel one week if needed, any toys etc another week. Their nest and hoard can be left alone for a very long time. Those are the two things they are most precious about and get most upset about. They build really quite large nests sometimes especially in winter. Plain white toilet paper torn into strips is best for that as it’s safe. A big pile of them somewhere in the cage (but not inside the house). They forage for it, pouch it and take it back to the house to build or refurbish their nests. They tend to keep hoards either near or buried under their nests (and snack in bed
).
If nest and hoard are peed on then they will need removing but always try and leave a little bit of clean dry nest or hoard behind. Then add new food in the same place to replace the hoard (or you could get major tantrums). And put new nesting material out.
The reason her teeth got too long is because she was having softened hamster mix! We all make mistakes initially! They need really hard things to chew on to keep their teeth trim as the teeth just keep growing.
Whimzee mini toothbrush chews are usually popular. Also those wood chew sticks with food stuck to them.
If the nest or
And a bit of fresh veg each day - tiny bit. They tend to eat fresh food straight away and only eat tiny amounts. Ours have never hoarded fresh food so it doesn’t go rotten in the hoard usually. They eat a bit and leave what they don’t want. Raw veg better for a younger hamster as it’s harder to chew
. Carrot, broccoli, cucumber are all good. Not lettuce or cabbage.
Re: Hamster having trouble eating! Help!
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