Aw, congratulations on your newbie hybrid.
I have an adoptee from Pets At Home and he`s a great little guy, although he does hide a lot! But he`s a contented little man.
You don`t really need shop-bought treats for hybrids as many (unless they are those natural ranges) can have added syrup/honey/molasses or fruit coatings, so you want to avoid those.
The Burgess Supahamster is what I feed (not the dwarf version) but two things to mention. The `dwarf` version is made for dwarf hamsters and it contains the smaller millet seeds they like, so it`s a nice choice in that respect. So you could buy a bag of this and a bag of the normal Supahamster and mix them together.
Best of both. Feed a level tablespoonful daily but watch for her hoarding! Scatter some around in a cardboard egg box for her to play in and find the seeds.
The ordinary Burgess Supahamster is arguably a better mix because it has more variety like flaked grains, pumpkin seeds and poultry meal biscuits. The dwarf version doesn`t have these which is odd. However, the Supahamster does have dried banana pieces in it, but these can easily be seen and removed and kept in a small container. I snip a little piece off and do give my hybrid a small piece of the dry banana as a treat only. What you need to remember is, a small amount of `natural` sugars won`t do any harm. It`s the chocco drops, the yoghurt drops, seed bars and `flavoured treats` they sell as such that you need to avoid. In my view they are a waste of money anyway.
You hamster will enjoy the following too and all are natural, so don`t worry about natural sugars.
One garden pea
One nibblet of sweetcorn
A little fingernail piece of broccoli
Green bean
Small piece of plain lettuce (not iceberg)
Carrot
Cucumber
and a number of other things. A little piece of fresh apple is also enjoyed.
A wheel should be upright as these are more natural for a hamster. The new silent spinners are said not to be as good as the old versions, but suppose if you saw one in a shop you could give it a spin and see what it`s like. The Karlie Wonderland wheels are very good and quiet, but they do require a few coats of Plastikote paint (water based) to make them cleanable. Then you have the Trixie wheels and the Wodent wheels etc...
Home-made toys like cardboard egg boxes, toilet roll tubes, a shoe box or a long tissue box up-turned with no floor in it so she can dog down and make a nice nest in there. Give her ripped up piles of plain cheap white toilet paper to nest with. White toilet paper is good because you can spot any stains or blood on it easily.
Hope this helps.
Just allow her to settle in and do her own thing. They like making a mess and talk to her while she`s rummaging around, but handling, unless she`s okay with it, should be kept low down, inside the cage base and little and often. Never use a hamster ball either as they are not necessary. Small handling sessions and letting her come to you are the best approaches. x
New hamster!
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