Blacky's Thread - The Black Spanish Syrian Hamster

[cypher]

I agree that all pellets is boring for them & doesn't encourage natural behaviour but you could try adding some science selective to the bits of the HH he actually eats, I can't remember exactly what's in HH now tbh but I guess that way he would get some seeds & natural feeding.
If it is only the green pellets he's refusing to eat & he obviously enjoys his veg it's probably nothing much to worry about.

[BorisPasha]

Hahaha Blacky is so adorable peeking out from your dressing gown to nibble the bit cheese :P He looks nice and cosy, I love him

Do you cook the vegetables you've defrosted before you give them to Blacky? I didn't know if they needed to be cooked after defrosting or not so had been worried about giving them defrosted veg..

[SKB_Hamsters]

Originally Posted by Hamsterita

SKB So, is it not so bad that he leaves the alfalfa bites? I've never feed him mealworms, I thought about it but they give me the creeps, and after trying the gammarus with 0 success and seeing that they aren't very popular among syrians I'm going to pass. I hope Blacky can forgive me, I promise I'll try to find other tasty treats hehe.

I wouldn't be worried about Blacky not eating the alfalfa pellets - although they are a source of fibre their are other ways to supplement fibre in Blacky's diet including fresh veg and seeds this will ensure he is getting enough beneficial fibre - pumpkin seeds are a good source of fibre which hamsters enjoy eating.

[Hamsterita]

Amity, Cypher and SKB, thank you for your advice. Then, if he continues only leaving the alfalfa bits, I'll supplement the HH with vegs as I'm doing right now, and If I can get the science selective I'll mix it with the HH, because I really want him to have seeds and other stuff to eat.

He loves pumpkin seeds, but I don't give him a lot of them because I thought that they were fatty seeds.


Boris I usually microwave them, they are so tiny that with a minute or two on the defrosted mode they are done. They look like roasted vegs. The first time I burnt them (the peel was black and burnt) but it's easy to get the time right. Sometimes I also boil them. I put a tiny amount of water in a mug and I boil the water without anything on the mug, then I put the veg on the boiling water and I microwave it for another minute or so, they are so tiny that I think that that's enough. At least that's how I prepare now his chicken and it's well done. At the beginning I boiled his chicken on a casserole but it was a waste of electricity an water, and this way it's cooked anyway and I think that it's easier. If it's enough for the chicken, should be good enough for the vegs.

I do that because I don't want him to have cold things on winter, but maybe in the early days I give him some just defrosted with hot water, I don't know.

I've never thought about the dangers of defrosted food til I read your post to be honest. I must confess that I'm a little bit careless with it, because I also eat some defrosted things without cooking them first, and nothing ever happened to me (I don't know if you know about Gazpacho, for example, or a frosted cake). I suppose that it's always better to cook them a little bit first, but as long as you don't freeze them twice I think that it would be ok and it wouldn't be so bad.

[Thin Lizzy]

I want to say how much I laughed at the video of Blacky eating his monkey nut, I so love hearing that munching sound and seeing the concentration in his face made me go Aww!

[Hamsterita]

CHAPTER NINE- THE PEANUT TEST.

I think that Lizzy is talking about this video

I think that Blacky's teeth are too long, but he's eating normal, so I'm not very concerned. On Charlie's thread Serendipity suggested me to try the peanut test. She told me that in theory, If they can grab a peanut in the shell with their teeth, their teeth are fine. So, I tried it with Blacky.

I don't know If we did it right, because he didn't actually grabbed the peanut between his teeth. He just destroyed it. Maybe on the 9th second he's doing it right, I don't know. In the middle of the procedure I tried to make him bite it straight but he was too focused on getting the peanuts out of the shell, so I didn't want to tease him more. Anyway he doesn't look in pain or with any complications to pulverize it, so I think that his teeth are fine for now.

At the beginning of the video I'm explaining him that we're going to do the mentioned test. Then I try to correct the angle of the peanut, as I said above. I make a couple of complaints about the mess that he's doing over my bed, and I laugh because even If I don't know If he's doing the test right or not he's passing it with high grades. I copy his sounds, and I congratulate him for getting his desired peanut. I ask him if is it yummy and that kind of things. And then he gets spooked. Firstly I laugh because he's always so easily startled and he's a silly boy, but later on I'm concerned because he seems really scared and I stop the video.

Poor thing. He's afraid of his own shadow. At the beginning I didn't hear anything and then I may have heard my neighbours murmuring, but it was almost inaudible. He is more confident than when I got him, but I think that he's always going to be an easily spooked hamster.

Later, something really strange happened. He doesn't like to be touched, or handled. He usually runs away from hands. He doesn't have problems climbing me and that kind of things but on his own terms. Sometimes I try to poke him to see if a miracle happens and he wants a cuddle or something, but he doesn't he moves away and I let him be. He had to be really scared because he tried to hide between my chest and my arm, and I tried to touch him and he let me, and I tried to cuddle him and he let me cuddle him for about 10 mins till he calmed down and he went to freely explore again. I'm feeling a little bit guilty because I took advantage of the situation... like a guy that takes advantage of a drunk girl but I have to confess that it was awesome.

Here's the video. I think that he almost fall sleep several times

[cypher]

He did a great job of destroying that peanut! It doesn't look as though he's having trouble with his teeth going by that.

That second video is so sweet, I don't think you should be feeling guilty or that you took advantage, well maybe you did lol! but why not, he looks as though he's finding it comforting.

[SKB_Hamsters]

Looks like Blacky enjoyed destroying the monkey nut. From the video I think his teeth are fine as he wouldn't be able to grab the nut if his teeth were too long. Blacky did look startled by something in the end of the first video - Pumpkin is similar when she hear the slightest noise and she freezes and stares toward where the noise came from.
I don't think you took advantage of Blacky in this situation as he obviously felt comforted by you and this probably helped him to relax.

[Coco61]

The swift and total destruction of that shell tells me that Blackie's teeth are just fine. Also he went on to start eating a peanut before pouching it. Excellent exercise for his teeth!
Loved the video because Mocho will pouch the monkey nut whole and disappear with it into his nest. I have never seen him destroy one like Blackie.

[BorisPasha]

Wow Blacky that poor monkey nut, completely destroyed

I don't think you took advantage Hamsterita, he obviously felt safe with you to sit there and be cuddled, if not he would have jumped away :P