Dorothea's Thread

[fredso]

Thank you everyone! I've been able to lift her up a few inches off the floor of her cage, but then it get too scary, so she jumps back down. Eventually we'll get there!

Here's her after a well fought (well, quite easy) battle against a toilet roll ball. She won the grand prize which consisted of a small piece of cucumber, which she didn't seem to like that much.

[mangoandmimi]

Sounds like you’re making progress, she’ll get there eventually!

Just noticed she has a bowl of pellets, I would definitely recommend looking into replacing it with a seed mix whenever you can, hamsters need a good variety in their diet which pellets just don’t offer.

[fredso]

Oh, I was told that my Versele-Laga Complete Hamster & Gerbil would cover all her nutritional needs
I do however give her a seed mix as well, which she prefers. She always leaves the pellets behind, so I tried with only pellets yesterday, but if it's not good for her I'll definitely stop.

[mangoandmimi]

There is much more to a hamsters diet than just looking at the % of protein, fat, fibre etc though. The seed mix you use needs to be high quality with a lot of variety too and should form the bulk of their diet (alongside dried plants/herbs, regular fresh veg & any extras) There is no need for pellets either in most cases, hamsters don’t tend to like them anyway as a large part of a hamster’s life is spent foraging & eating individual seeds.

There should be good food options if you are in Sweden except the postage is likely expensive. Don’t know what is available in your pet shops unfortunately but buying online, it’s best to get a couple bags at once to save money. Except if your hamster has not tried a particular mix before it can be tricky, some can be quite fussy! I’ve heard most positive feedback about the getzoo Syrian food and also the mixerama Syrian mixes if they deliver to you. The ‘Bunny’ mix you should be able to get off zooplus should work too, as should the rodipet ones. Those places also sell hamster items so it would be a good time to stock up on any extras for the cage.

[fredso]

Okay, thank you I will look into in first thing in the morning! Or, well, afternoon as I'm just about to go to bed.

[cypher]

I was going to say the same about the food, delivery is expensive with both Getzoo & Mixerama but they do some good foods so it may be worth it, if you buy a few bags & keep them in the freezer it's not so bad in the long run, it's a good idea to freeze food for at least a week before using as well.

[fredso]

Is there a specific blend from Mixerama that you would recommend? My German is slightly out of date

[mangoandmimi]

These are the Syrian foods, you can google translate the page which helps a bit. Couldn't really say which would be best as my syrian diet knowledge is rather lacking so hopefully someone can be of more help.

https://www.mixerama.de/fertigmischu...oldrausch?c=46

https://www.mixerama.de/fertigmischu...ter-extra?c=46

This one is for long haired hams (I think) which would potentially suit yours better, can't say I know how much difference it makes.
https://www.mixerama.de/fertigmischu...-mischung?c=46

You can get them with or without animal protein but it's easier to just get it with, providing your ham will eat them!

[cypher]

Syrian mixes aren't my strong point either but I'd agree that any of those mixes mangoandmimi linked to would be fine, I think either of the second two might be best.

ETA forgot to add that if you change the food then you do need to do it gradually over a week or two to give her body a chance to adjust, begin by adding just a little of the new to the old food gradually increasing the new & decreasing the old, even if she really likes the new food don't do it too quickly.

[fredso]

Thank you, everyone!
I found a sugar free mix at the local pet store. I figured it would be best to give her that before the real stuff gets here from Germany?