[Emma]

It's hit home today that Merry may be a teensy bit overweight! Apart from being 1/3 heavier than his brother, he looks podgy. He has the same diet as Pip, but is a porker!



At the moment he has Harry Hamster, about 1/2 tbsp per day which he never gets through, with about 1/2 tsp of Trill every few days (that always goes first!!). He also has a small piece of fresh fruit/veg every few days, usually has a dog biscuit on the go, and occasional other treats like peanuts in shells or banana chips.



Exercise-wise he runs in his wheel a lot, but doesn't like to use his exercise ball, and isn't very active when I give him playtime in the bath. He's not a very handleable hamster, never really settled to it like his brother, so I don't like to handle him needlessly so as not to stress him.



I'm going away for a week leaving him with my housemates, but when I get back, I think it might be diet time.....what do others think, should I try and lose a few g off him?



My idea was to make up my own diet mix for him, based on cereals, dried vegetables and dog kibble for protein, absolutely no nuts or seeds to get the fat content down. He could have fresh vegetables and fresh/dried fruit as well. My aim would be to base the diet around complex carbs/fibre, make sure he gets sufficient protein, vits & minerals, and keep the fat and simple carbs down to a minimum.



I'd have to work out nutritional values of things to get proportions.....from an article I've read on lab hamster nutrition (reviewing various studies) I have the following values for a hamster diet:



Protein 14% (maintenence)

Fibre 12-20%

Fat <5% (maybe even lower on a slimming plan??)

Carbohydrate 65%



Calcium 6g/kg, Phosphorus 3.5g/kg, Ca:P ration 2:1

Selenium 0.15mg/kg (maintenence)

Iodine 0.15mg/kg

Molybdenum 0.1mg/kg

Iron >10mg/kg?? (mild deficiency at this level, so more)

Vit A 1.1 mg/kg

Vit E 42 µmol/kg

Biotin 0.2 mg/kg (supplied by coprophagy)

Choline 1.8 g/kg

Folate 2mg/kg

Pantothenic acid 10 mg/kg



I'd concentrate on getting the basic balance right and that the major nutrients were right.



Does anyone have any other ideas, or think that this is a good/bad idea? Or ideas on what ingredients I could use in this diet?