[racinghamster]

Hi wingading. Chinese (like Russian hybrids and Campbells hamsters) can be prone to the condition, but if you start off with a hamster mix that has no added sugar (like Burgess Supahamster or Zooplus JR Farm dwarf food) and never feed any sugary foods like yoghurt drops, pet shop treat bars and such, you should not have a problem.

I try never to worry about what I feed my hamster (currently a hybrid Russian dwarf) but I restrict all the above mentioned and only feed small amounts of natural sugars that are found in things like fresh garden peas, dry banana (usually found in some hamster mixes anyway).

genetics can play a role in all this, but it`s not something I would worry about. Some hamsters will develop diabetes just because they are prone to it regardless of what they are fed, while others won`t. It`s just luck really.

Hamsters live an average life of around two years, but Chinese hamsters can be the longest lived and go for three years or more, but those are exceptions.

If you buy a young Chinese say from Pets At Home, I wouldn`t feed their own brand food as it has sugars added, unless the recipe has changed since I last looked.

Your best diet options would be Burgess Supahamster, Burgess Dwarf hamster food, JR Farm Dwarf food (only sold on the Zooplus website) or look around for mixes that you can combine.

Chinese hamsters love variety, just as all hamsters do, so things like Canary seed (sold for caged birds) and millet spray are loved. Pumpkin seeds, black sunflower seeds, mixed nuts, all sold in supermarkets/healthfood shops etc...

So plan ahead and you won`t go far wrong. x