[racinghamster]

Hi ribeye, welcome to the forum. Could you give some brand names of the hamster foods you can buy locally or online? That way members can identify any issues with them or whether they are, in fact, not too bad as a base food. If your new hamster is to be a dwarf Russian hybrid for example, they shouldn`t be fed fruit or dried banana or any `added` sugars like honey, syrup or molasses added to things.

What your looking for is a hamster mix that has varied grains and nuts. Some have poultry/chicken meal added or dried mealworms. Some are very dull and not very nutritious, so your right to be looking into this now rather than later.

Seeds sold for caged birds can be fed to hamsters, but you need to be careful not to feed parrot food which might have dried fruit added or other thigs that may not be suitable for a hamster with soft pouches.

Canary milliet seed and budgie seed are okay. Canary seed is added to a hamster food here in the UK called Burgess Dwarf mix, so you would be safe with canary seed mix. Millet spray sold for these finches are also enjoyed by dwarf hamsters.

Syrian hamsters don`t much care for tiny seeds, so y won`t really need miller seeds for a Syrian, just a good couple of hamster mixes you could combine and look for safe mixed nuts and add those in. You can crush nuts up smaller too or use them as treats. Monkey nuts (peanuts in shells) or sold loose are a nice addition, as are walnuts, brazil nuts and pumpkin seeds sold naturally.

What species of hamster are you thinking of getting? Look at the caging size and also the wheel size before deciding as Syrians need larger accommodation and wheel. x

Edited to add: Sorry, just noticed you said "bird seed for DWARF hamsters!