Quote:
Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams
I would also have serious doubts about adding nori to a hamster diet. It isn't something they would naturally eat and as such they may not be able to digest it very well if at all, and it may cause serious harm to add such foods that could throw off the mineral balance(as well as add unnecessary sodium even if naturally occurring).
When Rodipet is so easy to get in the UK and a large enough portion of Europe I can't really justify trying to mix your own diet for hamsters. Rodipet is biologically appropriate and extremely high quality. Rodipet is a completely whole food based diet, no synthetic additives at all(even the vitamins and minerals are ones naturally in the foods themselves). This style diet plan however is not only incredibly risky due to the potential for major imbalances but also it just isn't anywhere near as healthy as Rodipet due to the likelihood of very high amounts of highly processed foods.
As an extra side note, it's important to keep in mind that processed grains really aren't as healthy as high quality whole grains. The vitamins and minerals added to many processed grains are not always identical to the naturally occurring ones, nor do they even replace the full amount that is actually lost due to refining.
There are sometimes very specific processed grains which aren't too bad for treats. These aren't necessarily that good for an actual main diet ingredient, however, the processed grains actually appropriate in certain situations as a treat/treat mix ingredient would be those that don't have any additives at all(not even natural ones).
If you really wanted to make something nice for your hamsters, you could potentially try making a treat mix. For maximum nutritional benefits stick with minimally processed whole foods when possible or as mentioned certain processed grains if you really must for texture variance(again, ones with no additives of any kind) and as many safe and species appropriate ingredients not found in the main diet for nutritional variety and enrichment as possible.
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I thought nori as it's high protein. Hamsters actually need more protein than rats hence why I mentioned it. (Adult rats need roughly 12-14% protein although in some circumstances it could be as low as 5%! ) I totally understand where you're coming from.
I completely forgot about rodipet *facepalm*.
I know there's also getzoo. One I have heard mentioned is bunny dwarf hamster dream? Has anyone got an opinion on that? I'm doing a zooplus order soon and I notice they sell it on there so thought I'd ask.
With rats the use of processed grains is to get the vitamins that may be difficult to get elsewhere. As they've adapted to live wherever humans are we are able to do this.