Picky, Picky Food Habits

[amnerisryn]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else have a epicurial hamster? Tinklepaugh will literally sort through his food (it's a mix of Nutriphase hamters/gerbil formula and fresh veggies/fruit (mainly carrots, grapes, peaches, banana and the other good stuff listed on petwebsite.com) and from the dry mix eat only the sunflower seeds, dried peas, and a little dried corn. With fresh foods, he'll take a nibble and put it in his cheek pouch and spit it out later (into his ordained potty area) and not eat it which means Mommy has to go and clean it out lest it begin to mold.



On the other hand Tinky loves his dog biscuits and walnuts which he will hide and guard most ferociously (or ferdociously if you're my niece) from Mommy and her betta. :P

[hammydude]

Biscuits ALWAYS sorts through his food, I think it's his favorite time of day when he gets it. :? Fist his takes out all of the sunflower seeds and corn, stores it in his cheek pouches and goes to his nesting area and unloads it. Once he eats all of them he eats all of the grains and other little stuff. Then if he manages to eat all of that(which he usually does-he's getting big!), he actually eats those little alfalfa pellets (or they may just be reg. peleted food?). When he gets his treat he eats it immediatly.

[Coco1]

Yea, same here. Sunflowers, corn and the dried peas first, then some flat little things (I feed forti diet from Kaytee) The little pellet things are left till last along with the small bird seed looking stuff (millet I think?). Fresh foods every other day are eaten then and there and any left over will be taken into his house. I give him dried fresh food every other day (inbetween the veggie days) such as the nut chippings, dried banana, yogurt covered soy nuts etc. just one or two tiny bits. He gets a good variety without overdoing it on any one thing at any one time. He also has a carrot / alfalfa block which he chews on anytime he wants (which was funny trying to watch him drag that into his house!) I leave that in his house when I do clean outs. Occasionaly I'll give him the seed bars, with the honey or whatever - LOVES those, one will last a whole week but he does'nt get them every week either! He also loves the dog biscuits, one of his favorites. Other than that he has a lilttle pinch of Alfalfa hay which he will munch on when the mood suits him :D

I was thinking of trying the kaytee "fiesta" diet... does anyone have any thoughts on this product?

[babyboos]

Kaytee Exact Rainbow Hamster Food or the Forti-Diet you have been using require less sorting by us (humans) - the Fiesta will need a lot of the "treats" removed as there are far too many high fat/carbohydrate (sugar) items in it to be used as a regular staple diet as it comes from the packet. Don't worry about your little one being bored by its diet as this suits their delicate digestive system, and treats, used sparingly please, help to liven things up more than adequately!

A bag of Fiesta could probably provide your treats for about 6 months!

A high protein content is far more important than fancy seeds and dried fruits - try for at least 12% but preferably over 15% if you can.

[Coco1]

Good to know Babyboos, from what I saw of it it did seem like it had lots of different colorfull treat looking bits in it! I like the Forti diet nibbles is on right now and will probably just stick with it. I changed over from one food they had him on before I bought him because it had loads of sunflowers in it. The forti diet had less. (I think each individual packet varies too, some have more than others within the same brand).

Protein - Nibbles LOVES protein! I'm probably going to get some lab block type food also just so he may get some nutrients he may be missing due to sifting through all the good stuff!

[babyboos]

Lab blocks are certainly more readily available in US than here. I have been trialling Pascoe' Hamster Food (http://www.pascoes.co.uk/hamster.php) recently. I use Harry Hamster primarily for my diabetic hamsters being a Burgess (No Pellets) fan for many years and can happily say my diabetics are fine with the Pascoe's. I got it from a local dog and cat food organic supplier. Pet Organic (http://www.petorganic.com/index.htm) do the same range though from their website. It was £1.99 a kilo from them last time I looked. It has a 17% Protein content, the same as Harry Hamster, so I probably won't be switching to it full time (due to the extra cost sadly) but am always on the lookout for more healthy food mixes for my furballs. Incidently it has Profeed in it so is good for their digestive systems just like Harry (Hazel for those in USA).

I used lab blocks and my own mix way back in the days when I was able to get blocks via the university but rules changed and we were no longer allowed to take food home, which I totally understand from a budgetary/finance point of view, but ultimately if I had the choice I would use blocks again.

[elly]

This sounds alot like my ham Maria, and my old ham Hammy who passed away recently. Hammy would only eat chunky bits, like sunflower seeds and corn and some pellets and the chunky bits babyboos referred to like whats in the fiesta mix. I gave Hammy and Maria Kaytee hamster/gerbil forti diet because it had the chunky bits, but it also had itty bitty seeds that neither of them ever touched. After Hammy passed, I decided it might be beneficial to try out a new food for Maria, since I noticed she rarely tried the chunky bits and ate mainly the seeds nuts and corn, but once again, she didnt touch the itty bitty seeds, Maria has been trying Brown's Natural Hamster Food for the last two days or so, and hasnt seemed to make much of a difference, but its less of a waste in my honest opinion, it has more seeds and corn and pellets versus the chunky bits kaytee forti died had.

[Pompompoms]

Again, this thread is seven and a half years old, please try to check the dates before replying , or focus on the threads on the first pages of the sections you are in, as they are the most relevant.