Fussy Hamster?

xXHazelnutXx · 01-12-2011, 01:50 PM

Hiya everyone, well I've had my oldest hamster fatty (russian dwarf) for around 6months now and I've noticed hes become very fussy about what he eats. I feed him pets at home hamster museli, because it seems to have the most variety, but for quite a long time now he only eat the sunflower seeds, banana chips and the odd peanut and kicks the rest out of his bowl. Hes totally in love with broccoli though so i feed him that quite alot because hes seems to get cranky or reealy hungry when I tried to leave him without it, in hope he would eat his normal food.
So at the moment he eats: handed picked peanuts banana chips, and sunflower seeds. carrot, broccoli, and a little toast now and then.
I still give him a full bowl of normal food a week (dont change it everyday tho cos he hardly touches it) and leave all his other food in another bowl.
Sorry know it very long, but I was wondering if any other people have had the same fussyness and how i could maybe help with it, because i feel like he might not be getting enough food, even if he is kinda fat XD
this is him, my pretty little menace XD:

KatiePillow · 01-12-2011, 02:05 PM

You shouldn't feed him the banana bits really, they're really high in sugar and dwarves are prone to diabetes, when I had my hams on that food I picked them out.. I don't know what to suggest to make him less fussy though, but hamsters, like humans, can become spoilt, and it sounds like he is

anorak · 01-12-2011, 03:18 PM

Hey, I have the same food as you, pets@home. I pick the banana bits out, and also limit Noodles (winter white dwarf) to 1 sun flower seed every other day, the same with peanuts as they are really fatty. Noodles also loves broccoli and chicken which I feed her every other day and only a very small amount (less than my finger nail). I change the food every two days and also hide some of the food. She will eat it if she is hungry. Today all she has got is her pets@home food and nothing else (she had some chicken this morning when I woke up for work at half 7am and she was begging!).

Noodles was starting to be a bit of a diva until I just left the food in the bowl and she ate it anyway! Good luck!

P.S: cute little chubster, looks at lot like Noodles, I bet she would like him! Hehe!

Rach210 · 01-12-2011, 03:31 PM

Tough love time by the sounds of it - I'd fill the bowl and leave it a few days or sooner if its empty. No handpicked bits. He'll eat it if he's hungry.

I know it sounds harsh but he'll have plenty of food so he won't go hungry and you're actually doing the best thing for him if you stop handpicking all the sugary fatty bits for him. He's like a child throwing a tantrum because they want macdonalds not a healthy homemade dinner lol.

xXHazelnutXx · 01-13-2011, 12:15 AM

I already tried leaving him with just that food, and he got really cranky and frantic, left him for 2 days with just his normal food and on the second day i took him out and he tried to savage me, and I let him run around on the couch like normal but all he wanted to do was jump off or bite me, he got really stressed, only thing that calmed him down was some borccoli :S
I mean cant be THAT unhealthy my other two hamsters eat sunflower seeds and noodle (chinese) is still skinny and my syrian isnt fat at all.
I'm gunna cut out the banana chips tho, because they do seem very sugary
I dont mind him being fussy i was just wondering if anyone else had seen this, to make sure it wasnt a medical problem or something.
Thanks everyone x

anorak · 01-13-2011, 05:18 AM

Some hamsters are just like people. I mean, would you really want an apple when there is a massive bit of cheese cake looking at you? I just limit the sugary bits and Noodles does not seem to miss this at all. To be honest she prefers chicken and broccoli anyway and she really seems to like the flakes in the pets@home food. Give him time, he will come round. Don't cut the peanuts out or sunflower seeds completly, they do need some ammount of fat in their diets, just like we do!

Iluvhamsters · 01-13-2011, 05:23 AM

There is nothing wrong with any of your hamsters eating sunflower seeds and peanuts as long as that is not all they are eating, they are very high in fat so it would be just like you eating nothing but cheese all the time. Have you tried taking away the sunflower seeds and peanuts and leaving him with the rest of the food for a couple of days? Or have you tried a different brand of food? It is possible that Fatty just doesn't like the mix. My hamster, Treacle, was on the Pets at Home museli when I got her but I wanted to change her over to Harry Hamster, about half way through changing her over, she started turning her nose up at the P@H mix

st4r_grl · 01-13-2011, 10:41 AM

You could try a pellet mix food so there would be no favourite bits to pick out and he would get the nutrients he needs. It does sound like he knows his mind so he may just turn his nose up at it as well though, but perhaps worth a try?

**Hope** · 01-14-2011, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xXHazelnutXx

I already tried leaving him with just that food, and he got really cranky and frantic, left him for 2 days with just his normal food and on the second day i took him out and he tried to savage me, and I let him run around on the couch like normal but all he wanted to do was jump off or bite me, he got really stressed, only thing that calmed him down was some borccoli :S
I mean cant be THAT unhealthy my other two hamsters eat sunflower seeds and noodle (chinese) is still skinny and my syrian isnt fat at all.
I'm gunna cut out the banana chips tho, because they do seem very sugary
I dont mind him being fussy i was just wondering if anyone else had seen this, to make sure it wasnt a medical problem or something.
Thanks everyone x

Its not really about him being unhealthy, but making sure that he is getting all the nutrients that he needs. Hamster mixes are nutritionally balanced so that they are gtting the right ammounts of what they need. You could try mixing the p@h mix with another mix such as harry hamster or even a lab bloack mix like stargirl suggested. There is no reson why he cant continue to have his little treats of boccoli!

fluffymunchkins · 01-14-2011, 03:18 PM

I have a 10 month old russian hybrid dwarf who seems to have developed a similar problem.
hes fed on harry hamster with lots of extra seeds, oats, lentils etc. But for the past month i have noticed hes leaving A LOT of it, although loves all his veggies and treats.

I'd reccommend mixing in a different brand, hopefully maybe all he needs is a change. Bu equally you could try mizing in a pellet brand (science selective) as i find mine eat that very well.

I would also weigh him regularly to make sure hes not loosing of gaining a lot of weight and ensuring it is not an underlying medical problem.