My Mix

[Pinkchi]

Just wanted to check my mix is okay for my hamsters, this is the 'recipe' I followed Hamsters - Mad About Hamsters - Make Your Own Mix! (Or Adding Bits!)

I followed the dwarf mix and used:

1kg Tesco value hamster food
850g Harry Hamster (Thought I bought a 1kg bag but wasn't)
150g Pets at home hamster mix (Just to bring the base mix up to equal weight)
200g Applaws kitten food
200g Porridge oats
100g Budgie seed
100g chopped mixed nuts
75g dried mealworms

Couldn't find any dried veg in our local tesco so bought a few other different bits to chuck in instead: (around 50g of each)
Soup mix (lentils, peas, barley and flakes)
Seed mix (Sunflower Seeds ,Pumpkin Seeds,Sesame Seeds ,Golden Linseeds)
And also some different kinds of bird seed in around 50g amounts for some variety



They pretty much ignore all of the biscuit pieces from the hamster mixes and just eat everything else apart from the alfalfa sticks

As treats they usually get dog biscuits to chew on or an Antos cerea chew in their cage. They also get cooked veg, a small amount of cooked chicken, tuna, and cooked pasta.

I avoid sugary treats/foods (apart from a rare piece of apple or carrot ) as a previous ham of mine had diabetes

[Silver]

I personally would not feed this mix. I know a lot of NHC Exhibitors/breeders have had good results using this mix.

The reason why I would not use it is because you have no way of knowing what % of Protein/Fat/Fibre you ham is eating.

Take Harry Hamster in you mix, Harry hamster has the correct % for hamsters which is Protein 19% Fat 6% Fibre 8%.

Now anything you add to this mix or take away from the mix means the % change. For every 1g of anything you add this makes the Protein/Fat/Fibre% different which does not make it the best mix to be honest.

I took a year & researched myself what seeds/grains/pulses/nuts/egg the hams can eat & had my mix's analysed to make them add up to the correct %.

They are now on sale at Ratrations on line here Hamster Mixtures : ratRations.com I do not get any money from the sale of the mix's so am not telling you to earn money.

I also do not like the grass pellets in Harry Hamster or any commercial mix. The hams do not eat this so miss out on the correct fibre they should have. Plus commercial mix's like Harry Hamster have coloured biscuit bit's. I prefer to feed a much more natural mix with no additives added.

Silver xxx

[Pinkchi]

Thanks for the reply. Yes that does make alot of sense and alot of the mix does go ignored to be honest.

The coloured biscuits to me are unnatural and they don't eat them anyway so whats the point in them being there? Same with the alfalfa sticks...never known any hamster to eat them.

How on earth did you manage to sit and work it all out? Must have taken you ages! The mixes look really good May look at trying some soon, which mix would you recommend for 3 russian dwarfs? (i'm guessing they are probably hybrids)

[indianna]

I have just ordered 2 of Silver's mixes from Ratrations for my dwarfs..

[Silver]

Thank You.

I actually had three Dwarf hams one being a Hybrid from a pet shop & two pure WW's from Sue12.

I needed to pick bits out of the mix like corn & flaked peas because they have a fair amount of natural sugar if you are the size of a dwarf hamster, for my Hybrid because they are diabetes prone

So I then started researching, went to different country's Hamster forums & information. Took me a long time 12 months & I am still learning now.

So I wanted to make a Dwarf ham mix for Diabetes prone hams which Hybrids are, so made two mix's which can be fed to Hybrids. This one Dwarf Hamster - Basic - £1.38 : ratRations.com And this one which is the same without fish & the ingredients tweaked to make the % right Dwarf Hamster - No Freshwater Shrimps - £1.20 : ratRations.com.

Nothing needs to be taken out or added its a complete mix. You can read other peoples thoughts on my mix's after trying them with my mix's in the feedin/nutrican section. If it say's Silvers mix's or Ratration hamster mix's they are the one's lol.

Silver xxx

[Silver]

Originally Posted by indianna

I have just ordered 2 of Silver's mixes from Ratrations for my dwarfs..

Thank You Indianna,

Let us know how your hams get on with them

Silver xxx

[TraceyH]

Silver, is the no shrimp one okay for chinese as I've only been feeding him the basic dwarf up until now?

[Silver]

Hello Tracey,

Yes the no shrimp one is good for Chinese hams as well as the basic dwarf mix.

You can feed either one or equal amounts of both like buy 250g of each one & mix them together.

Silver xxx

[Pinkchi]

Thats great Silver thank-you

They are from a pet shop so I think its safe to say they are probably hybrids? I added photos on my intro thread I made earlier. They are all males, one is black, one is brown with a stripe and the other is a pale colour with a light brown stripe and dark eyes, though Roly the pale one is definately brain damaged as he flips/rolls over and stares into space, but then Ralph (assuming his littermate) also does the staring into space thing...or is that just normal for dwarfs? I don't think any of mine have done it before

Question is what to do with the 3kg of hamster mix I already made? Lol

[souffle]

Personally I see nothing wrong with your mix and we mix similar ourselves and have happy healthy hamsters who live long lives.
Regardless of the nutritional analysis of any mix you cannot know what the hamster actually eats and what it leaves if you feed generously in terms of the protein / fat etc that it actually takes.
Obviously a hamster that is left till it has no store will appear to eat everything as it it has no choice but a hamster that has a choice will naturally regulate it's food to its needs.
Each individual must make their own choice about foods and what suits their own animal. Our mixed up mix seems to suit our hamsters anyway