Please advice me about food

[Dotty]

Please can you tell me a what a balanced diet consists of for a 10 week old Syrian hamster. I have been giving him Harry Hamster food because I read some reviews and they said this was one of the better ones. He doesn't eat the fruit or veg I provide only nibbles around the outside of cucumber to eat the skin. What else should I give him? What protein etc,
Thanks

[souffle]

What you are feeding sounds just fine Other additions for a youngster but only one a day and in tiny finger nail sized bits would be cooked pasta, plain cooked chicken, boiled egg, tofu, cooked rice, porridge and any suitable fruit or veg as you are giving. A little nibble provides him with fresh vitamins and fibre.

[Dotty]

Thanks Souffle. I just keep reading about meal worms, yuck, when do they eat those or is it not necessary? And baby food??

[souffle]

You can give one or two meal worms or buy some dried ones however the chicken or egg would provide good enough animal protein. They don't need a lot of this as in the wild they would get the odd grub but the main diet is plant based material.

[Dotty]

Thanks Souffle, I will try egg today and some chicken at the weekend.

[Hamsterz4Life]

My hamsters all love Eggs and a bit of chicken! Maybe you could try him on a couple of dried mealworms - they are packed with protein. xx

[Dotty]

Thanks, where do you get meal worms from?

[Hamsterz4Life]

Well they have to be dried as the jaws on the live ones can hurt the pouches of hamsters. Mealworms can be quite costly if you go to a garden center, the best place to go is to B&M. I know loads of people(including myself) that use these:
B&M Stores: > Dried Mealworms 100g - 273837

You get loads of mealworms in these bags for just £1.50, alot more than in the tubs you get for like £2.50 - They are great value. Hope I Helped x

[souffle]

You can get them in the wild bird food section in most pet stores. You can get jars of them.
There is actually not a lot of nutrition in the dried ones and my syrians have never been that interested. Drying them seems to leave more of a shell than anything else!
Ours prefer egg or chicken!

[Hamsterz4Life]

Originally Posted by souffle

You can get them in the wild bird food section in most pet stores. You can get jars of them.
There is actually not a lot of nutrition in the dried ones and my syrians have never been that interested. Drying them seems to leave more of a shell than anything else!
Ours prefer egg or chicken!

They are quite shelly. But I mix 1/2 teaspoon into the food bowl and they are always the first thing to go. As the hamster is only 10 weeks, he would most likely take them. My dwarfs love them the most though, but for £1.50 you can't go wrong. The protein in those from B&M is actually quite high.

Souffle do you feed live mealworms then?, I was going to dust some live ones at some point x