When is best to feed a hamster?

[Gemma_xo]

This could be a really silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway! Don't know til you ask, right?

Being a total newcomer to Hamsters & Hamster care, but a total crazy Cat lady, I'm used to waking up in the morning, changing water and feeding animals, but it only dawned on me today that Hamsters are nocturnal. (Duh, Gemma!)

When I changed his food and water this morning he came out of his house, had a little munch, then a run in his wheel and back off to sleep.

So I was wondering when do you guys feed your hamsters and change their water? Zak normally comes out of his sleep between 9.30pm - 10.00pm. So maybe it would be a good idea to give him fresh food and water just before he's awake for the night, so like, around 9.00pm, but I'm also concerned because he does come out in the morning for a munch so should I feed him twice a day because of the morning snack, or just feed him once of an evening? I have began to notice a pattern of the things he leaves in his bowl, and unfortunately the stuff he leaves is the bulk of his food mix, so as soon as finances are on my side I'm changing his food. I went through the forums for about an hour and have decided on a mix of these two
1) Burgess Supa Hamster Harvest
2) JR Farm Feast
Both are for Dwarf Hamsters, depsite the guy from Pets At Home saying Dwarfs can eat normal Hamster food, I've decided to make my own mind up and buy actual Dwarf Hamster food! (Right / wrong decision?)

I mean I understand people have schedules and such hence feeding time being in the AM or PM but feeding Zak literally is taking his bowl, emptying it in the bin next to his cage, using the bowl to scoop more food out of his food tub and every Thursday adding a few of the dried meal worms from the bag, again next to his cage on his table of things. There is no reason I can't schedule that into any time of the day to make things better for him. (Takes no longer then a minute even with the Dried Meal Worm kerfuffle!

Thanks

[cypher]

You could feed twice a day if you wanted to but especially with a picky eater (although that may change when you have different food!) I'd be inclined to stick to once a day.
It really doesn't matter much what time you feed, a lot of what appears to be eating is actually pouching to eat later or take & eat somewhere else anyway so you don't always know when they're really eating.
Some people use feeding in the evening as a way of getting them to come out for interacting/playtime.
I feed mine in the morning but I'm up so early they haven't gone back to bed & seem perfectly happy to be fed then!
I think the main thing is just have a routine time & stick to it, they do like a nice routine!
I think you're right to change to a dwarf mix, I use both of those among others & have found my dwarf struggle with the larger pieces in syrian mix, enjoy more small seeds & syrian mixes can have fruit or other sweet things in them with aren't so good for dwarfs.

[barley]

I feed mine in the evenings only.

[Teatime]

I feed my hamster in the evening because the smell of food makes him get up!
Cyril would sleep until after I'd gone to bed if I didn't..! He's, erm, not exactly the most active ham.
But usually after checking out his food and storing it he's more likely to stay up.
But I think Cypher is right, routine is the main thing.

[Artsy Hammy]

I like to feed my hamsters right before I go to bed. This is around the time that they are waking up, and are most eager to eat. When I got my first hamster, I would feed her in the morning, but what I found was that she would just go stash it away, and at night she would come out looking for food to actually eat.

Feeding at night works best for me because they actually sit in their food dishes and eat their food, as opposed to just stashing it away, and then wanting more at night.

[Gemma_xo]

I can see why feeding in the evening would be better so I think I'll start from tonight and I'll make it a routine from 9pm. Already got a daily alarm set on my phone daily for 9pm, routine starts here.

Thank you