Being Picky

[cypher]

Coco for syrians the JR Farm Feast for Hamsters is ok, it has less protein than the dwarf one, I'm not sure but I think maybe dwarfs need a little more but even so it seems low to me, the JR Farm Food Hamster Adult has even less protein, that would really need topping up & it looks more like a bag of healthy treats then daily food to me, it has lots of very large chunky items in it, not sure quite how you would use it as a daily food but I don't really know that much about syrians so it may be ok. The product photo & the one customer photo look completely different too which is a bit confusing!
If you go for one of those I'd stick with the JR Farm Feast.

Originally Posted by Fluffagrams

It's a shame that there aren't any rodent rescues nearby, I'd have plenty of food to donate.

lol! I know just what you mean! me too

My only problem with the JR dwarf mix is it does seem to have quite a lot of wheat & corn which is probably ok for a diabetes prone species that shows no signs of illness but I have been advised by my vet to avoid mixes with lots of wheat in generally but particularly for Zephyr, she doesn't actually like grains much & usually leaves them so not too much of a problem & she does have some oats & quinoa instead which she likes & are a whole lot better for her!

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by cypher

My only problem with the JR dwarf mix is it does seem to have quite a lot of wheat & corn which is probably ok for a diabetes prone species that shows no signs of illness but I have been advised by my vet to avoid mixes with lots of wheat in generally but particularly for Zephyr, she doesn't actually like grains much & usually leaves them so not too much of a problem & she does have some oats & quinoa instead which she likes & are a whole lot better for her!

I've never tried May with oats even though Meat used to love a bit of porridge. Do you normally feed Zephyr the oats as they are or are you giving it to her as porridge ?

May had some chicken and a little bit of broccoli yesterday as well as a couple of seeds but she's certainly not as energetic as she usually is. I checked her teeth yesterday and they're looking fine and I'm monitoring how much she's drinking as well now.

I'll do a weight check on her today as well.

[Pebbles82]

Coco - I tried one of the JR Farm foods for Syrians and didn't like it (and neither did Charlie) - it was the JR Farm Food Hamster Adult. It was just way too itty bitty and seemed to be lots of tiny loose bits mainly. I haven't tried the other one - JR Farm Feast, but have been meaning to as it looks a lot better, with better sized pieces and no GM Soya - one of the only ones I think that doesn't have GM Soya. This is partly why it is low on protein, so would need supplementing for protein. I'm currently mixing a Rodipet mix with Harry Hamster. Trouble is Charlie really likes Harry Hamster and will only eat something else if it's mixed with Harry Hamster. I suppose I could be mean and not give him the option - which I might do if I can find one that I like the consistency of (maybe the JR Farm Feast). I initially started mixing the other ones I've tried, with Harry Hamster, to make a transitional change over to the new one, but haven't made the full change as haven't found anything else to change over to. The Rodipet one is quite good but I don't really know what's in it - maybe in Germany they don't have to list ingredients and percentages. When it's finished I will try the JR Farm Feast.

I've also tried the Bunny Dream (not the dwarf one) and didn't like that either - again tiny itty bits.

[racinghamster]

I sometimes find it frustrating finding hamster mixes that are not all the same or have similar ingredients or full of grass pellets, coloured extruded biscuits and what look to us like naff ingredients! I admit to getting excited when I discovered the JR Farm mixes even if they are low on protein, but having ordered four bags from Zooplus for Chubs earlier this year, he`s now on his second bag and in all honesty, I`ve found more of the food stacked and hidden rather than being consumed, which is frustrating for me, but at the same time, I`m never sure if he IS actually eating it or just storing it?

I`m thinking now of sticking to Burgess Supahamster (ordinary mix) and just adding a small teaspoonful of the JR Farm mix to it to make it last longer and then once the bags are finished, just buy a bag of Canary seed from the pet shop as an alternative or one of the small seed bird mixes. He also gets a broken up Science selective biscuit added, some millet spray and his fresh veggies. I also bought a bag of chopped peanuts, mixed millet and shelled sunflower seeds with a few mealworms in it sold for wild birds and add a small amount of that as well. Chubs does well on these.

Sometimes it`s a good idea to experiment with different food but if the hamster likes the main mix, keep that and work around it. x

[Coco61]

I intend sticking with Harry Hamster as the main food but do not want Mocho to get bored with it and then I am really stuck. I am currently mixing a couple of pinches of this Natures Touch and he is eating some of it or at least it is going from his bowl! It is just a decision between the Burgess Supahamster or the JR farm feast as a mixer with the Harry hamster. Maybe I should get one and then the other and see what he likes.

[Fluffagrams]

I weight checked May and she'd gained 4g since her last weigh in on 9th July. Her pickiness has obviously not caused her to lose weight but she's picking seeds out and they're quite fattening aren't they? She'll get two or three as a treat but then on top of what she's picking out of her food, it means she's eating a fair few of them.

I'm not sure that she likes this mix but this will be the third mix I've tried her on. She didn't like the one that she was being fed when she was in the pet shop, she had Supahamster after that and then I tried the Dwarf Hamster Harvest. I'm at a loss as to what to try next.

Do I pick out her favourites from the mix in the hope that in their absence she'll eat the rest? Do I try another mix or do I give up with the mixes and give her the Science Selective?

[cypher]

4g is a good weight gain for a little Chinese girl so I wouldn't worry too much Fluffagrams, you're obviously getting something right between the two of you!
I think maybe if you keep changing mixes she'll just keep being picky, maybe use a couple of mixes to give her a bit more variety if you feel she's really not happy with just the one.
I don't like the idea of science selective alone tbh, that's just my personal opinion, it's so much more natural for them to eat seeds & get a wider variety of ingredients but if she does eat one or two a day that will certainly help to ensure her diet is more balanced.
Is she really just eating seeds? Not all seeds are that fattening & she my well be picking out some grains too & eating a better diet than you think. Unless she's only eating a load of sunflower seeds!
I was giving Zephyr oats just dry at first & only gave her porridge when I started to need some soft food to put antibiotics in & used that along with the baby food.
Most seem to like them dry, she didn't at first so I used to put some in a bowl & add a little drop of omega oil (which she loved), not enough to make them all oily just enough to give them a little of the flavour when I stirred them up well, (I would do a small batch & keep them in the fridge) & she relished them then!

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by cypher

I think maybe if you keep changing mixes she'll just keep being picky, maybe use a couple of mixes to give her a bit more variety if you feel she's really not happy with just the one.

That's a really good thought actually, I don't know why I didn't think of that.

I'll see if I can pick up some of the JR Farms one or something. I think they sell it in one of my local pet shops.

Originally Posted by cypher

I don't like the idea of science selective alone tbh, that's just my personal opinion, it's so much more natural for them to eat seeds & get a wider variety of ingredients but if she does eat one or two a day that will certainly help to ensure her diet is more balanced.

I've given her two with the Burgess and she's nibbling away at them slowly like she would with dog biscuits. To be honest, I'd prefer it if she's having a mix and I'd hate her to be denied her favourite foods entirely.

Just looking at her food bowl now, this is what she's left...

[racinghamster]

It`s frustrating with hamsters because unlike mice, they eat everything in the dish! But hamsters seem to store food a lot and you never know if they are actually eating a lot or just going through the motions of hamster hoarding behaviour!

Maybe we feed too much in one go. I`ve been guilty of this and giving my Russian hybrid daily `top up`s` only to find most of it stashed! So I`ve learned to half what I feed him and check what`s still in the dish the next morning before I give more.

As we speak, I`ve just given Chubs a few small fresh leaves of baby lettuce and he poked his head out the door of his tissue box and sat there nibbling them. Now I can hear louder nibbling coming from his sleeping house, so he`s obviously having a binge in there from the food he stores!

[Dwarf hamster lover]

You should use pellet food. All the nutrients in pack size pellets. My hamster is supremely picky. If I didn't fed him pellets he would probably would be unhealthy.