Meal worms.

[hamsterdad101]

Apologies if this has already been posted.

I have heard a rumour that you can feed hamsters meal worms. Is this true, and if so, how much and how often?

Many thanks.

[Cinnamon Bear]

All four of my dwarves love meal worms. I usually put 5 in their dish every night, the robo gets 2 or 3. They are a high in protein & also fat though. I also like dried crickets cause they are high in protein but low in fat. My robo doesn't like the crickets! My Syrian didn't like meal worms or crickets. I think it's just the dwarves that like the meal worms?

[Jenibelle]

My Syrian had them for the first time last night and he was in love!!

[xbuttons94]

Hamsters love them! We fed the hamsters we had in animal care meal worms once a week but they were live. My hamsters get a few a week but they are dried ones.

[flowerfairy]

Apparantly live ones can bite the hamsters. Not nice for their pouches ... ouches.

[Coco61]

I bought a bag for my Syrian and he wouldn't touch them! Gave them away to my daughter because her Syrian and robo both eat them. So you never can tell.

[barley]

My Robo likes them but my Syrian leaves them in his bowl every single time! He'll occasionally accidentally pouch one and then can't empty them fast enough when he realizes!

[Fluffagrams]

Most of my hamsters have really enjoyed mealworms however they seem to be more popular with the dwarf species than the Syrians. They're a particular favourite of my youngest Chinese, Lord James and you'll actually find them in some of the commercially prepared dwarf mixes.

They can be a little bit fattening so need to be fed in moderation. If buying live ones, they will need the heads removed as their sharp claws can injure a hamster's cheek pouches or you can buy dried ones.

[xbuttons94]

I don't give mine live ones. Studying animal care was eye opening but some things they did I don't agree with, like giving live meal worms. We had a few animals that got injured by giving live insects, mostly the reptiles

[Niinicat]

My Syrian (Onyx) absolutely hates meal worms. I think she finds them quite repulsive. I put three in her bowl and I assumed that she had eaten them and so I offered her 1 from my hand (She does accept food from my hand). She sniffed it and turned her back with revulsion.

I was perplexed as I was sure that she had eaten her other meal worms. However the next day when I was changing her food I found that she had removed the meal worms and had buried her meal worms under her bowl. I know that she did not store them for future use as it was nowhere near her other food supplies.

Sadly I had to bin the meal worms (There are too many cats around my area to risk leaving them out for the birds) So meal worms are thumbs down from Onyx.