Has anyone ever made their own hamster food? - Page 4

woolly_axolotl · 02-17-2016, 04:03 PM

I use the Fairytale mix for Mikey and he seems to like it. Same problem as ever with leaving some components more than others but on the whole good. It smells wonderful too! I was recommended Mixerama by a friend in Germany who is pretty knowledgeable. They sell whole sunflower seed heads (Sonnenblumenkopf) which can be sliced like bread and Millet (Hirse) as well which he loves.
One tip though, pop it in the freezer for a week when it arrives. That is what is recommended on some German forums. Some people have linked the more 'natural' mixes to problems with moths and mites. Whether it is true I'm not sure, but it's an easy thing to do and might save a lot of hassle.

cypher · 02-17-2016, 10:28 PM

Putting food in the freezer isn't a bad idea with any mix but probably more so if it has flowers & leaves etc in it.
I was reading an article which made me wonder if they'd had a recent outbreak of the moth things in some food there, I remember when we had one here (can't remember which brand) a few years back & it was pretty gross!

cypher · 02-20-2016, 06:45 AM

I was just having another look at the Mixerama premixes & noticed how high the fat content is in that Fairytale mix, 11% for the basic & 12% for the extra is really rather a lot!

I'm making progress with my hypothetical mix (that's about all I can call it right now!) it's quite fascinating, fun if a bit frustrating but my brain really hurts

cypher · 02-23-2016, 10:17 PM

Well after a lot of brain addling I think I finally came up with a mix made up entirely of healthy things they like to eat in the right proportions!
It's hard to keep fat levels down without reducing the protein too but so far my mix has protein 18%, fat 11% & fibre 10%, as they have tofu & veg everyday the fat would probably be a bit less & also the fibre just a tiny bit so it might work.
As they really don't like biscuity bits in mixes they probably get a bit more fat than they should with commercial mixes anyway.
Still playing with a few different ideas (have to double check my maths too!) but I think I might get some made up soon, hard to visualise it at the moment so it would be nice o see what it would look like & how it compares to what I currently use.

RubyDG · 02-24-2016, 07:42 AM

Yay! Glad you've managed to work something out Cypher! You need to let us know how your little furballs like it

cypher · 02-25-2016, 12:02 AM

I really hope they like it after all the effort

It may be a while though as I didn't expect to get it done quite so soon & ordered some things from Mixerama to try so I have a ton of food right now, I need more hams to eat it all

I got some different pellets to try them with before I decide whether to use those in the mix if they like them… or not.
I got one bag of base mix without animal protein to compare to my "treat mix" I give them & Whisper went mad for it, she just wanted more, more & more, not that she got much but I think she would happily have munched on it all evening if I let her

So I'm going to play with my formula for a little longer before I spend more of my money on postage from Germany!

RubyDG · 02-25-2016, 08:03 AM

It's a good sign she liked that base mix!

cypher · 02-26-2016, 10:38 PM

They both really seem to love it Ruby, at least I know their treats are healthy if nothing else lol!
Whisper even greedily pouched one of the Mixerama pellets yesterday, I think it was echinacea, I've got a few different ones & am trying one or two a day, Mickle is not impressed with those though! She's getting older & doesn't eat a lot anyway now so I'm not really surprised.

For anyone who's still interested in making mixes this is my dilemma, although I can get the protein, fat & fibre right in relation to each other they all remain a bit too high as if the food is too concentrated, I guess for a syrian it would be a little easier as fruit would help bring those down but otherwise I'm thinking that manufacturers rely on biscuits which are less nutrient dense to do this but the German mixes seem to rely more on dried veg, herbs grasses etc which doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless you include a fairly large proportion as dried herbage is actually high in protein & fibre.
When it comes down to it though my dwarf hams eat very little biscuit or herbage (they seem to prefer that to biscuits though!) so even with a commercial mix their diet if probably too nutrient dense.
I'm still thinking that if I include the tofu they have every day & fresh veg it would probably be as close to perfect as it's possible to get.
I'm still playing around & tweaking my formula but so far it has about 44 ingredients so they shouldn't be complaining about variety!

RubyDG · 02-27-2016, 05:01 AM

Holy potato!! 44 ingredients? I'm trying to think of what they would be, and I can think of a good few, but nowhere near 44. What out of the norm ingredients did you go for

Also Fluffagrams, have you decided yet if you're going to try making your own mix?

cypher · 02-27-2016, 07:03 AM

Well no holy potatoes

Nothing that unusual really just a good variety of grains & seeds mostly, only a few things I haven't used before.
ATM it's something like this, it doesn't look so much typed out, I was surprised when I counted them all tbh!
Grains/farinaceous seds or flakes
7 types of millet, buckwheat, barley, oats, rye, spelt, dari, spinach seed, amaranth & a few different grass seeds.
Oily seeds
hemp, perilla, poppy, vetch, flax, sesame, cucumber, watermelon, nettle, clover, carrot, dill, thistle & pumpkin.
A few extras like pea flakes, soya flakes, carob pieces.
Mealworms, shrimps & chicken.
My list of herbage keeps changing but maybe plantain, nettle root, dill stalks, dandelion leaf, melissa & artichoke leaf, still thinking about that bit!

If I only lived in Germany it would work out really cheap to try it out but as it is postage is more than the mix…. I might have to invest in another Getzoo house or something (never know when you might need one!) so I can get free postage

I've been having a bit of a browse through the blog on Mixera & a couple of pages that might be of general interest.
How to go about changing the diet.
What's in commercial food, reminded me why I only buy foods that have quite clear rather than vague ingredient lists! I think that makes quite a good point about added vitamins too, I do wonder if they need them provided they have a wide range of quality ingredients in their diet & do they all really need exactly the same additives, doubtful, not that I'm saying no one should use commercial mixes but it does make you think, well it does me lol!