Has anyone ever made their own hamster food?

[RubyDG]

That sounds a bit more varied than my own diet! I can imagine the postage to be bad though since they work out cost based on weight. Spike likes the herbage in the Rodipet mix as he does eat it but a lot gets left too - but then that's the same with those filler kibble pieces you get and I'd rather he be eating the herbage. I do think there are a lot of advantages to not using a commercial mix. I found that article you linked very intresting, particularly the points about sugar. It's the same with human food I guess, better not to have processed foods or food high in sugar. Sadly I still trust the commercial mixes over what I could do myself. I think if they came up with a perfect commercial mix most people would be happy to pay more for it. I would anyway

[cypher]

They get a fair bit of variety already with the different mixes but that would be a lot more, they do seem less picky with it rather than the same old limited ingredients day in day out though so I'm hopeful they'll enjoy it & get a wider range of nutrients into the bargain!
The postage is a fair bit but still cheaper than Rodipet so not that bad, might be worth it as a bag will last ages so even if it turns out to be a bit of a failed experiment it won't exactly break the bank!
I don't blame you for wanting to stick to commercial mixes, I've really enjoyed doing this, human nutrition has always been a bit of a favourite study with me so I guess it's only natural that it follows over to my pets but I wouldn't encourage anyone who isn't really confident about what they're doing to have a go, there really is so much more to it than throwing together some muesli, bird seed & a few meal worms!

ETA I've gone & done it now Decided I could go on tweaking it & driving myself nuts forever without actually improving anything, I'm really curious as to what it will look like now!

I had to give it a name so I called it "Cypher's Chinese takeaway" (I'm sure Mickle will like it too though!)

[RubyDG]

Originally Posted by cypher

... I had to give it a name so I called it "Cypher's Chinese takeaway" (I'm sure Mickle will like it too though!)

Love the name! Glad you've gone and ordered it, I'm sure none of the other food will go to waste. Make sure to post some pictures when you get it and tell us how the fluffs like it - I'm all curious now!

[cypher]

I'm really curious too!
Not sure how long it will take to arrive (impatient already lol!) but I'll update when it arrives & the girls have given it a taste test

[cypher]

For anyone who might still be interested in Mixerama foods rather than making their own mix I thought I'd add that pellets are going down surprisingly well!
Spinach has been a bit of a "Oh no I don't think so!" but parsley, echinacea & milk thistle have been pouched, not sure if they've been eaten or stashed yet but they were taken quite eagerly, I have a few more to try yet but they do make a nice healthy addition to the diet in small amounts.

[cypher]

It's here
I must admit it is quite cool to have my own label food
It's not complete yet, animal protein I'm adding myself & I have a few other bits like oats & soya to add in that I already have loads of so no point in buying more. And the herby bits.
I was a bit concerned it might end up looking just like too much millet but it looks pretty good, in a dwarf ham sort of way, to me.
Now to see what the girls think...

[tinks]

i would really like to be able to make my hamsters food better and more variety but postage seems so much especially when i only have one hamster

[cypher]

Postage is expensive which makes the overall price of the food quite a lot but considering how little hams actually eat with a bit of thought a one off order would last absolutely ages.
I'm still experimenting so didn't buy that much but if I'm happy with it I might buy more another time & just keep some in the freezer.

[tinks]

i was looking at their ready made mixes and they look pretty good, guess i could also use some of the seeds and herbs for my two ratties. think i will definitely need to work it all out, nutrition wise as well as variety. want to make sure i have no need for supplements

guess i could make a spreadsheet of the ingredients and nutrition and make it work out the calculations for me, think this is going to take a while lol

[cypher]

It does take a lot of time & research to figure out all the right nutrients in the right proportions but it's definitely worth it! Took me hours but it was fun, in a masochistic sort of way lol!
Going for one of the ready mixes would be easier but most don't have a G/A & not knowing the exact proportions of each ingredient you couldn't really work it out but I think most look quite good although the fat content is high in some.