Chinese Hamster Food

branberry · 03-02-2016, 07:20 PM

Hello!

It's me again

As I'm sure someone may have posted, I am getting a Chinese hammie in early April.

I have most of the cage setup done, and it is pretty well constructed. I have just the water bottle on the way.

I have been wondering though, what is the best thing to feed my hamster?

I have the snacks, meal worms, dog biscuits, and well, that's it (is there any other snack I should get?), but I don't have anything yet for the diet.

Doing lot's of research, I decided to go to here as my last resort. My main questions are

a) as a regular food in the dish, what should I feed?
b) should i change it daily, even if it is not completely empty?
c) what veggies should I feed?
d) besides meal worms and dog biscuits, are there any other ok treats?
*remember this is for a Chinese male hamster*

Thank you

(I will be making another post about something else in the the cage section)

cypher · 03-02-2016, 09:46 PM

Chinese hams love small seeds, things like millet, flax, hemp & perilla seeds are a big favourite, sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds (in the shells) make great treats too, some aren't too keen but most like mealworms & a small amount of plain cooked chicken once or twice a week is great as a healthy treat that helps keep protein levels up.
Which dog biscuits do you have?
Avoid all treats containing sugar, honey or fruit, Chinese can be prone to diabetes so you need to keep sugar out of the diet.
Small pieces of fresh veg daily are both a treat & an important part of the diet.
I don't feed from a bowl, Chinese are very active & agile so I tend to hide food around the cage so they can forage for it, one of the best forms of enrichment going!
I've only had two & both have been big hoarders, every ham needs it's hoard but not too much! I prefer to feed little daily but others will feed more but only every few days, you have to work out what works best for you & your ham really.
I can't remember where you're located so can't suggest the best main mix to use, you want something made for dwarf hams with no fruit or added sugar.

Here's a list of veg, I've marked those that should be avoided or only used very rarely as a special treat.

Safe veg, those marked * are relatively high in sugar so only feed to diabetes prone species as an occasional treat if at all.
Asparagus (mine have never liked this)
Basil
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Common or red clover
Cabbage, green or red
Carrot*
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Coriander
Courgette
Cress (not mustard & cress as commonly sold together)
Cucumber
Dandelion leaves & flowers
Endive/chicory
Green beans/runner beans
Kale
Lettuce (not iceberg)
Pak choi/Bok choi
Parsley
Peas/mange tout/sugar snap/snow*
Peppers, any colour
Potato/sweet potato cooked only*
Radicchio
Spinach
Squash/pumpkin*
Swede
Sweet corn/baby corn*
Turnip

Fluffagrams · 03-03-2016, 02:59 AM

As Cypher has said, Chinese Hamsters adore seeds so a good quality dwarf mix usually goes down well if you haven't got a fussy little so-and-so. Personally I wouldn't change their food every day because they will pick out their favourite bits first and you'll want them to eat most of their food so that they're getting all the nutrients that they need. Obviously if you're planning on feeding a selective food then you don't need to worry about this as much but very few hamsters seem to be happy on just a selective food.

As for dog biscuits, I don't know where you are in the world but Pedigree's Biscrock Original has been popular with mine and they're the ones used in the show pens at hamster shows. They're apparently one of the types of dog biscuit that's quite low in salt so are quite a good choice.

cypher · 03-03-2016, 03:15 AM

I think the only real answer to picky eating if it happens is tough love, sometimes you have to be prepared to wait them out a bit but I have found that by giving a wide variety in their diet & not giving too much at once they don't seem to get bored & just pick out the same old favourite bits leaving the rest.
They are all different though so I wouldn't have too many set ideas about how to do things before you get to know your ham.
Also do check what your Chinese is being fed when you get him/her & make any changes to the diet slowly.

branberry · 03-03-2016, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

I think the only real answer to picky eating if it happens is tough love, sometimes you have to be prepared to wait them out a bit but I have found that by giving a wide variety in their diet & not giving too much at once they don't seem to get bored & just pick out the same old favourite bits leaving the rest.
They are all different though so I wouldn't have too many set ideas about how to do things before you get to know your ham.
Also do check what your Chinese is being fed when you get him/her & make any changes to the diet slowly.

Hi!

So as you asked, I give them the "Milkbone Medium Dog Biscuits For Dogs over 20 LBS). Should I change it?

Thanks for the veggie list, that will DEFFINITELY come in handy

Also, I'm located in the US. I'll probably end up getting food from Petsmart/Petco, Kaytee brand. Know any good ones?

Thanks

cypher · 03-03-2016, 05:07 AM

I thought you might be in the US, unfortunately finding a really good quality food that is suitable for dwarf hams or at least the species which may be prone to diabetes is far from easy in the US, most either contain too much sugar or have poor levels of nutrients in general.
I'm not a fan of feeding pellet type foods but of all the foods in the US Oxbow is one of the better ones although the protein does need supplementing a bit.
You might want to think about using that in combination with a seed type mix, of those Vitakraft® VitaSmart Complete Nutrition Hamster Food is one of the better ones although it does still contain too much sugar really, molasses & apple juice concentrate. Protein is also a bit low, you want to aim for something like 18-19% for a young ham, maybe a bit less for an older one, fat & fibre are ok though, fat is actually just a bit low!

The milkbones are ok, I'm not sure what other ones you can get tbh but I know other members use those but just a small piece now & then would be plenty.
You might want to look for Whimzees too, those are a vegetable base dog chew that most hams go mad for!

branberry · 03-03-2016, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

I thought you might be in the US, unfortunately finding a really good quality food that is suitable for dwarf hams or at least the species which may be prone to diabetes is far from easy in the US, most either contain too much sugar or have poor levels of nutrients in general.
I'm not a fan of feeding pellet type foods but of all the foods in the US Oxbow is one of the better ones although the protein does need supplementing a bit.
You might want to think about using that in combination with a seed type mix, of those Vitakraft® VitaSmart Complete Nutrition Hamster Food is one of the better ones although it does still contain too much sugar really, molasses & apple juice concentrate. Protein is also a bit low, you want to aim for something like 18-19% for a young ham, maybe a bit less for an older one, fat & fibre are ok though, fat is actually just a bit low!

The milkbones are ok, I'm not sure what other ones you can get tbh but I know other members use those but just a small piece now & then would be plenty.
You might want to look for Whimzees too, those are a vegetable base dog chew that most hams go mad for!

Ok, thank you

The food I am thinking about is Grreat Choice
and Vitakraft

Is it ok?

cypher · 03-03-2016, 09:45 PM

The first one isn't good, it has a very limited range of ingredients, added sugar (molasses) & the protein is way too low.
As I said before the vitakraft one although far from perfect is probably the better of the mixes available.

**Cinnamon Bear** · 05-23-2016, 07:04 PM

Hi, I use vita kraft vita Smart + Kaytee Forti diet lab block & I also use Mazuri Rat & Mouse lab blocks, depending on which hamstee (3 are on Kaytee & 3 are on Mazuri).

Mazuri is the better choice but it's a bit high on protein & lower on fiber. But if you supplement with Vita Smart seed mix, that works real well. Or Higgins Sunburst some say it's high in sugar for dwarves but I know of others who have used Higgins Sunburst seed mix with no problems.

There is also Vita Garden from Pet-Co where the Mazuri can be found as well. I think Vita Smart is higher quality Than Vita Garden. I'm actually mixing the 2 together right now. Vita Garden has the smaller seeds in it.

Eventually everybody is going to be on Higgins Sunburst seed mix is the plan plus Mazuri lab blocks.

You can break the blocks down into smaller pieces & mix it with the seed mix you choose.

Hope this helps!