Best hamster food brand? (Europe)

[xiaojingi]

Hi guys! I've noticed my hammie has a sweet tooth, and only eats the corn and sunseeds. I've read that they shouldn't eat too much of it. I have my hammie for about two weeks now, and I chose a home brand from the shop. But I was wondering if you guys could recommend me the best food brands? (He's a russian dwarf hamster). These are the brands we have in Holland as I saw on a list. Some of them are Dutch, so you probably dont know them:

Vitakraft
Sluis
Puik
Harry Hamster
Xtra Vital
Witte Molen
Hope Farms
Science Selective Hamster van Supreme
Konacorn
Versele Laga

I usually leave his bowl of food filled, but is it better to feed him in the night when he's awake? He doesnt really seem to store his food. Plus he runs a lot, doesnt look fat :P hope you guys can help me out!

[AmityvilleHams]

The best would probably be Harry Hamster.It has the right nutrition,and I know that Vitakraft also tends to sneak in sugars in the form of fruits so that's better off avoided.Versele Laga's not the best,either for nutrition or ingredient quality(can't remember which).Science Selective pellets on their own are not an adequate diet,as pellets are not a natural diet and they lack the enrichment that a diet should provide.Xtra Vital wasn't good either from what I remember,and as for the other ones I'm not sure.Links with ingredients and analyses would help though

[xiaojingi]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

The best would probably be Harry Hamster.It has the right nutrition,and I know that Vitakraft also tends to sneak in sugars in the form of fruits so that's better off avoided.Versele Laga's not the best,either for nutrition or ingredient quality(can't remember which).Science Selective pellets on their own are not an adequate diet,as pellets are not a natural diet and they lack the enrichment that a diet should provide.Xtra Vital wasn't good either from what I remember,and as for the other ones I'm not sure.Links with ingredients and analyses would help though

Thank you for responding! ^o^ i dont know how to translate some of the ingredients to English, so i hope google translate did a good job xD this is the Harry Hamster ingredients list:

Wheat, toasted wheat, pea flakes, soybean meal, corn, corn flakes, sunflower seeds, soy flakes, alfalfa flour, shelled peanuts, soybean, peanuts in shell, pumpkin seeds, soy hulls, wheat feed, extruded carob germ, calcium carbonate, coloring.

[AmityvilleHams]

I knew the Harry Hamster ingredients for the most part It's actually a UK food which is very popular,and a fairly decent food.

Upon further research,however,I'm thoroughly unimpressed with Hope Farms.They have animal biproducts in them(not even real meat or mealworms or anything truly appropriate)as well as unspecific ingredient labelling.They also have dairy product in them,while hamsters should never have dairy So that is certainly one less option!

I couldn't find information on Sluis or Puik though,so I can only guess it wouldn't be a good option until ingredients are known.

As for Konacorn,it isn't the greatest.Harry Hamster is definitely better

Witte Molen is also something that contains animal biproducts That definitely isn't a good option,plus their ingredients are extremely unspecific to a concerning level.

[cypher]

I don't know all those brands, Harry Hamster is a good food but you may need to break some of the larger pieces up for a dwarf ham & they do generally prefer a dwarf mix with smaller seeds, can you get the Burgess dwarf hamster harvest where you are? If you could that would be a better option.
It doesn't really matter what time you feed them, if your ham is being picky the best thing is to just put enough food in the bowl for a few days then leave it until it's all gone, sometimes a little tough love is needed!

I'm struggling to find much info on some of those brands too, links would help if you have them.
The Konocorn doesn't look too bad actually, not the best ingredient list I've seen but it's ok, a few of those brands have a reasonable G/A but as with a lot of foods the protein levels are a bit low especially for a young ham that is still growing, you can supplement protein with one or two mealworms a day, also high in fat so not too many of those, & a little bit of plain cooked chicken once or twice a week.

[freyashamsters]

Dwarf hamster harvest in my opinion is about the best food for dwarf hams so if you can get it where you are I'd definitely recommend it

Out of the foods on your list I'd say Harry Hamster would be the best - only fold on there that has high enough protein, high enough fibre, low enough fats and low enough sugar The others are not complete foods if fed on their own

If the ham is being fussy then you could try the Supreme Science Selective biscuits - you can get them in he US and the U.K. I think however they are slightly harder to find in the US - they are basically heart shaped biscuits with all the nutrients needed in them. I wouldn't feed them on their own as variety is essential in a hamster diet however if you mixed them in with the Harry Hamster then as long as the ham eats the biscuits you know all the nutrients needed are being consumed

[Gimleyand Meeko]

I always feed my hammie at night when they are awake Do you do the fussy eater technique?

I agree with FreyasHamsters I use Dwarf Hamster Harvest, it doesn't contain any of the corn and adds the bonus of Mealworms

Harry Hamster is good too but the pieces are very large so you would need to crush them will a pessal and morter Also they may get stuck in her pouches.

Hope I helped

[freyashamsters]

Oh yes I forgot about the fussy eater technique - you basically leaver all the food in the cage until the bowl is completely empty. Once your hamster realises it won't be topped up until all the food is eaten then the hamster will eat it all

May seem a little harsh - did to me at first - but it works and Willow eats every morsel now