Mixing your own feed?

[HamsterCrazy1]

Hi I am wondering if you could mix/make your own feed for a hamster or mouse (maybe there are some people with mice on here?!)? Like can they have corn? Oats? Black oil sunflower seeds? Kelp? Flax? Millet? Just a few grains and seeds I can think of that I can get easily. Just so you aren't feeding your pet yucky stuff, and since we buy bulk in some of these for our other animals- cheaper. I like to feed all of the animals home-mixed feed so we know what they are eating. Maybe this is a complete no-no? Could someone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance!!

[Vectis Hamstery]

You may find these threads interesting which discuss making a home-made mix:
Has anyone ever made their own hamster food?
Mix my own Campbell's Hamster food?

I've moved your thread to the feeding section where you may also find more threads about home-made mixes (you can use the search function at the top of the forum also).

[AmityvilleHams]

Mixing feed isn't a good idea.You will get imbalances and unhealthy animals because you have no way to really measure what nutrition is going into the food,or even what minerals and vitamins are in there which are important.

Higgins Vita Garden should be fine though,and that is available in Petco.You want a mix that has no artificial preservatives(such as ethoxyquin,BHA,and BHT which can cause cancer and mice are already very susceptible to cancer without having to give them something to make them even more prone),no added sugars/no unnatural sugars,no artificial colors or flavors,etc.

Pet store mice shouldn't really have much protein,keep it around 12-13%.

[HamsterCrazy1]

Thanks I'll check them posts out.

[chesca_27]

The threads Vectis linked are a very good place to start learning.

Be prepared, it is a lot of research into the diets and may actually work out much more expensive (believe me, I make my own food) than a pet shop bought mix. Cypher massively helped me with my food and is a real expert in this field and makes home-made food too! It is very difficult to get the nutrition right, but you can get there in the end. I have a HUGE spreadsheet for all the ingredients I could possibly want, then I calculated what extras I need and when they need feeding. There's also the cost aspect, some ingredients are very pricey. I ordered my food from a German website called Mixerama.

On the plus side, I know everything in my food, and my hamster seems to be very happy on it. He was happily eating it as soon as I brought him home.

For a hamster, 19-20% protein, 6% fat and 8% fibre is ideal.

There are actually a few good mixes that are easily available. For dwarfs, Burgess Dwarf Hamster Harvest works out well, needs supplementing a little with extra protein like egg or chicken. For syrians, Hazel/Harry Hamster is good. I believe this also needs a bit of protein supplementing, but not entirely sure. The regular Burgess Hamster Harvest is supposed to be good as well but I'm not too sure. These are all easily available in the U.K. and I think you can import them into the US and other countries.

[AmityvilleHams]

Viovet sell Burgess and Harry Hamster,so that can be a fairly effective US solution compared to the stress of mixing lab blocks with the extremely small selection of mixes we have!

[HamsterCrazy1]

Thanks! Does anyone have any recommendations on mouse food? Or a mouse forum? I keep asking questions about mice on here, cause I know lots of ham people have had or at least know something about mice

[AmityvilleHams]

Higgins Vita Garden Hamster & Gerbil would probably be great for mice!It's too low in protein to be used on its own for hamsters,but the protein is a good level for mice

[HamsterCrazy1]

OK! I'll check it out

[cypher]

There's a mouse forum here, Racinghamster knows more about mice & I think that's the one she normally recommends.