Fussy Eater

[AprilPearl]

I brought Mushu home on Saturday with a bag of hamster food which the shop he came from give their baby hamsters. However, Mushu will not even remove it from his bowl. He had a look at it and then walked away and has not taken any since.

He has eaten other 'treat' foods e.g. Broccoli, cooked rice and pasta, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashew nuts. But, not the hamster muesli.

I am aware that this diet is far from nutritionally complete for him and I do not want him to get sick.

According to the pet shop, he had only been there for 2 days, so I am wondering whether whoever bred him fed him a different good mix and he is used to that.

Any suggestions for food mixes which your hamsters enjoy? Or any recipes for home made hamster mud? I live in England, by the way.

Just to add, the mix he came with is a Pets at Home branded product. It is very similar to Harry Hamster which we fed all our previous hammies and we were going to move Mushu onto gradually. But, if he doesn't like his current food, I do not see why he would like Harry Hamster any better given they are almost identical.

[Hamsterita]

I would take a look at the nutritional value, maybe they look the same because they use the same dyes and the same shapes but they could be completely different (and taste different too). For example, a mcdonals hamburguer and a home made hamburguer. They are both hamburguers, they can look more or less the same, but at least for me, they taste completely different (and the home made will be healthier).

Another important point is that some are just fuzzy eaters,but think that if you give him a lot of treats or other supplements, he may prefer them than his real food and if he's full of treats he won't eat the mix. It's different If he only eats some bits and leaves the others (and he leaves always the same bits)

If I were you, I would switch to Harry Hamster. A couple of months ago I had to switch my hamster diet suddenly, and at the beginning he didn't want to eat the new one, but usually they aren't dumb, they aren't going to starve to death. If he's hungry He'll try it, and that way you could know if he eats the whole mix or just the bits that he likes the most.

[AprilPearl]

Originally Posted by Hamsterita

I would take a look at the nutritional value, maybe they look the same because they use the same dyes and the same shapes but they could be completely different (and taste different too). For example, a mcdonals hamburguer and a home made hamburguer. They are both hamburguers, they can look more or less the same, but at least for me, they taste completely different (and the home made will be healthier).

Another important point is that some are just fuzzy eaters,but think that if you give him a lot of treats or other supplements, he may prefer them than his real food and if he's full of treats he won't eat the mix. It's different If he only eats some bits and leaves the others (and he leaves always the same bits)

If I were you, I would switch to Harry Hamster. A couple of months ago I had to switch my hamster diet suddenly, and at the beginning he didn't want to eat the new one, but usually they aren't dumb, they aren't going to starve to death. If he's hungry He'll try it, and that way you could know if he eats the whole mix or just the bits that he likes the most.

Thanks. I am going to go right out and buy him sons Harry Hamster. I also suspected that he may be filling up on treats, though he only gets a few mouthfuls a day. I guess he is so tiny, that that may be a huge amount for him.

[chesca_27]

I wouldn't start giving treats until he is happy to eat his mix, so no extras like veggies or pasta. Pets At Home branded products tend to be lower quality than other alternatives like Harry Hamster, so I would buy some and start switching him over.

[Humphrey_hamster]

My hamster came from pets at home. That food is much too sugary, my hamster didn't like it much either. Now I feed him a variety of things, his ordinary dry mix is:
Burgess hamster harvest mixed with:
Extra sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Banana chips
Hamster food mix from the pet area at a wyevale garden centre- their own one
Extra mealworms
Then he also gets lots of fresh food ( some of this he gets often, some is occasional)
Apple
Carrot
Cucumber
Prawns
Chicken
Berries
Etc..
Sometimes he gets a few drops of milk
He also gets parsley and celery forage and floral feast ( both from pets at home)
He also gets a wide variety of treats, some just dried fruit, some like nibblots
You can get shrimp cookies which are clusters of seeds and dried shrimps ( from pah)
At PAH you can get pure dried prawns and pure dried chicken from the cat treats area.
He has the hanging treat sticks too.
He has a lot more than just that, but I don't think you want to know everything that I feed my hamster
Pretty much everything I mentioned (apart from fresh food) is available in pets at home.

[cypher]

A few mouthfuls is rather a lot for a ham, bear in mind that they only eat about a tablespoon of food a day!
I would agree with chesca & lay off treats until he's eating his mix, tiny bits of veg would be ok & you can pick the best bits out of his mix to hand feed as "treats"!

[ChocoMintAnswersSincere]

This kind of sounds like my hamster. I bought her a nutritious hamster food and she wouldn't eat it so I went back to her less-nutritious food and she ate it. I suggest leaving the food in the cage for 2-3 days and if your hamster eats it then okay. . If not give your hamster some broccoli, apples, cucumber, seeds, and other healthy "treats". If your hamster doesn't start eating then you should probably take it to the vet. I use Bonanza Hamster Food Diet.

[AmityvilleHams]

The Bonanza Hamster Food isn't good Considering the artificial junk in it it's no surprise it would seem more appealing,but it certainly isn't suitable even as a treat.

Tough love helps a lot with food.You could try Burgess dwarf food(not the Syrian food,the Syrian food is honestly not that good)and see if your hamster just likes tiny pieces.It won't hurt a hamster to not eat for a few days in most cases,however serious damage can come from using unsuitable foods with time.

You can also try hand feeding pieces of a mix(high quality mixes of course,not the junk food ones)as well,which may sound a bit crazy but sometimes you simply must do this for pets!

[chesca_27]

Originally Posted by Humphrey_hamster

My hamster came from pets at home. That food is much too sugary, my hamster didn't like it much either. Now I feed him a variety of things, his ordinary dry mix is:
Burgess hamster harvest mixed with:
Extra sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Banana chips
Hamster food mix from the pet area at a wyevale garden centre- their own one
Extra mealworms
Then he also gets lots of fresh food ( some of this he gets often, some is occasional)
Apple
Carrot
Cucumber
Prawns
Chicken
Berries
Etc..
Sometimes he gets a few drops of milk
He also gets parsley and celery forage and floral feast ( both from pets at home)
He also gets a wide variety of treats, some just dried fruit, some like nibblots
You can get shrimp cookies which are clusters of seeds and dried shrimps ( from pah)
At PAH you can get pure dried prawns and pure dried chicken from the cat treats area.
He has the hanging treat sticks too.
He has a lot more than just that, but I don't think you want to know everything that I feed my hamster
Pretty much everything I mentioned (apart from fresh food) is available in pets at home.

I'm not 100% sure on feeding prawns, but I know hamsters can have shrimp. Also, I wouldn't feed the celery and parsley forage to hamsters because celery can be toxic it to them. Make sure he isn't selective feeding the banana chips because dried fruit can be quite sugary.

Originally Posted by ChocoMintAnswersSincere

This kind of sounds like my hamster. I bought her a nutritious hamster food and she wouldn't eat it so I went back to her less-nutritious food and she ate it. I suggest leaving the food in the cage for 2-3 days and if your hamster eats it then okay. . If not give your hamster some broccoli, apples, cucumber, seeds, and other healthy "treats". If your hamster doesn't start eating then you should probably take it to the vet. I use Bonanza Hamster Food Diet.

Don't give in to hamsters and feed treats after a few days of the tough love method as that just teaches them that they can wait and have their favourite foods. You do need to slowly switch food over, which may explain why she was ignoring the new food.

[cypher]

chesca celery is fine as far as I know, it's on just about every safe list I can think of, not a favourite with mine but they do like it now & then.
Parsley is fine too although I never had a ham who liked it. The only problem I'm aware of with parsley is that it shouldn't be fed to pregnant hams.