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Old 01-24-2020, 09:26 AM   #1
Engel
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Default My own mix

Right, I was sick and tired of my one ham picking out bits from her muesli (eating only sunflower and pumpkin seeds, some corn and nut) so decided to try and make my own. Let me know what you think. Bowls are empty now so must be good!

Please note I have 4 hamsters over 6 months old. I have Syrians and a robo and they all eat this. I gradually changed them over in the course of a week and seem to be doing well. I have researched safe foods and their natural diet and tried to replicate it to some degree. I'm going off the knowledge that an adult hamster needs roughly:
Protein:17-19%
Fat: 4-7%
Fibre:6-15%

Right my mix
(Note this is their basic mix. I give kale or spinach every other day as well as dried carrot, parsnip, dandelion salad and beetroot. Also some mealworms for those who eat it and some fresh herbs like thyme and basil).

Protein: 18%
Fat: 6.6%
Fibre:12.6%

Ingredients
Muesli (wheat flakes,oat flakes,barley flakes) with dried fruits and nuts (raisins,dates,almonds and hazelnuts. I have accounted for these so it's balanced).
Pure oats
Green lentils
Millet mix (red millet, red Dari, maize, white millet, safflower and peanuts)
Pearl barley
Pumpkin seeds
Chai seeds
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Flaxseeds

When mixed together it all looks the same but there's lots of variety I'll try adding a picture.

Let me know what you think
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_20200124_155408441.jpg (4.51 MB, 19 views)
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:07 AM   #2
sushi_78
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Default Re: My own mix

I wouldn't recommend making a mix completely from scratch (without any commercial foods). It's difficult to ensure you have the right minerals and vitamins. The protein, fat and fibre is really just the absolute basics of nutrition. A mix also needs to have the correct amount of sodium, calcium, riboflavin, magnesium, iron and much more.

For my Robo, I use a mix consisting of mostly the Bunny Dwarfhamster Dream food, with additional mealworms, and split peas (for protein). This gives about 17.8% protein, 6.9% fat and 9.4% fibre. Since my mix is mostly a commercial food, I can be reasonably sure it also contains the correct vitamins, minerals, etc. I would never use a mix that was less than 50% commercial food.
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Old 01-24-2020, 11:57 AM   #3
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Default Re: My own mix

It is difficult & takes a lot of research to create a good balanced diet, I would be concernered that this lacks in variety, it looks as though there's quite a lot of oats there, it may be fine as far as macro nutrients go but I would be very unsure about the balance of micro nutrients so maybe do some more reseach & you could improve it if you really want to feed your own mix.
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Old 01-24-2020, 12:09 PM   #4
Engel
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Exclamation Re: My own mix

Quote:
Originally Posted by sushi_78 View Post
I wouldn't recommend making a mix completely from scratch (without any commercial foods). It's difficult to ensure you have the right minerals and vitamins. The protein, fat and fibre is really just the absolute basics of nutrition. A mix also needs to have the correct amount of sodium, calcium, riboflavin, magnesium, iron and much more.

For my Robo, I use a mix consisting of mostly the Bunny Dwarfhamster Dream food, with additional mealworms, and split peas (for protein). This gives about 17.8% protein, 6.9% fat and 9.4% fibre. Since my mix is mostly a commercial food, I can be reasonably sure it also contains the correct vitamins, minerals, etc. I would never use a mix that was less than 50% commercial food.
Unfortunately I have tried the 50/50 route. Commercial food just doesn't get eaten. Only the fatty bits like nuts and certain seeds. Athena won't touch animal produce at all, tried mealworms and shrimps as well as chicken and egg. I've tried pelleted food too, supreme science? I think that's what it's called, I used it when I had rats and I thought it was brilliant and all rats lived a long life (between 2-3 years old. I had 5 rats so not bad going as a newbie). They won't touch it either. I've tried waiting it out and leaving the food but then they started losing weight

I hope you understand that this isn't something that I'm doing lightly. I'm considering adding some vitamin solution to their water but I don't know yet
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Old 01-24-2020, 12:19 PM   #5
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Default Re: My own mix

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
It is difficult & takes a lot of research to create a good balanced diet, I would be concernered that this lacks in variety, it looks as though there's quite a lot of oats there, it may be fine as far as macro nutrients go but I would be very unsure about the balance of micro nutrients so maybe do some more reseach & you could improve it if you really want to feed your own mix.
Any ideas on what to add then? I totally understand where you're coming from by the way
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Old 01-24-2020, 12:23 PM   #6
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Default Re: My own mix

Quote:
Originally Posted by Engel View Post
Unfortunately I have tried the 50/50 route. Commercial food just doesn't get eaten. Only the fatty bits like nuts and certain seeds. Athena won't touch animal produce at all, tried mealworms and shrimps as well as chicken and egg. I've tried pelleted food too, supreme science? I think that's what it's called, I used it when I had rats and I thought it was brilliant and all rats lived a long life (between 2-3 years old. I had 5 rats so not bad going as a newbie). They won't touch it either. I've tried waiting it out and leaving the food but then they started losing weight

I hope you understand that this isn't something that I'm doing lightly. I'm considering adding some vitamin solution to their water but I don't know yet
It's quite pricey, but have you tried the Rodipet foods? I'm thinking of switching to Rodipet for both my hamster and my gerbils, though I'll probably mix in something else to make it go further.

Making a good mix from scratch is certainly possible, but difficult. I use a calculator found on this gerbil forum for my mixes. It lists lots of foods with their detailed nutritional information, and lets you see how much of each required vitamin or mineral your mix would provide. The recommended nutrition guidelines are based on gerbils, so adjust those as needed, but I find it useful for hamsters too.
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Old 01-24-2020, 12:45 PM   #7
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Default Re: My own mix

I would definitely take a look at wider variety of grains, things like buckwheat, canary seed, barley are a few to considef, other seeds too, I would imagine phosphates are quite high at the moment also some animal protein.
I do have links to some really informative sites but it will probably take me a while to find them as it's been some years since I did my initial reseach. I can have a hunt though.
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Old 01-24-2020, 02:20 PM   #8
Engel
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Default Re: My own mix

Quote:
Originally Posted by sushi_78 View Post
It's quite pricey, but have you tried the Rodipet foods? I'm thinking of switching to Rodipet for both my hamster and my gerbils, though I'll probably mix in something else to make it go further.

Making a good mix from scratch is certainly possible, but difficult. I use a calculator found on this gerbil forum for my mixes. It lists lots of foods with their detailed nutritional information, and lets you see how much of each required vitamin or mineral your mix would provide. The recommended nutrition guidelines are based on gerbils, so adjust those as needed, but I find it useful for hamsters too.
I've heard of Rodipet. Does it have mealworms in it? Athena will not touch them at all! The others are fine but Athena has shown that she'd rather starve. I'll have a look at the links thanks
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Old 01-24-2020, 02:23 PM   #9
Engel
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Default Re: My own mix

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
I would definitely take a look at wider variety of grains, things like buckwheat, canary seed, barley are a few to considef, other seeds too, I would imagine phosphates are quite high at the moment also some animal protein.
I do have links to some really informative sites but it will probably take me a while to find them as it's been some years since I did my initial reseach. I can have a hunt though.
Well if its not too much of a bother, and that you can find the sites, could you link them back here please?
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Old 01-24-2020, 02:25 PM   #10
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Default Re: My own mix

Quote:
Originally Posted by Engel View Post
I've heard of Rodipet. Does it have mealworms in it? Athena will not touch them at all! The others are fine but Athena has shown that she'd rather starve. I'll have a look at the links thanks
The base mixes don't have mealworms in. You're supposed to buy dried insects separately and feed them as treats, and the protein is intentionally a little low to allow for that.
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