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04-25-2022, 02:45 PM
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#1
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Hamster Pup
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: England
Posts: 232
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Mixing Hamster Foods
So, I want to mix my hamster mixes to ensure that my two hamsters have a really diverse diet. I ideally want to mix the bunny dwarf & Rodipet teddy food, however I could add the Harry Hamster food, just as Pico and Neptr already have some of that a day too.
I want to get all the proportions for nutrients right, but I'm terrible at maths. How would I do this?
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04-25-2022, 03:49 PM
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#2
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Hamster Overlord
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: London
Posts: 763
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
When you're mixing together commercial mixes, you don't necessarily need to calculate the nutrients assuming each component mix is itself properly balanced. You can never end up with an unbalanced mix when you are mixing together balanced mixes.
If you did want to calculate it, you would do as follows:
Say, for example I wanted to make a mix containing 300g Harry Hamster and 200g Bunny Dwarf Hamster Expert.
First I need to find the percentage of protein (i.e protein per 100g) in both of these foods. Harry Hamster has 18% protein and Bunny has 15.5% protein.
Now I need to find out how much protein is in the quantities of each food I am using. To find a percentage of a given number, divide the percentage by 100 and then multiply that by the given number. Harry Hamster has 18% protein, so 18 divided by 100 is 0.18. 300 x 0.18 is 54. This means that 300g of Harry Hamster contains 54g of protein. In the same way I can work out that 200g Bunny Dwarf Hamster Expert contains 31g of protein.
Now add together 54g and 31g. Now I know that a mixture of 300g Harry Hamster and 200g Bunny will contain 85g of protein. Now I need to find what that is as a percentage of the whole mix, i.e 85 as a percentage of 500. To do that, divide 85 by 500 and multiply that by 100. 85/500 = 0.17. 0.17 x 100 = 17. So the final mixture will have 17% protein.
Then do the same for fat and fibre if you wish.
Alternatively there are calculators that will work this out for you, such as this: https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=...deHeaders=True
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04-25-2022, 11:38 PM
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#3
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Hamster Antics
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
I mix Bunny Dream Syrian and Harry Hamster 50/50. That's an easier calculation
HH has 18% protein
Bunny Dream has 15% - add them together and divide by two
So the protein content is 16.5% overall
Or you can assume it is on average over a week say
So it actually reduces the protein content of HH but increases the protein content of Bunny Dream.
If you mix three you'd do the same
Rodipet Syrian junior has 14.9%
HH 18%
Bunny Dream 14%
Add the three together and divide by three and it's 15.6%
15.6% is fine for an older syrian (over a year old) but for a younger one you'd need to supplement the protein a bit by giving occasional high protein treats. some people give freeze dried chicken or shrimp or extra meal worms. I tend to give the occasional nut - which is always appreciated! Half a shelled walnut or plain cashew nut or brazil nut, a pinch of hemp seeds maybe. You can also give the odd bit of plain cooked chicken or beef if you've had a roast dinner! (Providing no spices or gravy etc). I used to do that with our first hamster - during out of cage time. Because he always ate what he wanted and left the rest. Our second hamster used to pouch it so I stopped doing it - didn;t want rotting meat in the cage! Even the occasional tiny bit of cheddar cheese doesn't do any harm as an occasional treat.
The above way of working it out was first suggested by Vectis I believe.
You need to weigh it out before mixing it to get equal amounts of each - say 100g of each, mix them together well (shake it up) and put it in a tub,
I think you need to give it a shake and a mix regularly really or the HH tends to fall to the bottom, with the heavier pieces.
I used to mix those three but had a bad batch of Rodipet food last year which put me off. Mind you I recently found Zooplus didn't have any Bunny Dream food so might need to try Rodipet again!
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04-25-2022, 11:48 PM
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#4
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Hamster Antics
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
In fact Zooplus has no hamster food in stock at all. I just ordered the Bunny Dream from some online vet pharmacy (vetsend). I will definitely be freezing it for a week! You have no idea where these things have been stored.
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04-26-2022, 05:12 AM
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#5
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Hamster Pup
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: England
Posts: 232
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
This is great, thank you! I'm useless with maths on my own, but this has been really helpful.
I'm unsure of Pico's age, but Neptr's around the 18 week mark or so? Could be wrong, again, numbers aren't massively my thing. He was born in December, however.
So, if I'm coming short on protein, I could add some dried bugs myself. How many grams of bugs would I add then?
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04-26-2022, 05:26 AM
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#6
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Hamster Overlord
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: London
Posts: 763
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
Dried mealworms are about 50% protein. There are other options such as dried grasshoppers, fresh or freeze-dried chicken or fish, or egg.
Check that your hamster will eat mealworms before mixing them into the food though as while most dwarfs love them, not all Syrians do.
If I remember rightly, Pico is a Robo and Neptr a Syrian? Bunny Dwarf makes an ideal base diet for a Robo. The pieces in Harry Hamster are quite big for a Robo.
Conversely, Bunny Dwarf is rather overabundant in very small seeds for a Syrian, so I wouldn't use it as a large part of the diet.
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04-26-2022, 05:48 AM
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#7
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PM Fluffy for custom title
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 4,545
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
Freeze dried shrimp are nutritionally superior to dried mealworms. Shrimp aren't high in fat - mealworms are, and dried mealworms aren't ever going to be as nutritious as freshly gut loaded ones would be(in fact there are other pet communities that have viewed them as even bordering on useless or even harmful as they're essentially chitin which isn't really nutritionally useful for many species). Freeze dried chicken and turkey are another superior alternative to mealworms that tend to be far more appealing to many hamsters.
That being said, Rodipet junior foods generally have a very good or at least decent protein level. The Syrian junior is the only major exception to that and would need a protein boost, but the teddy junior has a very good level of protein for a base diet.
I personally wouldn't be mixing foods when using the Rodipet teddy junior & dwarf junior diets. You'd be lowering the protein even just using the bunny dwarf food which would not be a good decision in terms of maintaining good nutrition. The protein level in Harry Hamster is also lower than both the Rodipet dwarf junior & teddy junior so that would also lower the protein which, again, isn't a good thing. Harry Hamster also isn't anywhere near as high quality as Rodipet in terms of ingredients(synthetic dyes, far more processed, etc) so that's another thing to consider before jumping to mixing.
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04-26-2022, 09:29 AM
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#8
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Hamster Pup
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: England
Posts: 232
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
I don't think I'm jumping to mixing, I've been considering it for a while regardless. Neptr and Pico came to me on a Harry Hamster only diet.
I've kept the Harry Hamster in both of their diets. Pico hasn't touched his Harry Hamster however, but does love the Rodipet and Bunny dwarf. Neptr does not like Harry Hamster and typically leaves it.
I typically won't feed my hamster many things it wouldn't otherwise find if it was wild and living in Aleppo - at least, I won't feed it anything other than his Rodipet and the few things I'm offering him from Harry Hamster. Therefore, I won't be readily feeding him chicken or turkey, and I don't have readily access to that either as I myself am vegetarian.
Neptr isn't a massive hamster, I will weigh him when I do a clean of his cage soon, but he's otherwise quite small, I'd say. He does enjoy Rodipet and that is about the same size and Bunny dwarf, so I'm comfortable in feeding both.
I have also seen that mealworms aren't the most ideal bug, and I'd like to offer other bugs. I'd just like to see which ones are best first, and what I can add to his diet that's available to my area.
I think even if there's a small amount of Harry Hamster, as I do plan on continuing taking in Hamsters, it's beneficial for me to have. I might not add it to the main diet, but I won't be getting rid of it entirely. And when people rehome hamsters, they usually bring with it what it has - including Harry Hamster.
So, I am pretty keen on in the very least mixing Rodipet and Bunny dwarf. I'm more than happy to add protein to the diet and anything else that it'd be missing.
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04-26-2022, 10:00 AM
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#9
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Hamster Antics
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
They love a bit of scrambled egg on a teaspoon - maybe twice a week? That's a good protein supplement too. Most of our syrians don't like bugs full stop lol. They get more excited about human food! If you think about it, they have no option in the wild and domestic hamsters aren't wild hamsters. Even if they have a bit of hard wiring. They get coddled! They love tasty human food!
I agree if it's for a Syrian I wouldn't mix a dwarf mix with HH. Keep to specific syrian mixes and vice versa.
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04-26-2022, 12:13 PM
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#10
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House of Hamsters
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Wiltshire, UK
Posts: 7,103
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Re: Mixing Hamster Foods
Quote:
Originally Posted by heidii
So, I want to mix my hamster mixes to ensure that my two hamsters have a really diverse diet. I ideally want to mix the bunny dwarf & Rodipet teddy food, however I could add the Harry Hamster food, just as Pico and Neptr already have some of that a day too.
I want to get all the proportions for nutrients right, but I'm terrible at maths. How would I do this?
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Why do you want to give a dwarf mix to a Syrian and a Syrian mix to a Robo?
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