Hamsters not wanting any treats..

[A_Couple_In_Love]

Hi everyone!

Ive had my 3 dwarf russians for around a month now and they just don't seem to be interested in no treats what so ever.

I've tried quite a few things and they dont even sniff them let alone attempt to eat them. However, i did buy them a treat stick and they loved it, litrally! lol

Ive tried giving them the following: Milk drops, yogurt drops, chocolate drops, raisins.

Anyone know what else i can try?

Really dont know what to give them as a treat, specially as my chinese hamsters love all of them.

Thanks everyone!

[Biscotti]

You can try giving them millet sprays, most dwarf hams seem to love them. I also give mine sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and mealworms occasionally, not too much at once, as they're fairly high in fat.

I think it's just as well that they don't like yogurt drops since they are high in sugar and is not good for diabetic-prong dwarf hams.

[vanilla-yazoo]

I have a syrian who really dosnt like treats, he wont take them from me, he rarely eats them in the cage, the only one he likes is the wilko chew sticks, but thats it
as long as they have a good diet, treats are not needed
I have made my own chew treats before, getting a wheatabix, some of their normal mix *was silvers dwarf at the time* some basil, or other such things, crack a few eggs in, mix and place on a baking tray, i think it was 180 for about 20 mins, let them cool then give to the hammies, i do small ones, and freeze unused ones, remove after 36-48 hours.
might be worth a try

[A_Couple_In_Love]

Thanks for replying to my thread.

I keep hearing of these millet sprays.. what are they and how often can they have them?

Also, thank you for informing me about the yogurt drops, i will keep them away from them. I didnt know they were high in sugar, i did ask when i got the hams from the pet store weather they was ok for them to have and they said yes, so thanks again.

[A_Couple_In_Love]

Thats a great idea! Never thought of doing something like that before..

Think i shall give that ago when i get chance. Bet my hammies would love them as like your syrian they just dont want anything else! lol

Thank you, very usefull idea!

[vanilla-yazoo]

(to your first one)millet is a type of seed, its small pale yellow seed, you can buy it loose, in a bag, or on the sprig, it will be a long stick covered in balls of the seeds, they then harvest the seeds, which is fun, and good for them, some shops sell them singularly, or in a bag, some online shops like rat rations and zoo plus also sell them in bulk.

Pet shops will try to sell you water for a fish if they could, they just want money, most shops and members dont even know that russians and chinese are diebetic prone, and an odd few give things they really shouldnt eat like oranges!
syrians and robos can eat yog drops, ect, and pure bred winter whites, but even with ww's i am more careful.
pet shop russians can be quite prone to diabeties, some brands of food are high in sugar, removing flaked pea's and corn will help reduce the risk.

Hehe I only came up with it as I have a chinese, and wanted a sugar free treat that was good for her and the others having their own mix will help them go to it, the egg is great for them, have you tried giving yours scrambled egg? glad its usefull

[kyrilliondaemon]

Yeah, all of those treats are high in sugar... And bad for both chinese and hybrids.

Our treat selection includes, mealworms, millet, lentils, linseed, sunflower seeds, bird seed, porridge oats, cat/dog kibble (watch for sugar), cat food (again watch for sugar), puffed rice, puffed millet, dari, safflower, pepper flakes, walnuts, monkey nuts, coconut, dog biscuits (watch for sugar), cat treats (watch for sugar)...
Loads of stuff

[Biscotti]

@vanilla-yazoo: that sounds like a delicious treat! Lucky hammies.

@A_Couple_In_Love: Millet sprays look like this

and you can usually find it in the bird section of your local pet store. Depending on how big the spray is and how fast your hammies eat them, some people give a whole spray or a section of it per week. It's up to you to moderate as long as your hammies still eat their regular mix. There's a few threads on millets in the Food/Nutrition forum and you can take a look their for other people's experience and opinions.

Oh yeah, Milk Bones are great as a treat also. I give mine the mini regular flavored ones and they also help wear down my hammies' teeth.

[A_Couple_In_Love]

Thanks for everyones help.

I have tones of ideas to try now! I will definately try the millet spray as they seem to be very popular with hams.

With the scrambled egg and porridge oats, can they be given hot or do they have to be quite cool before giving it to them? Also when you say porridge oats, do you mean cooked or raw?

Sorry for the questions, i learn so much from here.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Porridge oats can be given raw or cooked, and cooking can be done with water instead of milk

We let both egg and cooked porridge cool before we give it to the hams, just cooked it does seem hot enough to potentially burn them.