Tips to get her to lose weight?

[Micky93]

Phoebe has always been a large hamster since I brought her home. I don't mean fat, but just hugeee. However now I worry she's getting a bit too chunky and could maybe do with having some sort of regime to help keep her on the right side of things. She isn't one to go mad on her wheel, she does use it but only for short bursts at a time and not religiously like Bolt does. (For reference it's a Wodent Wheel Senior). She isn't a massive fan of running around in a ball either. She does quite happily for the first 5 minutes then will just plonk somewhere and try to chew her way out. She obviously free ranges. I've added hammocks in her cage but she doesn't really climb about to get to them. She will take whatever food or goodies she can find in her cage and pouch them away to her 'safe place' in her nest and there they stay.

Does anyone have any tips at all for me to try and get her fitter/slimmer? I'm running out of ideas...

[Micky93]

Some photos from last night for reference..





Pouches full

[squishyhammy]

to me she looks healthy some hams are naturaly chunkier than others

[Micky93]

Originally Posted by squishyhammy

to me she looks healthy some hams are naturaly chunkier than others

so she looks OK in the photos? sometimes she'll just be sat in her cage waiting for her food as I'm sorting it out and she looks sooo round. She has the nickname pudding as she reminded us of a christmas pudding

[squishyhammy]

haha lol female are bigger than males in general. i know of females who way 225g plus

[kimlck]

She looks good to me too.
Have you weighed her?

[ThePipsqueakery]

She looks good to me too. I would say start weighing her regularly and then if there is a large fluctuation you can worry about her weighing too much or too little.

[tolennaki]

Once the vet had told me that in order to help my hamster lose weight, I could add more veggies to his diet, and of course reduce any fatty treats. There are much more experienced members than me here, though, who say she looks fine, so I guess there is no need to worry about her weight, just keep an eye on her.

[evel_lin]

She looks fine to me, as long as she's got a wheel, a decent sized cage and a sensible diet she'll be fine She's beautiful

[Holly's Mum]

She doesn't look overweight to me at all, hamsters are naturally chunkier than say mice or rats. Might be a good idea to weigh her though, that way you can keep an eye on her.