How can I tell if my hamster is overeating or overweight?

[Cheeky]

My hamster isn't quite tame enough to get her to stand still so i can actually weigh her. She does seem to have gained weight. I feed her the Pets at Home dry hamster food, and one slice of apple, a slice of cucumber and sometimes a small piece of carrot daily. She gets one yogurt drop daily (for training) and maybe 2 sesame seeds.

She is about 12 weeks old and has just recently reached her full grown weight, I believe. Is there a way to tell if she is getting too much sugar or if she is overweight?

She does run on her wheel quite a lot, and spends 15 minutes or so in her runabout ball each evening.

[chubchub]

I think you should cut down on fruits and vegetables you've been giving her. Fruits and yogurt drops have sugar content and seeds and nuts are really fattening. I suggest you give her a slice of apple, cucumber and yogurt drops ONCE or twice a week not daily.

I wouldn't suggest feeding all these foods once a week on the same day though, maybe Monday could be for apples, Wednesday could be for yogurt drops, Friday could be for carrots/cucumber.

Try feeling her belly, or holding her if you could feel her ribs, then shes too thin. Try picking her up and feel her leg bone. If you can't she is probably overweight. Gently stretch her body out. You should see shoulders, a waist and then hips. If you can't see the waist she is probably overweight.

Also, make sure her exercise wheel is comfortable for her. She might need a bigger wheel since you said she reached her full grown weight.

I used to feed my Syrian, Sammy, 2 tbsp of hamster mix (including 5 or more sunflower seeds), a thin slice of carrot, banana or corn, and 2 yogurt drops daily. Every time I see his food bowl almost empty, I would always put more hamster mix.

Before, I didn't know seeds and nuts are fattening to hamsters so I just kept giving him his favorites >.<

[souffle]

Hamsters will not naturally overeat Fiz and will choose themselves a balanced diet so don't worry about that. At 12 weeks she is very much a young growing animal and far from fully grown in terms of her body bulking out and muscling up. You should be generous with your food and also offer some treats like protein rich food such as plain chicken, dried mealworms, boiled egg, tofu, cooked pasta, porridge etc.
Personally I think that is a little much veg as she will fill up with cucumber which is water basically and not eat her sed mix.
A fingernail sized bit of one type of veg is plenty 3 times a week or so I'd say.
A syrian is not really fully grown and a peak weight and condition till 6months -9 months I would say. Skeleton and actual body size at around 4 months but they do fill out after that.
Let her eat as much as she wants and she will govern her weight correctly

[fluffymunchkins]

yh i used to give new food and treats every day and hardly any veg or fruit.
But since i've changed dramitcally and now my hammys find something to look forward too on a routine.
I feed about 2-3 tablespoons of food every other day and i do not fill it up until the majority is gone (although i was away for a night and my sister decided that she would fill up the whole bowl even though i gave strict instructions, you'd think an older sister would know better )
Then veg or fruit about 3 times a week, thumb tip sized for syrian and fingertip sized for robo.
Then treats only about twice a week, that being: millet seeds, yogurt drops, rodent marbles, cracker or bread.

Sorry to ramble just thought it'd help if you got an idea of others routine

For weighing try givving them a bit of spagetti which takes a bit of time to eat so you can read the weight.