Change of food

[Lovelyness]

Blimey! It’s a bit of a minefield! Maybe I’ll just stick with Harry Hamster! At least it would be fairly familiar, and complete, and sugar free.

 

[Maz]

This was the thread where various non commercial mixes were being discussed. I think Elusive felt Lentils were ok for Syrians but not for dwarfs. Elusive and Daisy are the food experts!

Currently available Hamster mixes

The ingredients do sound pretty good overall but I am wondering what “healthy seeds” are 🤔 All ingredients listed on that mealberry link above :)

thehamsterforum.com

 

[Maz]

Blimey! It’s a bit of a minefield! Maybe I’ll just stick with Harry Hamster! At least it would be fairly familiar, and complete, and sugar free.

Making your own mix, or a non commercial mix, is indeed a minefield! If it's not quite right hamsters can get nutritional deficiencies causing fur loss and muscle problems and more. I think, nutritionally, Bear's mix looks good. Although there is a note that it doesn't contain fortified vitamins and says if you're concerned about that, add some pellets (eg science selective). It takes a lot of experience to make your own mix.

But it looks fine except I'd be sniffing the freeze dried chicken regularly! I wonder if they give storage requirements.

 

[Maz]

I keep it fairly simple and use the Bunny Dream mixed with Harry Hamster. The Bunny dream mix is really nice - it even smells nice! It's expensive and frustrating having to order it online (means you need to plan ahead to get more in time) but it lasts quite a long time mixed with Harry Hamster.

 

[Lovelyness]

This was the thread where various non commercial mixes were being discussed. I think Elusive felt Lentils were ok for Syrians but not for dwarfs. Elusive and Daisy are the food experts!

Currently available Hamster mixes

The ingredients do sound pretty good overall but I am wondering what “healthy seeds” are 🤔 All ingredients listed on that mealberry link above :)

thehamsterforum.com

Just had a read thru this. Similar thoughts to mine really. Made me laugh about feeding stuff to the squirrels lol Blossom is the only hamster I've had who eats the chunky green bits so will probably be fine with HH lol. In fact, she hoovers it all up! I spread the smaller seeds round her enclosure in different locations so she eats them. She didn't when they were just in her food bowl

 

[Maz]

I do like the look of the Bears mix though, and it seems lentils are fine. You could use that with 2 or 3 science selective pellets added daily, but it does seem quite expensive. £16 for a 500g bag. I'd just have a sniff of the freeze dried chicken after 4 weeks though!

I think one thing discussed on that thread was - using a commercial mix with the right protein levels and then having a smaller amount of one of these home made mixes to add as a bit of forage for scattering. Which is a similar idea to my giving a healthy treat daily or scattering a few pumpkin seeds.

 

[Lovelyness]

I think you're right about the freeze dried chicken...and the price. I'd be rather peeved if it went off for that price! I'm inclined to go with HH. I give her veg and bits anyway. I'd like to keep it as simple as possible really while keeping her healthy I suspect that HH may well be better quality than what she has now. I only got it as that was what she was being fed at the pet shop. Having said that, she looks healthy enough and has grown.