Help with making custom food mix

[Haruka]

Last year, when my wife and I got our first hamster, we had to make our own custom seed mix. The reason is that I have Celiac, and can’t have any gluten like wheat, barley, or rye in the house (don’t debate me on this, please, or I’ll just delete the thread.)

We did pretty well at the time, I think, and our Chan is still thriving on our mix. However, now we have two more hamsters, and that means we have a hybrid Campbell’s/Winter White, a Syrian, and a Robo at the same time. We realize that one mix may not be suitable for all of them, and are ready to start again, even if we have to make three different mixes.

So my question is: Ideally, what would you put in a custom hamster mix for each of these breeds, excluding pellets (because these all contain gluten.)

 

[Maz]

We had another member who had to do their own food mix due to various allergies for various family members and other allergies as well It isn't impossible but it's quite a complex thing to achieve and @Daisy is a bit of an expert at food mixes and spent a very long time researching and creating her own spreadsheet. So hopefully she'll come along and give you some tips.

But yes, dwarf species need a different kind of mix to Syrians, although the russian dwarf and robo will be fine with the same one.

I think you're right that most commercial mixes will contain grains.

Oats, quinoa, rice, corn, millet, amaranth and buckwheat are supposed to be gluten free but you're probably more an expert on that than me - maybe they are just lower in gluten?

All of those are suitable for hamsters. However the main thing is that the mix has enough protein and not too high fat, and the right nutrients. And that is the difficult bit to work out when creating your own mix.

In addition to a protein source (eg nuts, insects or freeze dried chicken perhaps), it could also include flowers, some herbs, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds (not too many for a dwarf hamster as they are fattening). And maybe some of the things mentioned above.

You can give fresh food as well. A tiny bit of fresh veg daily is always recommended anyway. But they can have a bit of egg or plain cooked chicken or beef eg. (teeny tiny amounts so they don't get hoarded!).

The main thing is working out the balance. There is a German web page that helps create recipes with the correct balance, but it probably relies on grains a lot. I'll check that out.

What do you have in your current mix? Dwarf hamsters and Robos are keen on the smaller seeds, like millet, hemp, milk thistle, sesame, linseeds and pumpkin seeds, and pine nuts.

This (linked below) is a Rodipet mix specifically for hybrid dwarfs, intending to help prevent diabetes as they are diabetes prone. The list of ingredients might give you an idea and you can maybe substitute some things with other things of equal nutritional value.

Rodipet® Organic Hybrid Hamster Food ''JUNIOR'' - 500g

Compound feed for diabetes-prone dwarf hamsters and their hybrids Our Hybrid Mix is tailored especially to the needs of dwarf hamsters with a high risk of developing ...

www.rodipet.co.uk

There is also a place in Germany called Mixerama where they have various natural mixes and they may make a tailored one for you. However I'm not sure if they ship to the US and Canada or not. But some German hamster food companies do.

 

[Haruka]

We had another member who had to do their own food mix due to various allergies for various family members and other allergies as well It isn't impossible but it's quite a complex thing to achieve and @Daisy is a bit of an expert at food mixes and spent a very long time researching and creating her own spreadsheet. So hopefully she'll come along and give you some tips.

But yes, dwarf species need a different kind of mix to Syrians, although the russian dwarf and robo will be fine with the same one.

I think you're right that most commercial mixes will contain grains.

Oats, quinoa, rice, corn, millet, amaranth and buckwheat are supposed to be gluten free but you're probably more an expert on that than me - maybe they are just lower in gluten?

All of those are suitable for hamsters. However the main thing is that the mix has enough protein and not too high fat, and the right nutrients. And that is the difficult bit to work out when creating your own mix.

In addition to a protein source (eg nuts, insects or freeze dried chicken perhaps), it could also include flowers, some herbs, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds (not too many for a dwarf hamster as they are fattening). And maybe some of the things mentioned above.

You can give fresh food as well. A tiny bit of fresh veg daily is always recommended anyway. But they can have a bit of egg or plain cooked chicken or beef eg. (teeny tiny amounts so they don't get hoarded!).

The main thing is working out the balance. There is a German web page that helps create recipes with the correct balance, but it probably relies on grains a lot. I'll check that out.

What do you have in your current mix? Dwarf hamsters and Robos are keen on the smaller seeds, like millet, hemp, milk thistle, sesame, linseeds and pumpkin seeds, and pine nuts.

This (linked below) is a Rodipet mix specifically for hybrid dwarfs, intending to help prevent diabetes as they are diabetes prone. The list of ingredients might give you an idea and you can maybe substitute some things with other things of equal nutritional value.

Rodipet® Organic Hybrid Hamster Food ''JUNIOR'' - 500g

Compound feed for diabetes-prone dwarf hamsters and their hybrids Our Hybrid Mix is tailored especially to the needs of dwarf hamsters with a high risk of developing ...

www.rodipet.co.uk

There is also a place in Germany called Mixerama where they have various natural mixes and they may make a tailored one for you. However I'm not sure if they ship to the US and Canada or not. But some German hamster food companies do.

Thank you for all of this! We’ll check it all out.