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Need some help with food choices please

I don’t know what other hamsters prefer, my male Syrian had two bowls with each a teaspoon of two different foods mixes (he loves his bowls and sits in them) and I scatter his treats and a few linseeds on top of his playforms. He collects these before he goes to bed. This way nothing gets lost in the bedding 😂
I put him a biscuit a few linseeds two pellets and something to chew out and sometimes a nut or a piece of dried cocanut.
After I use up the mixed foods that I combined and so sorry sorry I did it I will buy and store food separately not mix them together anymore. If I may ask you what brand of foods do you give? Are you in the USA or is everyone in the UK or other places? I'm not sure I follow your daily routine so please help me understand. I think you said besides putting 2 bowls down of different food/pellets you also give linseeds (not sure what they are will look it up) on his toy/platform for him to climb and sat right? You also drop some seeds around the cage? What treats do you give? What do you mean you put him a biscuit a few linseeds 2 pellets ( I take it that's his food right)? What do you mean something to chew out? Sorry to sound dumb. Thank you.
 
For dwarf hamsters it's a teaspoonful - I'd give a heaped one. For Syrian hamsters, a tablespoonful. They may not take all of it but even so, always put new out every day, because bizarrely they won't eat it if it's left in the bowl from the day before - they seem to know when it's freshly put out.

So what I do is add the next day's on top of what is left and then after 2 or 3 days (depending on how full the bowl gets) tip the rest away out of the bowl and start again with a new spoonful. They can get quite anxious if new food isn't put out every day. They usually pouch most of what they take from the bowl and hoard it and then eat from their hoards as and when so you can't actually tell how much they are eating. But they seem to have a natural instinct for eating what they need. Our job is to make sure the nutritional balance is right. Otherwise they'd be like children just wanting to live on ice cream! Not quite like children as they do like grains and seeds which are healthy.

I would just get Hazel Hamster for now and see how the dwarfs get on with it and give them some linseeds and hemp seeds as well. Linseeds aren't expemsive to buy and a 500g bag would last for years probably! Same with hemp seeds.
I am going to do a search on where to buy linseeds and hemp seeds. I understand your routine with feed so I will do that also. Also the Syrain seems to be the only one who hordes the others I cant find their hordes if they even have one and I clean their cages top to bottom every week. Thank you for the advise and are you located in the UK or the USA or some other country?
 
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Ok he's a russian dwarf hamster :-) Not a chinese - so doesn't need to climb. Unfortunately Russian Dwarf hamsters can have a bit of a reputation for being bitey. It varies, and yes your daughter is doing a great job of taming him. If he still bites then she could wear gloves (something like suede or gardening gloves) and hopefully when he is more used to it the biting will stop. @Doodleham on here does that.

The Hazel Hamster you linked is fine. However it is better for Syrians than dwarf hamsters. It has some large-ish pieces which are good for Syrians. You can technically give it to dwarf hamsters as well, but ideally a dwarf specific mix is better for dwarf hamsters. But there aren't any commercial dwarf specific mixes in the US without sending off for some from Germany I believe. The Higgins Vita Garden would have smaller pieces so would be better for dwarf hamsters, and also suitable for Syrians, but if it's easier to get the Hazel Hamster then they could all have it. And what you could do for the dwarf hamsters, is give them some extras - they like small seeds - so you could get some linseeds and hemp seeds and mix them and put a pinch of those out daily on a separate dish. They are also healthy seeds for immunity and fur condition. They are fine for Syrians as well. I tend to give the linseeds and hemp seeds to older syrians or ones with health conditions, but your Syrian could have them as well just for general health, but not essential.

Socks Mum is right that string is bad for hamsters to chew, but it looks like the nice hanging chew/boredom breaker you have is sisal string, and that is ok. So I wouldn't remove it just yet. Is it a kind of rough hairy string?

Of the other items you linked.

The first one - no. Those hamster toys have chains and aren't very safe or anything a hamster would actually use

Second one - the platforms - as with all wood hamster items you need to know what would it is. I think it just says "hamster safe wood" - that isn't good enough as "wood" could be anything. It needs to say pine wood or birch wood or whatever. They might be ok but I wouldn't rely on it. Also with platforms you need to check the leg length - that's the tricky bit, finding one the right height. To answer the question, platforms are perfectly safe - as long as they are not too high. No more than 2" above the substrate level. Even an inch above substrate level is ok because there is still a gap for them to burrow under or you could lower the bedding a bit under the platform :-)

Third one - bendy stick bridges. These can be useful as ramps but can have little gaps in where hamsters feet can get trapped so people stuff moss or tissue paper in any gaps. So that is a possibility, but there are some smooth ones that are safer and don't have gaps. Linked below - most of the Niteangel items are safe.

This is a nice one for dwarf hamsters - its both a ramp and a hide - but it's too small for Syrians

This is also a useful little ramp for either dwarf or syrian hamsters and some people use it for access in and out of a sand bath as it's steeper on one side and longer and shallower on the other. By the way do they have sand baths? Hamsters do benefit from a sand bath in the cage all the time, and also sometimes use it as a toilet and then you can just use a small sieve and sift out the wet patch!


This is the smooth bendy stick bridge without gaps.


However Niteangel stuff can get quite expensive to buy - not all of these are essential.

A page of Niteangel hamster safe items


The sprays are fine. I would probably go with the Bucatstate selection as it has flax in and dwarf hammies seem to love nibbling the flax!

Forget about the climbing :-) That was just for a Chinese. Syrian and dwarf hamsters are ground dwellers and yes they can fall from heights and hurt themselves. But a low level platform is fine. And no risk there even for an older hamster.
Okay confused here. I found this food and it says pellets yet when you look at the contents is seed mix not pellets? I went back and the store that had Hazel Hamster is out of it but as I said I found this and not sure it is what you all think I should give once I finish what they have on hand - https://www.petco.com/product/higgi...TgJhS8KfoydWzhTIrAGm9lslWz0vvy-Hf9tT1TcRp-K-S
I understand this is better for Dwarfs but unless I want to feed them differently I would rather 1 food for all if possible but if not I will buy both bags and label who gets which.
 
Okay confused here. I found this food and it says pellets yet when you look at the contents is seed mix not pellets? I went back and the store that had Hazel Hamster is out of it but as I said I found this and not sure it is what you all think I should give once I finish what they have on hand - https://www.petco.com/product/higgi...TgJhS8KfoydWzhTIrAGm9lslWz0vvy-Hf9tT1TcRp-K-S
I understand this is better for Dwarfs but unless I want to feed them differently I would rather 1 food for all if possible but if not I will buy both bags and label who gets which.
They can all have the Higgins Vita Garden if you get that :-) But just noticed you said you clean their cages out every week. That isn't necessary and a full cage clean can really cause some stress and behavioural issues. Partial cleans are better - as in don't clean everything at the same time. I've added our cage cleaning tips article below :-) It may be the dwarf hamsters will start hoarding once they have settled in. They might still be a bit disorientated, depending on how long you've had them.

 
They can all have the Higgins Vita Garden if you get that :-) But just noticed you said you clean their cages out every week. That isn't necessary and a full cage clean can really cause some stress and behavioural issues. Partial cleans are better - as in don't clean everything at the same time. I've added our cage cleaning tips article below :-) It may be the dwarf hamsters will start hoarding once they have settled in. They might still be a bit disorientated, depending on how long you've had them.

Oh not every week okay. I will go read your link now.
Now as far as Flax seeds and hemp seeds I found these but not sure they are what you are talking about.
 
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Those links weren't opening so I removed them sorry. Might be because I'm in the Uk. Amazon usually sells linseeds or flax seeds.

Flax seeds - Amazon.com
Oh your not in the US sorry. Seems the UK has more stuff for hamsters then the USA does. I will go look at amazon for both seeds. Now if I find them do I get both and give both each night as treats or a couple of times a week? The flax seeds should they be out of their shells (milled) or in their shells?
 
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