Question about hoards

[PuddingBear]

Good morning
Our dwarf now has two stashes going on. And both are absolutely massive and continue to get bigger ans take up two of his hides!

My question is, what will he do with them considering he gets fed every day?! They are soooo big it sounds like a bag of food every time he burrows down to add to it

 

[Socks' Mum]

In nature, I think the hammy would just dig a new nest chamber. The old hoard would fertilise the earth or possibly even grow new plants. In cages, the old hoard needs to be pruned, if possible, taking out the old stuff from the bottom and leaving some of the newer food so that the hamster isn't too upset about it going. I feel bad when I disturb the hoard, but it has to be done unfortunately. I think they might even be secretly relieved that the old, stale food has gone

 

[Veer]

how much do you feed? i have two hamsters, one of them, Ukkie, doesn't hoard at all, just eats from his bowl.
He gives me a good guideluine of how much they actually eat per day.
my other hamster, Hammie, has always been a massive hoarder.
i take the hoard away when i do spot cleaning and change the layout a bit, abouy every 4 weeks, or she gets bored.
i feed them both 1 tablespoon Bunny and 1 tablespoon science selective every ither day, but it is way too much.
looking at Ukkie, i 1hink 1 tablespoon every other day can be enough, but i don't want them to be without food, and therfore always feed more then needed.

 

[Maz]

For dwarf hamsters, a heaped teaspoon daily is the usual recommended amount. A tablespoon daily for syrian hamsters Daily helps give them a routine of feeding time and pouching and hoarding habits.

I'm not keen on the idea of changing layouts personally, it can stress them - maybe it works for your hamster, but most prefer to keep everything the same and familiar as they scent mark everything so they can find their way around easily.

It's usually recommended not to take the hoard away completely but just prune it at a major clean out time. They can get stress behaviours if the hoard keeps getting removed. If it's pee'd on, it has to be removed though, but then it's necessary to replace it with some new food to avoid them getting stressed.

 

[Socks' Mum]

I tend to overfeed Socks to give him more variety as he eats Harry Hamster muesli. He also gets fresh veg/salads and a Nibblot pet biscuit as well as pecan and walnut pieces. I'm hoping this will give him a range of nutrients. At the moment he's not taking much dried food. I think I need to move his bowl closer to his multi chamber house as I think he's concentrating on pouching and carrying veg.