Hamsters?

[MegTheFish]

Yes please try the harry or hazel hamster food. You will only need to pick out the sunflower seeds. Lab blocks day after day Bluck. Seed mixes are great and it isn't hard to pick out sunflower seeds You just pick them out as you feed the mix to your ham.

A good quality lab block can be a complete staple diet, they are much better then seeds, and yes the hamster should be eating them EVERYDAY. I don't know what you mean by them being "bluck", its just like a dog, they eat the same dog food over and over again each day, and its HEALTHY for them. And NO, seed mixes are not great, they are horrible. Even if you pick out the sunflower seeds there is still lots of unhealthy seeds and such in the mix, they will also pick out what they want, so they are no getting a balanced meal. As I said, seed mixes can be fed as a treat, just like greasy, fattening fast food can be eaten as a TREAT.

 

[demonmagus]

hope everything turns out well

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Personally i found the Harry hamster food brand very good when i had hamsters; sunflower seeds aren't bad or anything, they're just very fatty, but for young hamsters with bags of energy they are fine for them- its more older hamsters who don't excercise as much and who sleep a lot more where such foods can be a bit of a problem. Either way though if you hamster has a good weight and is active there's no harm in giving it sunflower seeds- crushed walnuts also make good treats for hamsters.
Either way though, if your hamster is starting to get quite old (i would say a year or more old), then i would advise buying special hamster mineral/vitamin supliments to give to the hamster in its water to make sure its getting all the nutrition it needs as hamsters get less efficient at taking in all the minerals and vitamins they need in their diet as they get older.
Make sure you feed the hamster veg too on a regular basis- raw brocali, turnip, sweet potato, carrot, chinese cabbage/lettuce etc are good for them as they aren't too sugary nor do they contain too much citric acid, so make good veg to feed hamsters .

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'm just curious, but does it seem that hamsters prefer food such as raw turnip or carrot that have a bit of crunch to them?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

i'm just curious, but does it seem that hamsters prefer food such as raw turnip or carrot that have a bit of crunch to them?

Yeah i found that too, my hamsters never seemed to pay much interest in squishy veg, so most of the veg i fed them was raw and hard stuff like raw turnip, carrot and sweet potato etc- my rats also throughly enjoy such hard veg too, i think its just one of those things with rodents who chew/knaw a lot .

 

[Betta_luver]

A good quality lab block can be a complete staple diet, they are much better then seeds, and yes the hamster should be eating them EVERYDAY. I don't know what you mean by them being "bluck", its just like a dog, they eat the same dog food over and over again each day, and its HEALTHY for them. And NO, seed mixes are not great, they are horrible. Even if you pick out the sunflower seeds there is still lots of unhealthy seeds and such in the mix, they will also pick out what they want, so they are no getting a balanced meal. As I said, seed mixes can be fed as a treat, just like greasy, fattening fast food can be eaten as a TREAT.

My dogs, cats and fish have more then one brand of food mixed together to give them some variety. I never said that lab blocks were bad, just boring. I give them to my hamsters as treats every now and then. I tried giving it to them as a full time meal but A) after a week they wouldn't touch them and B ) everybrand I found had corn of some sort in it and RCD's are often prone to diabetes and C) I could only get these tiny little bags I have to many hamster I would be buying a bag every other week. I pick out he corn and sunflower seeds for my dwarfs and the sunflower seeds for my syrians. It doesn't take long, they are only picky if I leave the sunflower seeds in and they like variety. To me it sounds great. Oh and only the sunflower seeds (and if there are peanuts) are fattening and I haven't a clue how the whole mix is fattening or greasy I am not trying to tell you to switch your food but please stop trying to change my ways and suggestions.

 

[Teri]

Thanks for all your advice. I've started to pick out most of the sunflower seeds and peanuts from the hamster food, (not all, cos it does seem to be her favourite), and bought a mineral block. I'm not sure what a lab block is?
However, I found my daughter feeding hammy out of one of the little raisin boxes u can get for lunch boxes...I guess that too many of those wouldn't be too good? Anyway, littlun has promised not to feed anyof the animals withoutchecking with me first...although it was probably my fault, cos a few weeks ago she dropped a few raisins on the floor, and wanted to eat them,and i told her to give them to the hamster...that was only 2 or 3 though...
But hamster seems fine..no more swollen bottom, cats have moved onto new entertainment (just put some loaches in the tank, and they're VERY lively, cats sitting on top of the sofa absolutely transfixed!!), and seems to enjoy running around the living room floor, while the humans are getting their daily fix of the soaps...has only disappeared the once!

 

[Betta_luver]

lol Not to many raisons but a couple once a week should be fine

Sorry for highjacking your thread.