Food
Don't try to mix your own food. Commercially processed foods are cheap and nutritionally complete. They cost around 3 to 6 dollars and last a few months. Buy food from pet stores instead of the pet food aisle of the grocery store because their stocks are usually fresh. Some grocery stores carry hamster food, but the feed is probably pretty old.
Also, look what's in the bag. Hamster like a variety of seeds and nuts. Some brands of hamster food have more kinds of food than others. I think it's worth it to spend an extra dollar or two for good food because it makes your hamster so much happier and it's only a few dollars. Hamsters don't do much but play, eat, and sleep. So if you give them good food, they'll be so much happier.
Unlike fish, hamsters won't kill themselves by overeating. They eat about half an once every day. You can give them a bulk amount at the beginning of the week. The use of a food dish isn't neccessary since hamsters will remove the food and hide it under the bedding anyways.
Some supplemental items include "Yogurt Drops" and alfalfa. Yogurt drops from vitakraft taste good(try them yourself). Alfalfa provide roughage and maintain a healthy digestive system.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are also good to supplement the diet. However, don't give them too much. A little piece twice a week is enough. Feed them only as much as they'll eat immediately. Fresh foods go bad if they're hidden some where in the cage. Also, a hamster's cheek pouches aren't designed to store soft foods. If your hamster has teary eyes, it might be caused by soft foods stuck in the pouches. Make sure what you feed your hamster is clean and raw (don't cook it). Due to pesticides, it's not good to give them the peel from fruits and vegies. Here's a list of some fruits and vegies they can eat:
- Lettuce, only iceburgs. Not too much though, else it'll get diahrea.
- Bananas, apples, carrots, celery...pretty much anything you can eat.
Ok, so after saying that hamsters can eat pretty much anything you can eat, here's a list of things that hamsters should not eat. Don't feed them:
- Oranges, or other citric fruits
- Onions, it hurts their digestive systems
- Potatoes. Some people say you shouldn't feed them potatoes, some say it's fine. Better to stay away from it.
- House plant leaves
Be careful not to give your pet lots of food that have high water content. Fruits and vegetables are ok, but don't feed them too much. Milk is good for growth, especaillly for young hamsters. However, it's dangerous when it turns sour.
So with all those types of commercial foods out there, which ones do you choose? There are two major types of hamster food. The type with seeds, and the type that's all artifical. The artifical types can look like pellets or like colorful cereal. Here what you should be picky about:
1) Foods with seeds should not have whole oats with the hull still attached. The hull is pointy and pokes the hamster's cheek pouches. The left picture is the unsafe oats. The right picture is the safe oats.
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If you buy pellet type foods (i.e. those that contain only breakfast cereal type foods) you won't have to worry about this.
2) Variety! The more kinds of seeds in there, the better. Usually the price difference between the plain seeded foods and seeded foods with more variety is only like one or two bucks, so I think it's worth it.
3) Buy from a sealed plastic bag, not paper box. The plastic bags are much fresher.
Here's what I use for my hamster. I combine two types hamster foods. The artifical type I use is Kaytee's "Exact" hamster food. It looks like colorful breakfast cereal. The second type is Fruit Bites Banquet (from Brown's). You can buy both of these at PetsMart.
I like the artifical types of food because they're very nutritious. However, hamster prefer seeds. The Fruit Bites Banquet bag contains lots of different seeds. The oats are also safe oats (with the hull removed). Here's a picture:
There are lots of different "treats" that are sold in petshops. Although these treats probably won't hurt your hamster, it might hurt your budget. Take a good look at the ingredients. Most treats use the same ingredients as regular hamster food, they just package it a little different. Those food bars are an example.
I don't think these are any more nutritious than regular food. They might just add more sugar to the diet. One treat I like is alfalfa. I buy little cubes with dried berry in them. My hamster Peanuts love those.
