What can you feed a hamster.....?

Question

with regards to fresh food. This includes protein, live food, vegetables, nuts and seeds, oats, fruit, dairy products, basically anything that is not a dry mix. I have looked and found tons of information on the web, but would like to know what people's personal experiences are. Please could you also put your breed of hamster and its age?? Thanks.

Hamster food?? Really?? Wow, I never would have guessed that... Thanks for the sensible answers so far though. When you put the breed, could you please say if it's a Syrian, Russian, Siberian, Roberovski, Chinese etc. Cheers.

Answer 1

My Siberian hamster used to love cheese, soft wholemeal bread, strictly no crusts, red pepper, chunks of carrot, grape innards, bits of apple and he used to go nuts for banana. He also liked the biscuity bits of Bourbons, though we only ever used to let him have small amounts of this. He hated cucumber with a passion and used to push it back out through the cage bars. He also hated tomato seeds but liked the flesh.

My two Russian Dwarf hamsters used to like much the same sort of thing. They also went made for banana. Cassie used to cling to the cage bars and squeak if my mum ever walked past her cage eating one. She'd keep squeaking until we let her have some. They also liked white bread, more so than brown, which we found a little odd. They liked nibbling the seed bits outs of strawberries but left the flesh alone.

I'm sure there's something else, something major I'm forgetting.

That was it, sweetcorn, both of my Russian Dwarves and my Siberian absoloutely adored sweetcorn, loved it more than banana. It became such a regular part of their diet they rummaged around in their food bowls looking for it the moment I fed them.

I started giving my little hamsters fresh food after about 4 or 6 weeks of buying them. I tried them on so many different foods but these are what they liked best. My Russian Dwarves lived to about 2 years, my gorgeous Siberian for nearly 3.

Sorry, just remembered. Everwhere I've written Siberian, please change it to Syrian. Easy mistake to make, the useless pet shop owner who sold it to me said it was a Siberian and throughout its life I thought it was a Siberian until I described it to someone and they pointed out it was a Syrian.

Answer 2

Just about any pet shop will have hamster mix which is specially designed for hamsters. Hamster mix is usually made up from a variety of crushed grains and seeds. Do not feed your hamster any sort of mix designed for other animals. At the very least your hamster may not be as healthy as possible because it is not receiving the correct types and amounts of vitamins. Feeding your hamster the wrong type of food can also cause serious illnesses in your hamster. Beware when changing the type of hamster mix you are feeding your hamster, especially if you have been feeding it the same one for a while. Hamsters are very sensitive to changes in their diet. The best way to change their food is to make it a gradual change by mixing the two together for a week or so Fruits and vegetables are excellent foods for hamsters in small amounts. Never try to make the majority of your hamsters diet out of fruits and/or vegetables. Hamster mix should always be the primary source of their nutrition. When first starting to feed your hamster fruits introduce it very slowly into their diet. If you notice any change in their behaviour or if they appear to become sick stop feeding all fruits and vegetables. Once they have recovered completely you can begin to slowly introduce the fruits and vegetables back into their diet. The following is only a partial list of the fruits and vegetables that can be fed to hamsters. Alfafa Banana Broccoli Carrots Celery Chestnuts Cranberries Cress Grapes Green Beans Papaya Strawberries Sweetcorn Sweet Peppers Turnip Watermelon Plants and flowers help to make up a good varied diet for your hamster. If you do not know specifically that the plant you wish to feed your hamster is safe for it, leave it out of its diet! The list below gives some examples of plants that are safe for hamsters. Chickweed Clover Cornflowers Dock Mallow Roses Trefoil Vretch Young Grass

Answer 3

Hamsters will love slices of apple, carrot, pear or pretty much any fresh fruit or veg you have. I feed mine apple and carrot mainly, and always feed it to him when i have him out of the case.

If you feed it to him in the cage the chances are very high that he will pouch it, and hide it in his food storage place. It will most likely then go mouldy before he eats it which isnt good for him.

For dry feed i give him brizal nuts or peanuts (plain like i put out for the birds, not salted) dry mix from the pet shop and once a week i pop a small dog buiscuit in for him. he loves that.

Syrian, 2 years 1 month old.

Answer 4

My Russian dwarf just loves grapes, both dried and fresh. She also eats carrrots, but doesn't touch her brussels sprouts. She also loves sunflower seeds. She doesn't like normal cheese, but enjoys cream cheese and even bits of chicken at time. She is only a couple of months old so far.

I am learning by just trying. I have two books which tell me what she could and can't eat and I try everything. If she doesn't like it, I take it away after a night and try something else. Like humans, each hamster has an individual taste.

Answer 5

Hi, We have 2 Russian hamsters age 8months and 7weeks. 1 Chinese hamster aged 1yr, They love mashed egg. cooked pasta (no salt). Apple, Banana, Pears. All types of Veg. And my daughter bought them white chocolate drops with hundreds and thousands on the top from the local pet shop (they love them).

Answer 6

I have a Syrian panda hamster - they are larger than normal and more solitary - and he is a hamster with real attitude! He likes dog biscuits (good for the teeth), celery leaves and muesli (though he leaves the raisins). His cage is fascinating - he has little piles of different types of food in each corner, and his nests are truly a work of art - I hate to dismantle his little house for cleaning!

Answer 7

My hamsters breed is a golden long hair and its 1 years old.I feed it a hamsters food a they also like carrots and apples.

Answer 8

We feed our hamsters as well as prepared hamster food, nuts, fruits like apples and grapes, carrots, plain biscuits, cabbage, cereals, we also give them hamster treats, we 4 hamsters, 2 golden, 1 Rex and an angora.

Answer 9

i used to sell hamsters and i know the one thing you don't want to feed them is meat...like hamburger meat..bloody meat gets the hamsters to want to be cannibals..when you ship and keep hamsters they will be territorial and sometimes fight and eat the losers or the weak ones so don't ever feed them anything like bloody meat as then they won/t eat grains...the hamster will eat a lot of things as they are rodents. we shipped guinea pigs with potatoes and because they had a lot of water in them but the hamster likes just about any veggie and you would be surprised what that little sucker will eat but not meat! please! and of all the mammals they have the shortest gestation period of 21 days..a pair could have as many as 100,000 off spring in a years time!
I sold thousands of hamsters, guinea pigs , turtles, rabbits, goldfish etc etc..the hamster is the number one seller..go figure?

Answer 10

I used to have a hamster I used to give him carrots, cabbage, apples and sunflower seeds in addition to his dried food as an occasional treat I also used to give him some milk.