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Feeding - how much and how often?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frida
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Frida

I give Albert 1 tablespoon of Harry Hamster every other day. I give him some kind of healthy treats every day. Vegetables about 3 - 4 times a week.

I've done some research and it varies from owner to owner:

- Keep bowl full to the top
- 1 tablespoon a day
- 1 or 2 tablespoons a day
- 1 tablespoon every other day
- 1 or 2 tablespoons every 2 or 3 days
- 1/2 tablespoon a day
- 1/2 tablespoon every other day
- 1 tablespoon until the bowl is nearly empty
- 1 tablespoon until bowl is empty

To be honest the list is endless...

I understand some owners don't want their hamster/s becoming picky eaters. Does it matter if they do?

One popular YouTuber feeds one hamster every other day and the other hamster every 3 days. She's says it's to stop picky eating habits and hamsters will not starve themselves and will eventually eat all the food in the bowl. I find that a bit cruel.

I'm very confused by all the mixed messages from food packaging, written advice on the web, pet shop advice and YouTubers advice.

What is your food feeding routine?
 
If i would feed every 3 days or wait until the bowl is empty i would have a riot at my hands.
I feed daily, roughly a tablespoon of hamster mix for the Syrians and a teaspoon for the dwarfs. I chuck leftover food out after a couple of days.
I feed a small amount of fresh food and a pinch of linseeds daily.
Treats they get when i work overnight, usually twice a week but they always have a whimzee and other chew sticks, millets and healthy nibbles available to them.

I probably feed them too much but hamsters don't overeat, love to hoard, hamster food is cheap and their lives are short.
 
I also think that waiting until the bowl is empty before feeding more is cruel and very stressful for the hamster.
 
With the question of whether to wait until the bowl is empty before feeding again, or always give new food regardless, I would fall somewhere in the middle. Hamsters, like humans, can have genuine food dislikes and I think it's unkind to force them to choose between eating a food they really hate and hunger. I don't find most hamsters are particularly picky eaters anyway. I also tend to believe that just like how if humans have free access to a wide variety of foods, most of us manage to avoid malnutrition without micromanaging what we eat, hamsters are relatively unlikely to become malnourished all the while they have access to a balanced diet. I suspect that have a certain sense about which foods they need to eat to meet certain needs they might have. On the other hand, if you feed too much and change the food every day, it is possible for hamsters to rely too much on their favourite foods which might not be healthy. So there's a balance to be had there. Ideally try to find a food which your hamster likes every part of. One of the reasons I mix my own food is so I can tailor it to the individual likes of each species.

In terms of whether to feed every day or every other day, I think consistency is the most important thing. If your hamster is used to being fed every day, try to keep that consistent because if they suddenly find they have no new food one day it could be stressful for them. Of course sometimes life happens and you might miss the occasional day but that's partly why hamsters should always be allowed to have a hoard. If your hamster is used to being fed every other day, I think that's ok too. I do think that food becomes stale after a while so daily feeding is the most ideal. But most importantly, pick a schedule and stick to it as much as possible.
 
I think we should put new food out every day and throw away any left in the bowl, if the bowl is getting too full. Hamsters rely on us to feed them, it's part of their daily routine, just as it's our daily routine to eat every day, and they can't get out of the cage and forage for themselves. Daily foraging is part of their routine and instinct. They tend not to eat any leftover food in the bowl - something I've always found. They only eat the new food. They seem to know if it's "fresh" that day or old. So then they just get anxious I think if no new food is put out.

When you hear about people waiting till the bowl is empty etc I think it is simply to save on food rather than wasting it. Hamster food is not that expensive, they hoard most of it and I would rather feed every day and throw half of it away and keep the hamster content.

Their hoards get huge and most of that ends up being thrown away at some point, leaving some behind. It's part of the cost of having a hamster and enabling them to have normal behaviours.

I've only ever had one hamster who pouched everything in his bowl every day, leaving it empty, which made it easy - I just topped the bowl up again each day.

I also think hamsters mainly only eat from their hoards and mainly pouch the food put out for them - as part of their foraging instinct. They then snack in bed from their hoards as and when they feel like it.

I put out about a rounded tablespoonful for a day for a Syrian and about a rounded dessertspoonful a day for a robo. Robos eat very little from it so it does get thrown out and replaced when the bowl gets full. But they like to have enough to forage from.

It's definitely cruel to make them wait until they've eaten everything in the bowl because they won't. And there have been some awful stories of a hamster starving. When they had their hoard cleaned out regularly and the owner was frugal with the bowl in the food then went away for a few days. Obviously these are extreme circumstances.
 
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I put food out daily, although I think if you watch what & how much your ham eats, how much they hoard & what they do or don’t like they will actually guide you as to what they individually need, they are all different so I don’t have any hard & fast rules.
About a teaspoon a day is generally enough for a Russian ham.
Does Albert eat all of his Harry Hamster mix? I’ve never fed that to a dwarf ham as it’s quite chunky. If they are some bits he doesn’t eat then you might need more than a teaspoon a day.
 
elusive said:
I put food out daily, although I think if you watch what & how much your ham eats, how much they hoard & what they do or don’t like they will actually guide you as to what they individually need, they are all different so I don’t have any hard & fast rules.
About a teaspoon a day is generally enough for a Russian ham.
Does Albert eat all of his Harry Hamster mix? I’ve never fed that to a dwarf ham as it’s quite chunky. If they are some bits he doesn’t eat then you might need more than a teaspoon a day.
Click to expand...
No Albert doesn't eat all his Harry Hamster. He doesn't like the biscuit part of it. He also doesn't like treats that are like little biscuits ie Rosewoods naturals little hearts. I guess he just doesn't like the texture.
 
Good points made above...
- The freshness of the food
- Food going stale
- Like humans hamsters have likes and dislikes
- Routine
- Trust your hamster to know what it needs

I've decided to feed Albert 1 tablespoon a day and throw away any leftovers. Plus his usual healthy treats and vegetables.
 
I did wonder if he’d leave the biscuit bits, dwarf hams are really more suited to eating small seeds, grains & pseudograins.
It is hard to find good mixes since Brexit but it might be worth considering a different mix as a lot of the nutrition especially micronutrients like vitamins will probably be in the biscuit part.
 
elusive said:
I did wonder if he’d leave the biscuit bits, dwarf hams are really more suited to eating small seeds, grains & pseudograins.
It is hard to find good mixes since Brexit but it might be worth considering a different mix as a lot of the nutrition especially micronutrients like vitamins will probably be in the biscuit part.
Click to expand...
Where from? I hate ordering off the web. My son does my ordering from his Amazon account.
 
I scatter Orkos food so he has to forage to look for it. I feed him a big spoon every other day. I feed a small piece of fresh veg daily. A then feed mealworms a few times a week. A chicken and turkey treat once a week. Things like a pea flake or big seed in its shell here and there. Porridge and ground limseeds daily.

I would find it impossible not to get hamster stuff online. There is so much variety. Maybe you could get your son to order online for you.

Like Elusive said, dwarf hamsters tend to prefer smaller pieces. Websites like mixarama make popular dwarfie mix.
 
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I don’t think you would get a good hamster food without ordering online.
Bunny Dwarf Hamster dream expert is a good one but not always easy to find now, Rodipet do good dwarf mixes but delivery is expensive, when ordering from German companies I would order quite a lot & just store it in the freezer. Mixerama are good but I think their delivery has had a bit of a price hike too.
Beryl found a new one, Little one was the name I think.
Have you looked through this thread?
www.thehamsterforum.com

Currently available Hamster mixes

Like many other things, different brands of hamster mix have become harder to come by since the pandemic. Zooplus in particular, no longer sell the Bunny Dream mixes for Dwarf and Syrian hamsters (they don't ship to the Uk anyway). I now get these from ebay or Vetsend who stock them. Current...
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
 
elusive said:
I don’t think you would get a good hamster food without ordering online.
Bunny Dwarf Hamster dream expert is a good one but not always easy to find now, Rodipet do good dwarf mixes but delivery is expensive, when ordering from German companies I would order quite a lot & just store it in the freezer. Mixerama are good but I think their delivery has had a bit of a price hike too.
Beryl found a new one, Little one was the name I think.
Have you looked through this thread?
www.thehamsterforum.com

Currently available Hamster mixes

Like many other things, different brands of hamster mix have become harder to come by since the pandemic. Zooplus in particular, no longer sell the Bunny Dream mixes for Dwarf and Syrian hamsters (they don't ship to the Uk anyway). I now get these from ebay or Vetsend who stock them. Current...
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
Click to expand...
Thank you 😊
 
I buy the Little One dwarf hamster food in an aquatic shop. I don't like ordering online either and use it as a very last resort.
 
It's always worthwhile looking around pet shops like the ones for reptiles and fish as well as they often stock rodent food too. Garden centres is another place i check.
 
That one from pets corner still has pellets in it, I would avoid anything with pellets & vague ingredients like meat derived extrusions (whatever that is!)
 
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