How much food is right for my hamster?

[Winter white dwarf]

I am getting a female dwarf hybrid (favoring a winter white) this weekend! I’m not sure her age because unfortunately she comes from an inhumane place that does not keep track on that. (I’m getting her from PetSmart, so you know how it is). I just ordered a mix by Chubby Hamster Cheeks from Etsy. I was curious how much to feed her when I’m scatter feeding. The food I’m giving her is pretty expensive (in my opinion) so I don’t want to use too much. But, by no means do I want her to be hungry at all! I’d rather spend a bunch of money on food than her be hungry but you know what I mean. Is a teaspoon every night good? I’ve heard it depends on the hamster so how do you know if you are feeding too much or too less?

 

[RainbowBrite]

I think a teaspoon a night is great. When she first arrives you may want to give her a little extra so she can create a hoard. As she is a hybrid dwarf it is best to avoid feeding any fruit as they can be prone to getting diabetes.

With larger hamsters like Syrians they can be fed a tablespoon but with dwarf hamsters and robos I think a teaspoon is a nice amount.

 

[Maz]

Hello and welcome A rounded teaspoonful a day is fine Initially I would put a bit more than that out. I had a scoop with my dwarf hamster mix and I’d say it was the equivalent of a heaped spoonful - assuming your teaspoon is the standard 5ml size.

 

[Maz]

Posted at the same time as Rainbow. It’ll be lovely to meet your hammy when you get him/her

It’s also a good idea to give fresh veg - just a tiny piece no bigger than their ear as they only eat really small amounts. Initially every third day then after a couple of weeks it could be every day. This gives their stomachs chance to adjust although it’s possible they’re used to fresh veg at the pet store.

Those mixes have a lovely variety of ingredients. That one is partly fortified due to using 15% of a proprietary food (although I could only see a Syrian mix listed on their website page and it said dwarf mix coming soon).

However I would store it in an airtight box and check the freeze dried chicken pieces now and then as they don’t really last forever.

 

[Maz]

I think Rainbow mentioned on another post, that it's a good idea to freeze food for a week before using. This is supposed to kill any possible moth or other bug eggs, which aren't visible to the human eye. Unfortunately nearly all pet foods can contain moth eggs. They only hatch out in very warm conditions however (unusually warm) but freezing the food first helps prevent this being an issue.

If you don't have a full week to be able to do that, then what I do is just take a daily amount out from the bag in the freezer which has always been fine At least it's been frozen for a day or so. Some places just say freeze it for 48 hours but I think a week is more belt and braces.

It defrosts really quickly once out of the freezer.