Hi Everyone, my nickname is Moni. Am a mommy doing research to be ready for our new pet. We have two teenagers in the house and I think we are ready for this responsibility. We’ve started by building a cage. We are currently painting it. I’m doing research ahead of time so we are ready in the next month or so to get a hamster. I find the hardest part right now is figuring out the food especially since we live in Eastern Canada.
Mommy doing research
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Hello and welcome 
It's great your doing the research first to get everything just right for your hamster Yes food is a tricky one. Do you know which species of hamster you'll be getting? Different species have specific mixes ideally. I seem to remember with Canada that you can only get some things from the US is that right? Some people in the US actually buy hamster food on Etsy (that comes from Germany some of it!). Other than that, Higgins Vita Garden is a reasonable commercial mix and sugar free
It's great your doing the research first to get everything just right for your hamster Yes food is a tricky one. Do you know which species of hamster you'll be getting? Different species have specific mixes ideally. I seem to remember with Canada that you can only get some things from the US is that right? Some people in the US actually buy hamster food on Etsy (that comes from Germany some of it!). Other than that, Higgins Vita Garden is a reasonable commercial mix and sugar free I’m happy I did because when I was little back in the 1900’s haha we had no idea about the cage sizes and enrichment… we can get about 90% of products from the US but prices have gone up a lot lately. I heard about Etsy but besides protein levels i don’t know what type of variety I’m looking for. Amazon.ca has vita garden.
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Aw I know - it's great things have improved so much in recent years in hamster care! It's the last 10 years it's really come on I think, but mostly in the last 5 years. Many of us started out with a cage too small and upgraded It kind of seems obvious now that they need more space.
As for food. Vita Garden Hamster and Gerbil used to be recommended as ok, although having just looked at the ingredients and guaranteed analysis I'm wondering if it's changed! It has hay high up in the ingredients list (not needed for hamsters. The protein would need supplementing as it's only 15% but that's the same for quite a few mixes. There are no other commercial mixes really with a good variety of ingredients so people tend to get mixes from Etsy or Getzoo! They can work out expensive. I'm thinking @Hamster Haven may have more info than me about where to get the food as she is in the US There are some "home made"mixes that are popular and have a wide variety of ingredients - some are better than others. I'm not keen if they rely on lentils a lot for protein. Partly because hamsters don't digest lentils very well and also they may not even eat them.
Protein needs to be about 18 to 20% but if a mix has less than that, you can supplement the protein with fresh food Eg chopped hard boiled egg, nuts, and people get freeze dried chicken bites or shrimps as well. The ideal thing is a mix that contains everything or only needs a little bit of protein supplement.
Harry and Hazel Hamster are a fairly basic mix for Syrian Hamsters as well. Not the best variety but they aren't bad and are sugar free and contain all the protein needed. The pieces in that are a bit big for a dwarf hamster though.
It kind of seems obvious now that they need more space.As for food. Vita Garden Hamster and Gerbil used to be recommended as ok, although having just looked at the ingredients and guaranteed analysis I'm wondering if it's changed! It has hay high up in the ingredients list (not needed for hamsters. The protein would need supplementing as it's only 15% but that's the same for quite a few mixes. There are no other commercial mixes really with a good variety of ingredients so people tend to get mixes from Etsy or Getzoo! They can work out expensive. I'm thinking @Hamster Haven may have more info than me about where to get the food as she is in the US
There are some "home made"mixes that are popular and have a wide variety of ingredients - some are better than others. I'm not keen if they rely on lentils a lot for protein. Partly because hamsters don't digest lentils very well and also they may not even eat them.Protein needs to be about 18 to 20% but if a mix has less than that, you can supplement the protein with fresh food
Eg chopped hard boiled egg, nuts, and people get freeze dried chicken bites or shrimps as well. The ideal thing is a mix that contains everything or only needs a little bit of protein supplement.Harry and Hazel Hamster are a fairly basic mix for Syrian Hamsters as well. Not the best variety but they aren't bad and are sugar free and contain all the protein needed. The pieces in that are a bit big for a dwarf hamster though.
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Congratulations on becoming a hamster parent soon ❤ Welcome to the forum 
