Suitable animal based protein

[justfamke]

Hello everyone!

I have a 3 month old female Syrian hamster, named Sybil, that doesn't eat dried insects. I originally planned to give her the Getzoo Goldhamster Basic Menu and supplement it with insect protein + some Science Selective, since I've been pretty concent with this in the past, but I quickly noticed she isn't interested in dried insects at all. I've tried offering mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers, black soldier fly larvae, silkworm pupae, gammarus and sweet water shrimp in the past month, but she likes NONE of it. She doesn't even bother to hoard it xD

I'm currently not meeting the 18%-22% overall protein need for young hamsters (I'm around 15-16%) and also not the recommended 4%-8% animal based protein need, by mixing only Getzoo and Science Selective. I have started giving her some baby food with chicken, plain cooked chicken en egg white though, but unfortunately it is very hard to tell if her protein needs are being met this way.

So I was wondering if you guys have any animal based protein recommendations, preferably freeze dried treats (pre-cooked, because of the bacteria) or maybe even a dog kibble, since that's easy calculating the amount of protein.

Famke

 

[Maz]

Hi. Yes indeed! Not necessarily animal based some of it though. It's surprising how many hamsters turn their nose up at dried bugs etc! They seem to have more discerning tastes as pets ha ha.

So for extra protein I give chopped hard boiled egg, half a walnut (or other nut) once or twice a week (for a Syrian that is - less for a dwarf hamster). You can also get freeze dried chicken bites (usually sold for cats as treats I think). They usually eat those. Other than that you can give them a bit of human meat if you've just had a roast chicken or roast beef eg - as long as it's just plain cooked meat and no sauces or spice etc. They love that. However when I give a bit of that. Our first one had pheasant, guinea fowl and grouse ha ha. As our local butcher used to sell them. That's a rarety now.

However if it's roast meat etc, only the tiniest little bit to make sure they eat it all and don't decide to hoard it or it might go off. I often only used to give meat when the hamster was out of the cage. He'd nibble what he wanted and leave the rest, so I'd then take that away in case he pouched it.

The other thing you can do is give 2 or 3 science select pellets in addition to the usual hamster mix. That ensures they get the right nutrients and protein levels and hamsters seem to like those - I think they smell like gravy or yeast. They are very small pellets.

 

[justfamke]

Thank you for your quick response @Maz . It seems like I'm already on the right track then, which is a relieve. My lady Sybil is such a diva, haha!

My only concern with freeze dried snacks is that they're almost always raw instead of pre-cooked. I believe to have read somewhere that bacteria survive the freeze drying process, which may cause harm to a hamster's health. Do you (or anyone else really) have any brand recommendations of pre-cooked freeze dried snacks?

 

[Maz]

That is a good point and has been raised before and sometimes there is not enough information on the packets to say if it's raw or pre-cooked (the chicken that is). I did use freeze dried chicken bites for cats regularly with our second Syrian and he was always healthy and lived to a grand age - but that doesn't really prove anything! I stopped getting them because they used to go off quickly after the packet was opened.

So these days I prefer to give fresh foods. Hamsters love egg! Chopped hard boiled or a bit of scrambled on a teaspoon. And they love most kinds of nuts.

 

[justfamke]

In that case I'll play it safe and leave freeze dried chicken for what it is and stick to the fresh goodies

Thank you for your informative replies!

 

[Maz]

I was just looking and so many freeze dried chicken bites don't even say if they're raw or cooked - in which case you can assume they are raw. I did find a tin of ones that said they were cooked but it was £60!

 

[Rescued One]

Mazuri rat pellets are 18% protein and are fun to chew All the rescues here use them with their hammies.