What to do when most fresh food is ignored

[RainbowBrite]

Orko loves baby corn, green beans and bell pepper. He will sometimes eat carrot and salad leaves. He will not touch baby spinach, broccoli, parsnip, parsley, coriander. I am wondering if it is unhealthy if he just eats green beans, bell pepper and baby corn? Two of those are high in sugar in particular.

 

[Member ID2]

Does he not like cucumber? It's a firm favourite here. Courgette is another lower sugar option.

I don't know enough about nuitrition to confidently answer your question.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Does he not like cucumber? It's a firm favourite here. Courgette is another lower sugar option.

I don't know enough about nuitrition to confidently answer your question.

He will eat cucumber sometimes. I have not tried courgette but I will try that. Thank you.

 

[elusive]

I wouldn’t worry too much, he’s getting quite a good & varied nutritional boost with those foods he does eat, courgette has been popular with mine too, if he’s not keen on green leaves he may not like it but pak choi is worth a try too, they all have individual tastes though so just experiment a bit & see if there’s anything else he likes.
Or try some sprouted seeds, he might enjoy those & they’re packed with nutrition.

 

[RainbowBrite]

I wouldn’t worry too much, he’s getting quite a good & varied nutritional boost with those foods he does eat, courgette has been popular with mine too, if he’s not keen on green leaves he may not like it but pak choi is worth a try too, they all have individual tastes though so just experiment a bit & see if there’s anything else he likes.
Or try some sprouted seeds, he might enjoy those & they’re packed with nutrition.

Thank you. I will try these. Can I buy the sprouted seeds or do they have to be grown? I read your instructions of how to grow them.

 

[Member ID2]

Scottie loves his cucumber so much that he starts asking for it in the afternoon sometimes. Yesterday i put a little pea shoots on top of his cucumber. He picked up the pea shoots and chucked them aside to get to his cucumber but ate them later.

 

[elusive]

Thank you. I will try these. Can I buy the sprouted seeds or do they have to be grown? I read your instructions of how to grow them.

I would grow them, the ones you buy aren’t really fresh or as good nutritionally & can sometimes be mouldy..

Scottie loves his cucumber so much that he starts asking for it in the afternoon sometimes. Yesterday i put a little pea shoots on top of his cucumber. He picked up the pea shoots and chucked them aside to get to his cucumber but ate them later.

Pea shoots are best avoided, I’m not sure why but I have read that they aren’t good for them.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Scottie loves his cucumber so much that he starts asking for it in the afternoon sometimes. Yesterday i put a little pea shoots on top of his cucumber. He picked up the pea shoots and chucked them aside to get to his cucumber but ate them later.

Lol that is funny. How cute he loves cucumber so much. Orko is not really bothered with cucumber.

 

[Maz]

Cucumber and broccoli are the favourites here. Orko maybe does like cucumber but prefers the others! I sometimes give a pea as well If we've had frozen peas with our meal (cooked) - which we don't that often - only when I've run out of veg! Not from tinned peas obviously. Or in summer sometimes a shelled raw pea. Since the pandemic, my hamsters have had less luxury variety than before but I think it's fine to give two or three different ones, just to keep variety. Leafy veg can be mainly water anyway.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Cucumber and broccoli are the favourites here. Orko maybe does like cucumber but prefers the others! I sometimes give a pea as well If we've had frozen peas with our meal (cooked) - which we don't that often - only when I've run out of veg! Not from tinned peas obviously. Or in summer sometimes a shelled raw pea. Since the pandemic, my hamsters have had less luxury variety than before but I think it's fine to give two or three different ones, just to keep variety. Leafy veg can be mainly water anyway.

So if a frozen pea is cooked is that safe to give? My partner always has frozen peas in.

 

[Member ID2]

We steam a lot of fresh veg and sometimes chuck in frozen sweatcorn and peas as well. The hamsters get raw veg and fresh or frozen veg steamed as well.

 

[Maz]

So if a frozen pea is cooked is that safe to give? My partner always has frozen peas in.

Yes it's fine Some people used to give raw defrosted frozen peas, but I draw the line at that! Just in case - and prefer that they are cooked. If you're not eating them yourselves at the same time, it would be a lot of hassle to boil a pan of water for two peas though lol.

I tend to stick to the green veg - mainly that's because it's what we have usually - and also because ours don't seem that fussed on carrot. I tend not to give sweetcorn - and we don't like it anyway! Unless it's fresh baby corn but then quite rarely.

Our first Syrian Charlie was definitely just a "meat and two veg" hamster He didn't like anything a bit different - ignored herbs, turned his nose up at strawberries and blueberries. They all vary.

 

[Maz]

Our Robo gets one pea and our Syrian gets two . Cucumber is the staple though. Parsley leaf used to be accepted too - that's more veggy than herby I think.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Our Robo gets one pea and our Syrian gets two . Cucumber is the staple though. Parsley leaf used to be accepted too - that's more veggy than herby I think.

Thank you. All great ideas. Orko likes pea flakes so he may like peas. I laughed at boiling water for one pea.

 

[Maz]

I am sure stranger things have been done! I did used to waste a whole apple to give our Syrian a small piece . But with fuel bills the way they are, not very economical! OH has started steaming veg in the microwave. They're not as nice though and it's too easy to overcook them and them go hard and dried out!

 

[RainbowBrite]

I am sure stranger things have been done! I did used to waste a whole apple to give our Syrian a small piece . But with fuel bills the way they are, not very economical! OH has started steaming veg in the microwave. They're not as nice though and it's too easy to overcook them and them go hard and dried out!

My partner eats any fresh food so I buy Orkos favourite and he eats the left overs. Hehe.

 

[Member ID2]

My partner eats any fresh food so I buy Orkos favourite and he eats the left overs. Hehe.

That's an excellent compromise.

 

[Maz]

I'm sure it's been said before but - the hamsters eat better than we do!

 

[Member ID2]

I'm sure it's been said before but - the hamsters eat better than we do!

Reminds me of tonight when my OH eyed up six neatly arranged walnut halves on a china dish and said 'and this hamster here has to crack his own walnuts open'.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Reminds me of tonight when my OH eyed up six neatly arranged walnut halves on a china dish and said 'and this hamster here has to crack his own walnuts open'.

That made me laugh out loud!