Feeding my Syrian

Question
Dear Jedediah,

After hearing about some of the artificial things they put into pet foods and the negative effects they can cause in pets, I decided that I want to make my own natural hamster food for my new hamster, Button, so I know exactly what goes into it.

The problem is though that I can't seem to find good advice anywhere about all the different nutrients etc that need to go into it. I want to make it as natural as possible, so I don't want to add dog biscuits or bits from commercial hamster foods at all.

I understand that a mix of different seeds and pulses supplemented by mealworms, millet sprays, small amounts of fruit & vegetables and a mineral block is okay, but am I missing anything?
I'd also like to ask if dried camomile flower heads and/or dried peppermint leaves are okay to add to the mix as I want his food to be very tasty for him?

Many thanks for your time,
Kayleigh

Answer
Dear Kayleigh,
thank you for your question.

I mix my own hamster food, too. My recipe is a 1:1 mix of budgie and canary food mixed with grains (wheat, oats, barley, rye for example) in a 1:2 ratio. You can get such a whole grain mix in health food stores or probably online (for example here http://www.grainmix.com/).
To that, I add a mixture of dried herbs and flowers I ordered online, it does contain camomile and peppermint. Stinging nettles, dandelion, roses, basil, cornflower, sunflower petals and marigold are other flowers that can be added when dried.

With dried flowers and herbs, you won't need a mineral block, they can actually be harmful (there's a risk of kidney stones for example). Usually, the hamster will get all he need from the normal food, even when no flowers/herbs are added.

You can add dried mealworms/crickets/silkworms to the mix, but I prefer to give those as a daily treat. Dried vegetables can be added, I would leave out the dried fruit because it's not really a part of their natural diet. I feed mainly fresh vegetables and leafy greens, very rarely a piece of apple or pear or a raisin as a treat.

Pulses are not something I would add, maybe a small amount of dried peas and lentils. The same goes for corn and sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Millet spray is great as a treat, just like other seeds heads from oats, wheat, flax or wild grasses.

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer