Dwarf Ham Feeding

Question
Hello,

I was wondering if you could clear up once and for all what the correct feeding would be for my Dwarf Hamster. Currently, he gets about a tablespoon or a little under of Cockateil "veggie only" mix. And, I also mix in some cockateil mill pellets. He gets that once every evening. For treats he sometimes gets a sunflower seed or those little balls rolled up (they contain seeds and corn) in packet. He had his first treat of a tiny bit of cucumber the other night. He didn't seen interested in it after a couple of bites. Our last hammy loved cucumber. Also, I know not to give the veggies too often to avoid diherria. What is too much food? What is too little? Thanks for the help.

Answer
Hello,
thank you for your question.
I alwaays made my own dwarf hamster food: one parts birds seeds for parakeets, one part canary food (to get a variety of small seeds) and one part a high quality Syrian hamster food without peanuts, corn, sunflower seeds and raisins or anything fatty/sugary. I can recommend Ecotrition Hamster and Gerbil Diet. One tablespoon is fine per day.

You can and should offer vegetables every day. The hamster needs to get used to them slowly, so offer only small portions at first, but vegetables themselves don't cause diarrhea. Fruits should only be fed as a treat since dwarf hamsters are suspectible to diabetes. I fed my dwarfs only vegetables and leavy greens. Flowers like daisies and dandelion make a good treat if you have access to an untreated lawn, same goes for roses.

Hamsters need animal protein in their diet and should be fed mealworms, crickets or locusts at least three times a week. I recommend buying the insects live at a pet shop, feeding them carrot, apple ect. for a week and then freezing them. That way, you have nutritious insects and don't need to bother with keeping them alive all the time. If you cannot feed insects, offer curd cheese or very small portions of minced meat.

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer