What do you feed your hamsters?

[dragon_gurl]

What does everyone feed their hamsters? Just wondering as I MAY be getting one, but it isn't a for sure thing.

[kyukidojen]

I feed mine two primary foods - both are Kaytee - one is the forti-diet, the other is the hard pellets... when you first bring home a hamster, they should have lots and lots of water (all of ours have at least 2 water bottles in different locations) and just the pellets. This helps prevent wet-tail, which is a stress-induced bacterial infection. Also, no petting/holding them during the first three days at least. Then start slowly providing the seed-based food (the fortidiet in my case), a little more each day. You can pick out some of the larger seeds to offer from your fingers (hold it out so they don't have to touch you to get the food at first, then gradually lure them in over about a week, until they'll take it from the palm of your hand)...once they get used to taking food from your palm, you can start petting them while they gather, and eventually pick them up. Food is a GREAT bribe for hamsters, as they love it all. You can google and ask around a bit as to other "treats" - generally, tiny quantities of most things are okay, with some obvious exceptions (like chocolate, soda, stuff like that). Mine LOVE dried fruit, so we keep a little bag around just for them... also, if you find yourself with a pregnant one (by choice or by chance), you can offer her a tiny bit of KMR (kitten formula) once a day, that helps them get enough protein and such so as not to eat the babies. As a person who currently lives with four hamsters (and we've got some more on the way), I can honestly say they shock me with how attached i get. Especially to my husband's chica... she BEGS to come out and play. I think she'd happily play on his desk in his office for the rest of her life, provided we kept a steady stream of treats flowing... Anyway, the best diet seems to be a mix of seeds and pellets, with "treats" to supplement and with KMR for pregnant or very young hamsters. Oh yeah... you'll notice that each hamster has its own favorite seeds, and may actually pick all but a couple kinds out of the bowl, and refuse to eat those couple kinds (one of mine has one color of tiny seed that she won't eat. She piles them all up beside the bowl and refuses to touch them.)

[lovedoggies]

The staple food (what they should eat the most of) is the hard pellets. Do not put the sunflower seeds in the bowl because they will likely fill up on them and ignore the good stuff. Just give them a couple of sunflower seeds throughout the day. They also like apple (but again, only sparingly, not every day) and carrots. My dwarf hamsters also really liked yogourt, and whats good about yogurt is that it's a natural antibiotic.

[G Wikky]

I've had hamsters all my life.
I've tried feeding them different diets as I got older.
My last hamsters live to be almost 5 years old which is a very long lifespan for a hamster.

The diet consisted of...

Sunflower seeds
Circus peanuts (big shelled peanuts)
Pumpkin seeds
Homemade dried banana pieces
Homemade dried apple pieces (3 different types of apples: Red Delicious, Green Delicious & Granny Smith)
Homemade dried peach pieces
Golden raisins
Regular raisins
Homemade dried fig pieces
Homemade dried apricot pieces
Navy beans
Kidney beans
Lima beans
Pinto beans
Richlea lentils
Kernel corn
Cracked corn
Homemade shredded dried coconut
Pellets

I think this is all included in the diet.
So far this diet has made my hamsters very healthy and lived nice long lives.

I currently own 8 hamsters and all are healthy and all have very nice homes.
I'll take pictures of them all and the diet for you all to see.