What to feed the Syrian hamster?

Hamsters, including the Syrian, can please the owners, but only on one condition that the food is organized properly. It makes no sense to experiment when you can learn the main points of the standard recommendations.

Properly feeding a Syrian hamster at home is not too difficult. These animals are very active in the evenings. For this reason, relatively little feed should be given in the morning. But in the afternoon, in the evening, you need a more high-calorie diet.

Additionally, you should check all hiding places in the cells. Hamsters hide their stocks there, but they are not able to independently control their safety. This owners will have to take on.

Often, a complete set of the necessary compositions can be purchased at any one pet store. However, you need to carefully check the reputation of the supermarket, so as not to buy obviously poor-quality goods. Of course, you need to learn and branded certificates of quality.

In the wild, hamsters often eat:

• cereal grains;
• succulent vegetable food;
• worms;
• small insects.

Given the habitat of Syrian hamsters in the meadows and forest-steppe, they most of all love grains and seeds. The simplest way to provide a pet with analogues of such feed is to buy ready-made mixes. When compiling them at enterprises, experts mix:

• alfalfa;
• wheat;
• corn kernels;
• oats;
• sunflower seeds;
• red millet.

But mixtures may include other components. For example, there is added walnut, buckwheat, peas, flax, peanuts and sesame.

When self-preparation of seed mixture for a pet, you can be sure of the quality of all components. It is recommended to add pumpkin, melon and watermelon seeds. Thanks to them, you can make food more diverse and deliver a lot of nutrients. But all supplements should be consumed in limited quantities. In addition, it is necessary to refrain from undue experimentation and consult with a specialist before them.

The volume of ready-made mixtures of cereal grains may be up to 0.06 kg per day. It is important to know that grain is occasionally changed for white bread. Since the animal is one of the rodents, dried corn and sunflower seeds will be a delicacy for it.

We must not forget about the supply of animal protein. Two or three times a week are added to food:

• skim cheese;
• boiled hard boiled egg;
• boiled chicken;
• fish low fat.

Plant foods can also be a valuable source of protein. Give boiled or dried peas, beans or chickpeas. The animal will be glad and kefir. Feed the hamsters should be in the mornings and evenings, given that the Syrian individuals often regale at night.

Strictly unacceptable monotonous food. The composition of dry food, you can add a variety of cereals, dried fruit. Carrots and pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers, radishes, bell peppers can be added both raw and slightly boiled. Be sure to put in the feeder:

• pear;
• persimmon;
• mango;
• beetroot;
• strawberries;
• raspberries;
• other forest and garden berries;
• lettuce leaves;
• scalded leaves of young nettle.

Young Syrian individuals are distinguished by an underdeveloped, still very gentle digestive system. For this reason, the nutrition of small hamsters should be based on a special scheme. Animals should receive feed often, but in small portions. In the trough should continuously lay a dry cereal mixture. It is important to consider that not all small hamsters love such a product.

When issuing fresh herbs and fruits, it is necessary to add no more than one type of food during the day, otherwise digestion may be injured. For a similar reason, avoid eating exotic fruits. Good results can give germination at home:

• wheat;
• leaf lettuce;
• peas;
• beans.

To ensure the normal development of pets, young vegetable shoots are surely added - they will allow to saturate the body with microelements. In the month and even at an earlier age, many hamsters eat human baby food. The motive is simple - it contains meat, cereal and vegetable components.

The topic of feeding adult hamsters is also quite relevant. This group includes all animals from 2 years and older. Characteristic signs - apathy, loss of appetite. But, even without intently watching the animals, it is not difficult to notice that his teeth are almost completely stowed away. For this reason, coarse food will have to be completely abandoned.

Nuts, hard grains are ground to a mushy state. It’s better to grate all the vegetables and fruits - even better with banana, tomato, and dill. Finished dry formulations can still be consumed - with their help, it is possible to stabilize the work of digestion.

Feed in the diet of this group of individuals must deliver a maximum of trace elements. It is better if a lot of food containing protein is provided once a day. We also need fresh greens and cereal sprouts. Complaining about the lack of appetite at this time is not necessary. Moreover, the animal will be worried if its feeder is empty.

It is advisable to lay there a little chalk or mineral stones. Both are sold in all pet stores. When biting into these breeds, the hamster will receive a maximum of salts and minerals, which is very important for the development of embryos, otherwise the lack of trace elements will be replenished by the main body.

But the impressive variety of foods that a Syrian hamster needs does not mean that it is omnivorous. Incompetent or illiterate nutrition can cause significant damage to health. Categorically you can not feed him:

• bold cottage cheese;
• sour cream and cheese;
• sugar (sand and lump sugar);
• cow butter;
• cream;
• table salt;
• spicy herbs and spices;
• chocolate;
• sweets;
• ice cream;
• baking (especially sweet);
• dry food intended for other animals.

The danger is represented by mushrooms and acorns, Brazil nuts, almonds. The stones contained in pomegranate, sweet cherry, apricot, plum or cherry, as well as in other fruits and citrus fruits can deform cheek pouches. Do not rely on the instincts of the animal. It is willing to eat fat, red meat, oily fish. As a result, the body will get an excess amount of fat.

Under the ban falls potatoes and cabbage of any varieties. Garlic and onions, sorrel leaves, needles, branches of trees and shrubs can pose a threat. It is undesirable to enter into the diet any juices (vegetable, fruit or berry).

The only acceptable type of bread is home-made crackers. A factory product of this kind may contain hazardous components of synthetic origin. Often, preservatives, flavors, colorants, and flavor enhancers are added. Grapes should be given only seedless. In order not to clean the berries manually, it is better to choose a raisin.

Boiled beef liver should be used with great care. This body absorbs all the toxic substances that had previously entered the body of a cow. And cooking is unlikely to remove them sufficiently. If you give a liver, then only in limited quantities and without salt. All products in which fat accounts for over 3% are strictly prohibited.

After feeding the hamster cabbage, you can even kill him. Exotic fruits should be used with caution. Fundamentally unacceptable use:

• canned food;
• stewed foods;
• fried food.

For turning teeth, you can occasionally feed a hamster hard pasta or crackers. The animal must have uninterrupted access to clean, fresh water. Having noticed a violation of digestion, sunflower oil or boiled crushed rice is introduced into the diet. It is important to know that if such techniques do not immediately help, then you should immediately contact a veterinarian. From field and other plants it is appropriate to add:

• knotweed;
• burdock;
• sneep
• parsley

Tarragon, dandelion or wormwood should be used much more carefully. All herbs can be harvested only in environmentally friendly places, that is, away from roads, factories and boilers, from power plants. Grass must be thoroughly washed with running water and dried carefully. To sharpen teeth, only branches from fruit plants are used.

From the pumpkin you need to take only the pulp. Of course, the use of plants grown with the addition of nitrates and pesticides is unacceptable. Root crops must be thoroughly washed. You can not give hamsters potato peel. All supplements are cut into pieces that the animal can eat.

For information on which vegetables you can give a hamster, see the video below.