There's something wrong with my hamster...am i looking after him right?

Question

Everytime I use hamster mix my dwarf hamster (Typhoon) only seems to eat the sunflower seeds and the small biscuit pieces...I'm worried he isn't getting all the nutrients he needs so i'm wondering weather I should make home made hamster mix or not, if so which hamster mix do I use and how would I make homemade hamster mix.He seems to be in a healthy condition also active except from when I put him in his ball he just stands there and cleans but when he is in his cage he is straight on his wheel. I never really see his water go down.In his cage he has a wooden chew toy, a mineral l**k, his food bowl, his water bottle, a wheel, sawdust, a wooden tunnel, a wooden swing and a house with bedding in on a two level hamster cage.He is round about 5 months old....Hope i get some good answers ; )

Answer 1

You are taking care of him fine.  It is normal for him to just stand still in his ball - some hamsters just don't get them.  Don't make your own hamter mix - the store bought ones are fine, it is normal for them to pick at it a bit.  If you are concerned there are vitamin drops you can buy that you can sprinke on the food to make extra sure he gets his vitamins.  He will also enjoy occational fruit and veggies and un-sweetened wholemeal breakfast cereal.

Answer 2

You may buy your hamster food from a pet shop which sells pressed pellets.   Hamsters seem to enjoy all types of vegetables but be careful not to give too much of these as hamsters come from a habitat from little water (semi-desert) and a high quantity of vegetables can cause diarrhea.

Answer 3

I have two winter white hamsters too and I faced the same trouble with them. They used to eat only sunflower seeds and leave the rest of the food. It is their version of KFC and can make them fat and unhealthy since sunflower seeds have a lot of fat in them. Slowly I have turned around their eating habits in the following way -

Firstly, I picked out all sunflower seeds from their commercial food mix which I put in their cages. My hamsters were agitated for a few days over this, they used to dig the whole cage looking for seeds but after a week they got over this habit.

During the week when they were agitated without their seeds, I put in lots of other treats in their cage like small bits of cheese, cornflakes, carrots and rice crispies to distract them from their seeds.

My playtime with them is an hour in the night and during this time, I used to give them the sunflower seeds as treats from my hand (not more than 5 seeds a day)

Slowly but surely, after two weeks, my hammies had gotten over their habit of eating only seeds and had started eating other food as well. They now associate seeds only with playtime.

Hope this helps! Remember they are also like us who take to junk food so be very patient with them until they learn to eat other food too.

As for your other concerns -

As long as he is getting enough exercise on his wheel, don't worry, some hamsters take some time to get used to the hamster ball. When he is in the ball, encourage him to move around by gently nudging the ball but if he is uncomfortable with it, leave him since he anyways gets active on the wheel.

If you are concerned that he is not drinking water, put a heavy dish of water in his cage to help himselves. Make sure the dish is heavy otherwise it may tip and spoil the bedding. But he sounds like an active hamster, so maybe he is drinking water when you are not around. Water level in the bottle will go down significantly only after 3 days, use a marker pen to mark the level on day 1 and again on day 4, then you would note that the level has gone down a bit.

Answer 4

I don't know maybe try consulting a Vet, You could easily do this over the phone without taking him their for an appointment or maybe ask in the pet shop for advice

Answer 5

ah , i think it's fine, my hamster is kinda picky too. if u are worried it doesn't get enough food, just feed it more vegetables and fruits.