Let us begin with the story of Thambi.
Thambi was a friend's Syrian whom was purchased from an unethical breeder. Thambi came to our friend, Quinn, at the age of 4 weeks old. Just a tiny hamster in a plastic takeaway box with holes poked into it. There were no information on what seed mixes that Thambi should be on, and when probed with a number of mixes, asking the breeder which is best for Thambi, he said anything is fine so Quinn settled on a homemade organic seed mix for Thambi.
With the surge in popularity for homemade mixes, more and more people started to mix their own mixes and most of the time, with just a handful of ingredients that may or may not be nutritionally appropriate for hamsters as a staple. What does this mean?
Well, we all know that hamsters nuts and seeds are part of a hamsters' diet and most people just get say, pumpkin seeds, oats and rice - mix it together then feed it to their hamsters as a staple. No other research were done, no calculation of the nutrition, checking if it is appropriate for hamsters.
That was what Thambi's organic seed mix was like, consisting of just 6 ingredients (as pictured below in 01). And for the first few months of his life, he weighed barely 80 grams, and his size barely changed from when he first came to Quinn. Thambi was incredibly skinny, his fur looks sparse and he was lethargic all the time, not a fan of free roam, to play or even the wheel. Thambi looked sickly all the time and we believe he would have passed if not for the timely intervention.
Thambi was put on an appropriate commercial seed mix + supplemented with lab blocks and within 2 months, he FLOURISHED! Thambi almost doubled in size and went up to 120 grams. He became incredibly active and sociable, always climbing and running on his 30 cm wheel which he previously was too weak to run on. His fur became really long and he was no longer felt like bones. And that was the result of a mere 2 months on a commercial mix.
Was the commercial mix organic? No. Is it heavily pelleted? Yes.
So why is a commercial mix better than an organic homemade mix?
A guaranteed nutritional analysis and great number of ingredients.
Of course, not all organic homemade mixes are bad just like how not all commercial mixes are heavily pelleted i.e, bad.
Just follow 4 easy steps per the visual guide below to make your choice!
Note: 03 and 04 both have guaranteed nutritional analysis.
References:
http://hamsterhideout.com/forum/topic/98950-hamster-nutrition-i-nutrition-variety-and-quality/
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