Pellets: Full Cheeks Hamster & Gerbil Pelletted Diet (syrian would nibble, dwarf would eat + good as mush)

[hamsworth]

I bought Full Cheeks Hamster & Gerbil Pelleted Diet from Petsmart.

Listed Prices
Petsmart: $9.49 CAD for 453.6 grams / 1 pound. (November 2024.)

This is the only other pellet food I buy other than the Living World Extrusion block pellets. I treat it as a supplemental food and offer small amounts alongside their main food. I watched my Syrian and my dwarf nibble on it.

I have a soft spot for Full Cheeks pellets because when I noticed my dwarf started to eat less dry food (at about 1 year), I remember reading that some people would add water to food for older hamsters to eat. So I added a small amount of water to these pellets because I had them on hand. To my surprise, my dwarf loved her mush. She ate the mush more and more as she grew older. I know the first ingredient is timothy hay, but it was an easy off-the-shelf solution. I will say that my younger Syrian was completely uninterested in the mush.

Pellets_Full Cheeks_Hamster & Gerbil.png

Ingredients
Ground Timothy Hay, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Soybean Meal, Ground Oats, Ground Oat Grass, Ground Wheatgrass, Ground Barley Grass, Cane Molasses, Soybean Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, L-Ascorbic Acid Monophosphate (Source Of Vitamin C), Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Rice Hulls, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Mineral Oil, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Dried Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Product, Soy Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Oregano, Thyme, Sweet Basil, Pot Marigold (Color), Peppermint, Lavender, Niacin Supplement, Calcium D-Pantothenate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vegetable Fat. Manufactured in a facility that handles peanuts.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 18.0%
Crude Fat (min) 4.0%
Crude Fiber (max) 15.0%
Moisture (max) 12.0%
Calcium (min) 0.80%
Phosphorous (min) 0.80%
Vitamin E (min) 100 IU/kg

[PawVanguard]

Thanks for sharing your experience with Full Cheeks Hamster & [https://welsdom.com/]Gerbil[/url] Pelleted Diet! It sounds like you’ve found a versatile option that works well as a supplemental food. I love that it became a helpful solution for your older dwarf hamster—offering mushy pellets is such a thoughtful way to accommodate aging hamsters who may struggle with harder textures. It’s heartwarming to hear how much she enjoyed it!

The ingredients list looks pretty wholesome, with Timothy hay as the first ingredient and a nice mix of grains and herbs like oregano and thyme. It’s great that it has an 18% minimum protein content, making it suitable for hamsters’ dietary needs, though I can see why you’d use it alongside a varied main diet. The addition of vitamin supplements and minerals is also a plus, though the molasses may make me a little cautious about how much to offer regularly.

It’s interesting that your Syrian wasn’t into the mush—just shows how individual their preferences can be! But having an option like this on hand for emergencies or special cases (like older or pickier hamsters) makes it seem worth trying. I appreciate you noting the price too; it’s always helpful to compare costs when planning a diet. Do you notice any particular benefits when offering it as a supplement for your younger hamsters, or do you mostly keep it on hand for situations like your dwarf’s needs?