A few questions about Taco

[Arora]

So my lil hammy Taco has been doing really well in his hammy home. Each day I've been interacting with him and he now likes his playpen! I was wondering...currently I can't find where he's going #2 lol. I can see #1 in his sand bath however and when I do I clean it up. He was going potty in his blue hideout but I think he stopped that.

How often should I be changing his bedding? I've been changing it once a week.

How big of a slice of fresh veggies and fruits should I give him in a sitting?

How would I go about trying to make a homemade mix to go along with his Higgins Sunburst food?

Lastly, I can hold him and pet him, but it seems like if he can, he will not come very close to my hands, and if he does, he will simply walk over them to the next destination. I've tried to offer him treats (aka his Higgins Sunburst mix) but he simply shoves the seeds into his cheeks Should I keep trying to hold him, or am I moving him too quickly...?

[Hamthulhu]

I can only speak for what I do, but:

1. I wouldn't change his bedding for a month or two at most. If you need to spot clean or do smaller cleans, just remove the soiled bedding every week. Changing hamsters bedding actually causes stress because their home no longer smells like them. If Taco's peeing in his home, you might want to wash that with vinegar or soap to get the smell out.

2. I used to give Cleo a baby carrot per sitting or a few slices of cucumber. I didn't want to go overboard with her because eating too much of one thing throws the nutrient balance off. If your hamster's a dwarf, you also have to consider sugars and causing your hamster to become diabetic.

3. Homemade mixes are a great way to ensure your hammy is getting enough nutrients. Just make sure they don't go over or under the suggested protein/fat/fiber ratios.

4. Let Taco come to you on his time. Forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do is a sure-fire way to make him like interactions less and opens up possibilities of getting bit. Cleo was never fully happy with interactions by the time she passed, but she wasn't hateful to them either. I think most hammys fall in an in-between and Taco might be one of those types of hammys.

[Arora]

Thank you

I can't believe how mislead I was on how often to change out the bedding o.o .. with the homemade mixes, how do you figure out the nutrient ratio? Like say I have peanuts that have 28% fat, and quinoa that is 12% fat ( hypothetical situation), how would I combine them into a balanced mix?

[Hamthulhu]

Thank you

I can't believe how mislead I was on how often to change out the bedding o.o .. with the homemade mixes, how do you figure out the nutrient ratio? Like say I have peanuts that have 28% fat, and quinoa that is 12% fat ( hypothetical situation), how would I combine them into a balanced mix?

That I really can't attest to. If you add in 50%/50% in that example (say 1g peanuts and 1g quinoa), you'd end up with 20% fat. You have to know the ratio of how much you're mixing in, what the nutrients are, and then average out.

[Arora]

Ohhk, that makes a lot of sense

[Kikya]

So my lil hammy Taco has been doing really well in his hammy home. Each day I've been interacting with him and he now likes his playpen! I was wondering...currently I can't find where he's going #2 lol. I can see #1 in his sand bath however and when I do I clean it up. He was going potty in his blue hideout but I think he stopped that.

How often should I be changing his bedding? I've been changing it once a week.
I only change about 1/3 of bedding once a month, but I have a Nite Angel Large enclosure

How big of a slice of fresh veggies and fruits should I give him in a sitting?
I give fresh veggies 2-4 times a week, about a thumbnail worth for a Syrian and pinkie sized for a Robo

How would I go about trying to make a homemade mix to go along with his Higgins Sunburst food?
see links below

Lastly, I can hold him and pet him, but it seems like if he can, he will not come very close to my hands, and if he does, he will simply walk over them to the next destination. I've tried to offer him treats (aka his Higgins Sunburst mix) but he simply shoves the seeds into his cheeks Should I keep trying to hold him, or am I moving him too quickly...?

Here's a post about basic hamster nutrition
viewtopic.php?t=254

and one about how to make your own seed mix
viewtopic.php?t=416

[TinyPaws]

Thank you

I can't believe how mislead I was on how often to change out the bedding o.o .. with the homemade mixes, how do you figure out the nutrient ratio? Like say I have peanuts that have 28% fat, and quinoa that is 12% fat ( hypothetical situation), how would I combine them into a balanced mix?

I would read the articles that Kikya linked, I think one of them has a link to a food mix calculator, and hamingway has one too. I made a mix from Higgins Vitagarden (basically the dwarf hamster equivalent to Higgins Sunburst) and it just takes a lot of experimenting. Read the full instructions to how to use the calculator (something I did not do when I should have) then just start adding your ingredients. Make sure you have a kitchen scale and then, once you are pretty happy with everything, just make it. Start with making a smaller amount to test with Taco and see how he does on it. Overtime the mix will slowly improve; for example my mix has never had and dried veggies, but now that I have a food dehydrator I'm looking into adding some.
Finally, I've never understood the flour and oil seed ratio so I wasn't even thinking about that when making it. Instead, I just showed my mix here and no one said anything was wrong with it so I was confident that it was at least good enough. Asking other owners is a great way too improve your mix and make sure that it is a suitable mix for Taco

[Arora]

Thank you! I will be sure to read over the articles