Feeding a hamster

zedhead

I got a Hamster back in January, and when i first got him a bowl of food would usually last 4-5 days. Recently though he has been eating a lot faster, if i fill his bowl in the evening it will be emtpy by morning. I thought at first he was hiding the food in his house but when it came time to clean it there wasnt much in there. He has also taken to chewing the bars of the cage a lot more, especially if he hasn't been taken out of his cage for a couple of days or if his bowl is empty (even if he just finished the food in his bowl)
Was just wondering is this change common in hamsters after a few months??

Steyr

Totally normal behaviour, they sometimes store food in their mouths and re-gurgitate it later, my two boys ( George and Michael , get it? George Michael:pac: ) are very smart i have a cage but it's not a cage as in instead of a cage its a clear see-thru cover plastic but they have taken to eating the plastic around the water unit making the hole bigger, they also chew thru the air holes at the top even though i superglued them shut i found them in the sitting room one night at 4am, but they actually went back into the cage again :eek:

zedhead

Thanks, was begining to worry

Steyr

No problemo, i can post a few pics if ya like.

Crafty-Chel

hi, this normal, like said above they will store it in there mouth, but also the mix it up with there poo, mine used to have one corner for doin its business and when cleaning id notice all the food mixed up in aswell...

such cute lil animals..

Sigma Force

What brand of food is he on?

He sounds like he's bored as well, could you start taking him out of the cage daily also if you pop a sheet of plain white kitchen roll halfway through the bars that will give him something to do. They like to rip it up and build up their sleeping area with it.

If not already check out zooplus.uk there are some fun hammie houses and toys to keep him occupied.

Make it harder for him to get his food, as in make him work for it.

A teeny tiny bit of carrot or ham will make a change from just seeds etc. Follow instructions on the dry food pack, some hammies are greedy and will get too chubby which isn't good for them.

Chewing bars used to drive me bonkers I used tanks instead no more bar chewing and they can dig away and it's a larger space as well. One hamster was so over whelmed by the space it was so funny his little face looked so confused but he was grand after a while.

I used to also stick kitchen roll inserts halfway through the bars for him to chew up.

bionic.laura

I used to hide the hamster's food all over the cage. They like having to search for it. You can also give him some vegetables. Just tiny bits of carrot, celery, broccoli etc. He's probably a bit bigger now so he needs a tiny bit more food.

One thing my hamster loved was a big bowl of chinchilla (very fine sand) sand which he could dig in and clean himself in. He also loved the toilet roll inserts to shred up. I tried to give him something else to chew other than the cage. But some hamsters just love the cage as they like to escape. One of my hamsters Emily was always escaping. She figured out how to open the cage door!