Foodstuffs

So... Cherry blossoms and white clover, huh?

I've kept an eye on this list from Norsk hamsterforening (the Norwegian hamster society) when deciding which veggies and flowers and other plants to feed the little beasties. Most notably I've made sure to avoid everything on the no list. I have no idea what level of knowledge or authority these people have, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have a list of foods to avoid.

I haven't been too adventurous when it comes to food with Knerten and Fjerten yet. I feed them a mix of hamster pellets (prevents selective feeding) and they always have a piece of fresh broccoli to go with it.

And then in addition to pellets and broccoli, I experiment! ;-)

What I have established so far about Knerten and Fjerten's tastes:
Cherry blossoms - they don't like
Peas - they don't like
Colt's foot - they don't like
Dandelion leaves - Knerten likes, Fjerten not so much
Sweetcorn - they like
Broccoli - a godsend
Cauliflower - nomnom
Avocado - they like
Cucumber - they like
Celery - they don't like
Celeriac - they like!
Nectarine - not a favourite
Kellog's All-Bran - NomNomNom
Rolled oats - they like
Peanuts - they luvs!
Walnuts - dwarf hamster heaven
Yoghurt - they don't like

It's almost summer now, so I expect to be giving them more flowers in the next 2-3 months. I look forward to that experiment! :-)

For some reason, I'm surprised that Knerten and Fjerten don't like exactly the same things that Pearl did. I shouldn't be surprised, I mean, they are a whole different species!

On dwarf hamster species

A few words on dwarf hamsters and pet shops...

There are strictly speaking 3 sub-species of dwarf hamster: Campbell’s (Phodopus campbelli), Roborovski (Phodopus roborovskii) and Winter White Russian (Phodopus sungorus). The Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus) is not really a dwarf hamster, but it’s only slightly bigger than the genuine dwarf hamsters and therefore often labelled a dwarf itself.

I have no idea whether Pearl/Gråperle was really a Campbell's or if she was a Campbell's/Winter White hybrid. The two can interbreed and apparently there's plenty of confusion about which is what. The sign in the pet shop at Tveita simply said "dwarf hamster mother of pearl" which I've since learnt isn't any sort of a dwarf hamster species at all... You can't trust pet shops. She looked very, very much like the classic, typical Campbell's, though. I'll find an old picture or two and post those.

In the case of Knerten & Fjerten, the sign in the pet shop said "dwarf hamsters". Next time I'm so getting hamsters from the bigger, better and all-round much more trust-inspiring pet shop at Alna! I was there recently and, coolness!, they even had a Chinese hamster, which I hadn't seen 'in real life' before.

Well, I suppose "next time" is 3 years away, as Robs have an average lifespan of 3.5 years! :-)