My main diet for my dwarves is PMI lab diet 5008. It is designed for breeding animals and since most of my hamsters breed or are growing babies, it is ideal. Lab blocks will also wear down teeth very well as an added benefit. It is hard not to see lab blocks as a boring choice but I calculated it out and to replicate the nutritional value using a variety of ingredients would cost a fortune and these lab diets have been well tested. I do make a mixture of bird seed, and dehydrated vegetables (I dehydrate them myself) for babies and as a treat for adults.

Babies can eat lab blocks when very young but they do not seem to thrive on them until older. If fed small grains for the first few weeks they grow like weeds. If you are raisng babies, they can start eating a little solid food between 8-10 days of age. Powdered baby cereal or wheat germ work very well and it is the perfect size and softness for the babies to manage. Raw plain rolled oats (oatmeal) is easy for them to eat as well. A small piece of room temperature red apple or cucumber will also help to keep young babies from getting dehydrated. Green apple is too acidic for hamsters and should not be offered to them.

A clean supply of water is a must for any hamster. Water dishes do not work well because a hamster can tip them defecate in them or shove bedding in them. An 8 oz water bottle seems to work the best as there is no way for the water be fouled and there is more than enough for a few days should you find yourself caught unexpectedly away from home. Do try to change your hamsters water every day as it stays cleaner and will have lower concentrations of bacteria. Also, most water bottles function on a vacuum principle so that the fuller they are, the less they drip. My favorite water bottle is one made by Hartz called a no drip small animal water bottle. This bottle can hang on a bin, fit thorough a locking lid on an aquarium or hang in or outside of a wire cage. It can be found at any WalMart for around $2. If your hamster likes to chew you may need a tougher water bottle. Or, if you are using a plastic tub for a cage, melt a hole in the outside with a soddering iron just big enough for the sipper tube to fit through from the outside (roughly a hole 2 inches up from the bottom seems to be about right on most containers). Melt a small hole near where the top of the bottle is and you can hold it in place with two nylon ties. (this makes a loop that can slip on and off the top of the bottle at changing time).

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