Oxbow Essentials Healthy Handfuls Gerbil & Hamster Food

People keep leaving reviews about how other specific brands are better choices due to protein content; but when I look the the nutritional breakdown, they match Oxbow. My hamsters are healthy as can be and love this food. I prefer it over other choices due to the fact the hamsters will get picky and only eat what they like from the mixes. This food gives them a balanced diet no matter what. I haven't had a single hamster refuse to eat it, and I do give them other nutrients outside of it as well. Over all, it's a great product and I love the brand.

This food works very well for my hamster. The kibble shape is important, I think. I bought a bag of the organic version of this food and it's shaped like pellets (versus circles). My hamster started jamming his cheeks with it and every time we'd play with him, he'd spit it out on us. He never does that with this food so we've been buying this one consistently for a long time. Our Russian White hamster is almost 2 years old now and seems to be going strong.

This food is awful do not buy hamsters are omnivores and require protein not fiber like in hay this whole food is made out of hay you are basically starving your hamster.A good recommendation for hamster food is Mazuri rat and mouse diet and Higgins sunburst mix this and your hamster will have all tdd he nutrients it needs.

This was the hamster food recommended to us at the pet store. It doesn't contain seeds or anything the hamster might pick and choose from. Just healthy, timothy grass and other nutrients. Our hamster loves it!

This is made up of mostly hate and hamsters cannot digest hey please do not buy this for hamsters. Also there is no different textures or anything so it makes the food very boring and makes your hamster sad! The only reason you should buy this is if the store you bought your hamster from was eating this cause you have to get them used to the new food!!!

Dwarf hamsters refuse to eat this crap. It is not a good product.

My three ham hams love this food. It's nutritious and I think the pieces are cute.

I heard so many good thing's about this fed that i had to try it myself. My two girl gerbil were on a different fed when i first got them and didn't seem to like it very much... Once i changed to Oxbow fed they love it and eat every bit of it!

As many reviews already say, this food is not nutritionally balanced. It is probably not the worst thing you could use but it'ss definitely not ideal. I used it for my gerbil for a while and she did not eat it unless she was really hungry. I recommend a gerbil specific food or at least a good seed mix. I use Gerri Gerbil and pick out the fatty stuff for treats. Additionally, this food is boring and uninteresting. The bag says 5% treats but that is the animal equivalent of a "nutritionally balanced" meal blended together into a smoothie.

This is the best pellet we found for our Syrian hamster. However if you have Celiac, don't use pellets for your hamster. It is dusty and you will get gluten from cross-contamination. Instead, ask your local animal clinic for suggestions on what to feed your hamster. Here is what we are doing for our Syrian hamster: 2x/day we offer vegetables in a food bowl (no iceberg lettuce, no avocado) - her favorites are kale, green leaf lettuce, and spinach. She also likes broccoli, carrot and sugar snap pea. Sprouts gave her an upset stomach (even though she liked the sprouts, commercial sprouts are often contaminated w/ bacteria so best to avoid). We leave raw oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame This is the best pellet we found for our Syrian hamster. However if you have Celiac, don't use pellets for your hamster. It is dusty and you will get gluten from cross-contamination. Instead, ask your local animal clinic for suggestions on what to feed your hamster. Here is what we are doing for our Syrian hamster: 2x/day we offer vegetables in a food bowl (no iceberg lettuce, no avocado) - her favorites are kale, green leaf lettuce, and spinach. She also likes broccoli, carrot and sugar snap pea. Sprouts gave her an upset stomach (even though she liked the sprouts, commercial sprouts are often contaminated w/ bacteria so best to avoid). We leave raw oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds scattered in her cage for her to forage for (not in a food bowl). There is an empty food bowl in her cage, which she uses as a toilet (we clean it 2x/day). We occasionally offer Beech baby food (carrot or green bean) in a little bowl. 1x/wk we offer a tiny bit of protein (boiled egg white, or boiled chicken) and a tiny sliver of fruit (she likes raspberry. no citrus. apple seemed to give her upset stomach.). We put a tiny amount of unsalted, unsweetened natural peanut butter (no sugar) on her chew toys and pinecone to encourage chewing. We got her to stop chewing on the cage bars by placed a toilet paper roll through the bars of the location where she was chewing. Do not give the hamster any food that has sugar or salt added. Cheers … more