4 replies to this topic

[Sarahs~Hamsters]

Doing my usual diet research for hamsters, I can across multiple links and sources about mother hamsters fed on a diet consisting of corn, and in turn, resulting in a much higher percentage of the litter being cannabilised. I thought his was very interesting. What are your thoughts on this?

http://www.newsweek.com/farmers-growing-corn-are-making-hamsters-eat-their-own-babies-722063

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/wild-hamsters-raised-corn-eat-their-young-alive

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/diet-corn-turns-wild-hamsters-cannibals

https://gizmodo.com/all-corn-diet-turns-hamsters-into-cannibals-who-eat-the-1791736449/amp

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-hamsters-cannabalizing-their-young-180968071/

From what I've gathered above, nursing hamsters fed an improper diet(which above was mainly corn) were more likely to cannibalise there young.

Edited by ♥SarahsAnimals♥, 06 April 2018 - 12:30 AM.

[PumpkinSpiceLucy]

Oh, how sad :( *just going to delete this comment as I wrote it before actually reading the article and it’s a little bit misinformed*

Edited by PumpkinSpiceLucy, 06 April 2018 - 01:30 AM.

[PumpkinSpiceLucy]

Oh I see, that will teach me to post before reading the articles! It does indeed already mention that it is caused by a specific vitamin deficiency. Luckily in a domestic, pet hamster’s diet this shouldn’t be too much of a problem; even good old sunflower seeds are a decent source of niacin (vitamin B3).

To anyone else reading I would take this advice at your own risk and do your own research but I’ve been reading a lot about brewers/nutritional yeast as a supplement - this is full of b vitamins. B3 deficiency (and other b vitamin deficiencies I believe) can cause anxiety and depression as well as a host of physical problems in humans, so it’s not surprising to hear that it effects hamsters badly too. Poor little hams :(

Edited by PumpkinSpiceLucy, 06 April 2018 - 01:21 AM.

[oreothehamham]

woah! just from reading the titles of the articles that sounds terrible! poor hammies 

 

my thoughts on this are... yea. poor hammies. i was reading the second article and it said that the disease pellagra has symptoms such as skin rashes and dementia, which would be my guess of the cause of them eating their poor little babies! it makes sense though, i suppose? later on in the article it says that the second time doing the experiment they completed the corn diet with niacin, which changed their behavior back to normal.

 

in conclusion, vitamin b3 deficiencies in hamsters make them eat their babies. huh. 

[nebit]

What Oreo said, its not the corn per se that makes them eat their young, it's that the monoculture means they eat almost nothing but corn, and that leads to a niacin deficiency. This would be a risk with any severely unbalanced diet. If you ate nothing but say, avocados, or lean chicken, or apples, you would also be at risk for severe vitamin deficiencies. It should, however, give us pause to think about how our farming techniques effect the wildlife around us. If that land was left fallow, the hamsters would be eating a much more diverse diet.