Handmade Hammy Gift #2 – A Simple Hamster Treat Recipe

So I may be a bit slow on the whole home made hammy treats feature before this Christmas but I am only just finding time to wrap the presents let alone research and try out things for the blog.
I am sure once the hustle and bustle of Xmas (and my birthday next Friday) is over I can settle back down into a routine 🙂

Any ways a neat little idea for your beloved furries can be to make your own little treats for them! They say a way to man’s heart is through his belly – well Im pretty sure the same thing goes for pets.
(Not saying that men are animals… Im not honest! Just that some characteristics may be shared. That’s all!)

So here is a SUPER simple recipe for little pet treats (suitable for small furries – not so much big furries as small bits and pieces can be choked on by big furries!)

What you need?

• Honey
• Assorted nuts (or your furries favourite – so sunflower seeds in Dexters case. Make sure theyre not salted varieties)
• A mold tray (funky shaped ice cube trays are ideal!) You can make all kinds of shapes depending on the tray
• Any oats or even original cheerios are good for this recipe

How long will it take?

About 5 minutes to actually make and then another hour or so to set.

How do you make them?

1. Take a mixing bowl and pour in a hammy portion of the assorted nuts and a sprinkling of oats or cheerios
2. Take a spoonful of honey and dollop it into the bowl.
3. Mix it all together, coating as much of the nut/oat mix as possible.
4. Add a spoonful at a time. Once everything is coated -STOP! You want the mixture to be tacky all over not pourable! 😛
5. Take a spoonful of your honey coated mixture and fill it into the ice cube tray.
6. Once all the ice-cube spaces are filled, pop the tray into the fridge for the treats to harden up.
7. After about 1 hour, have a look at your treats. If they are solid-er, take the tray out and pop out the finished article!
8. If they are still squidgy, put them back in and check again later!
9. Give them to your furry – watch them enjoy the sweet delight! 😀

With this recipe you can swap in your favourite pet nibbles! Like for example, Dexter LOVES his sunflower seeds and peanuts. So I could mix together sunflower seeds, some chopped peanuts and some oats to bulk it out. Chuck in the honey and ta-dah! Dex could have a treaty-delight!!! 😀

How awesome would that be!! 😀

 

 

‘Simply Nibbles: Little Hearts’ Review

More treats?!
MORE treats?!!!

How spoilt are these hammy’s?! Seriously.

When walking round Morrison’s Supermarket, I am never actually impressed with their small pet section. The shelf consists of an exercise ball (that hasn’t been touched in at least 3 months – honest!), some sawdust and a rack of bottles. The treat selection is limited to say the least with just a small bag of chocolate drops. One choice of treats Morrison’s, ahh come onnnnn!!!

Well clearly they too thought this when looking at their pet section. Because when I was there in the week, I noticed a few more bits and pieces had been added to the shelf. A few different types of treats and chew-sticks! Round of applause for the supermarket!

The one I decided to go for and try out:
‘Simply Nibbles: Little Hearts”

The packet itself is quite large, holding a generous portion of these pink, green and cream heart shaped treats.
The hearts are paw-sized. So lots smaller than them apple strudel biscuits from the other week, but still large enough to be a good chompful for the hamsters!

These treats are actually a very good price at £1.19

So rather a good stocking filler for your hamster if you are into that kind of thing!
(Don’t worry I have a December post for this hamster stocking fillers thing for you all to look forward to)

Anyway back to the hearty nibbles. All three hamsters wasted no time in pouching these bad boys! Gone within the blink of an eye!

Dexter stuffed them straight in his pouch and then just moments later I could hear some very noisy nibblings going on from the belly of his bed! CHEEKY!

Eve sniffed them for a second, then sniffed my fingers – suspicious woman! But she did take a tedious bite from them and then proceed to stuff the remaining bit in her cheek. Didn’t want to miss out me giving her more!

Casper had a very different approach. He ate them one by one. I gave him a green one to start with and delicately crunched through it. Polished the whole heart off before sniffing my hand for another one. Oh alright then fatty!!

They are quite noisy treats; they pack a crunch thats for sure but this makes them oh so fabulous for their teeth as they always need a good crunch to wear them down. And to add to all this, they are 100% natural ingredients so I know they are all good for my hamsters bellys so can have 2 or 3 in one sitting. I feel like I am spoiling them rotten but they love it! And its coming up to Christmas after all! They deserve a bit of loving!! Ok, so they deserve a LOT of loving! 😀

They might need a air-tight tub or box to be kept in though becuase once that bag is open there is not way of shutting it! 😛

So the positives; affordable at £1.19, dainty sized, colourful, plentiful, 100% natural and very tasty!
Negatives: Just the awkward packaging making it difficult to reseal for freshness.

These are definitely a tasty winner! And so handy when you just want to treat your little furry! 😀

Available from Morrisons.
xxx

Another Visit To The Vet

It has been a week since Casper had a little accident. You remember the picture…
… He managed to rip his nail off and get it infected. Typical dramatic hamster.
Anyways, I got him an appointment for yesterday afternoon and the verdict is in!

We saw a very nice male vet who seemed to be a little more thorough with him than the other vet. He examined his toe (the big ugly scab fell off this morning so it looked remarkably clean and healthy) and he said that it looked like it was healing well despite the lack of the antibiotics. He also said the redness of the toe is because the new nail is growing through it making it a little sore, BUT he hasnt nibbled or gnawed on his nail which is a very good sign 🙂

Now onto my main worry; Casper’s seizure. 

The vet suggested it could have been a one off, didnt have an explaination as to why, just said as it has only happened once, they can’t assume its anything serious… yet. If it happens again it could be a sign of a brain disease (which sounds super scary 😦 I dont like the thought of my Casper having something seriously wrong with him)

But for now he doesn’t have a worry in the world, which is lovely. I can finally stop fretting over his every movement 😀

He also said that if he was to get another infection another antibiotic would be used incase the original drug caused the fit. He did worry me when he said “but the one he was on tends to be the safest for small furries.” …No more infections or accidents please Cas! I don’t fancy you going on some risky drug!!!

And the vet very nicely didn’t charge me for the visit.
Its been a good day! 😀

Woodlands Carrot Shape Vegetable Treat Review

Now I have actually found a worthwhile treat. No more rubbish chew books, oh no!
‘Woodlands‘ seems to be a growing brand at my local pet shop. They seem to go for the ‘natural and healthy toys and treats’ angle for your pets. They make cottages, houses, treats, chew toys, nibbles and even bridges all in this rustic look.

I have noticed more and more products with this brand and thought I would see what the fuss is about.

I bought the Carrot Shape Vegetable Treat – not the most original name ever but it does what it says on the tin!

First impressions?
It looks great!
The packaging is simple and very eye-catching and really emphasises that natural and healthy aspect of the product.
Ohhh I feel all Dragons Den! ;P

Its also a very reasonable size – it dwarfs Dexter in comparison! It looks the part for sure. And the little seedy things all over it, I know for a fact that my hammy’s LOVE it. Basically, buying this isn’t a punt, its not a risky buy – its pretty much a sure fire winner for my hams!

And judging by the size, this treat is not exactly going to be munched through overnight! So its like an investment as well as a treat for the hamsters! Kind of 😉

Now perfectly, they were on offer; 3 for £3 which as they were £1-something-or-rather individually meant I could make a little saving too! Bargain right?! And of course I would need three for my 3 munchers!

I put the treats in their cage and almost within an instant, they were being sniffed and licked and dragged to their nests – very cute when the carrots are the same length of the hammys themselves!

Here is Casper, suspiciously licking the carrot. You can gauge the size of the carrot treat here – a generous portion for a treat don’t you think?

It doesnt even fit in his bowl! Very tempting right Cas 😉

So far so good – much better than the bedtime book chew toys 😀

There weren’t just carrot shaped treats. There was a choice of a carrot, a heart and stars which means you could spoil your pet in a choice of ways! I would have gotten one of each, as they are all included on the offer, but decided that I liked the carrot ones the best so just got three of them! 😛

Even the ever fussy Dexter liked the treat shape. It only lasted for a matter of minutes in his bowl, as he attempted to drag it to his nest. It was very sweet as it was too heavy and big and so became a bit of a kerfuffle, getting wedged underneath the ledge and his flying saucer. Silly Billy!

This is the only photo I could get before his taste of the Woodlands carrot got too much to handle and he had to have it in his nest before a greedy human took it out! I would never steal it, I swear! But Dexter doesn’t believe me, he is such a paranoid furry! 😉 hehehe.

So basically here is my little factfile for you…

Name: Carrot Shape Vegetable Treat
Brand: Woodlands
Price: £1.19 individually
Offer: 3 for £3
Available from: Pets at Home
Overall Look: 10/10, looks very quaint and appealing!
Value for money? For the size and whilst its on offer, yes. Great value!
Rating: 9/10, hard to fault!
Recommend: Yes, definitely!

The “Space” Dilema

For a little while now I have been super duper tempted to upgrade the hammys cages. I feel that they may need a little bit more space, Dexter especially as he loves to run like no other hamster Ive seen.
Their cages are fine as they are, I am aware of that.
And to buy new cages for 3 hamsters is going to be expensive as hell so would have to be done one at a time anyway. Its all going against me. I want them to have more space… but my purse and the amount of room a bigger cage will take up are the killer factors.

Arghhh! Such a dilema! I dont know what Im going to do!

I have seen some pretty awwwwesome home-made cages; you remember Hammy Happenings, that blog I was ranting about earlier this week? Well the customised cage on their is impressive. I just dont think I can even begin to make something anywhere near as good!

I am thinking a homemade cage is the angle I should go for. I have a shelf for measurements and would be able to make it fit perfectly. But then Id need plastic and space for their BIG saucers and arghh it seems like so much hassle!

Advice anyone??

What NOT To Spend £1.99 On.

Now I love my hamsters and I love to treat them every now and then. I feel even more compelled to do so seeing as I had a LUSH sunny holiday whilst my hammys were stuck in dreary ol’ England. Swings and Roundabouts eh! 😉

Anyway on my latest trip to Pets at Home I scoured the shelves for something new and interesting. Something my hamsters will think ‘ohhh she is just the coolest owner!’ for. You know the drill with pets. They get in your head, with their cute fluttering eyes and their little squeaky voices…. Just me??!

Anyway I came across ‘Bedtime Books’ the chew toy for small furries. They are basically little hamster-sized books that are ‘100% edible for small pets!’ So far so good, I have small pets that could do with hamster-sized books! Durrr, who doesn’t! ;D
Dont they look dainty! I know what you are thinking… why ‘Hamster Times‘ ?? Why not ‘Hammy Potter‘?? Ill tell you why.
Coz they dont have a hamster-mad creative looney on their production team clearly!!!
(psst… it took me like 20 minutes thinking of that pun. Enjoy it people. Enjoy it.)

So. This product cost me a whopping £1.99. Almost broke the bank I tell yah. And I am making such a huge point of the price because in all honesty, what have I actually paid for here. I have paid for an orange piece of cardboard to cover a few sheets of coloured paper. Think ‘post-it not style’ coloured paper. 

I freely admit, I am an insanely impulsive person. And when I saw them miniature books on the shelf I thought ‘awww who would want to see a hamster read a book!’ Well I certainly wanted to see it! Even if it did have a terrible title.. *Hamster Times pffff*.. I wanted to see my hamsters pretend to read! WHO WOULDNT!

And to cut a short story even shorter, none of the hamsters have shown a fleck of interest to the books. Not a lick! Nothing! They too realise that they are lame and disappointing and are very probably cringing at me for putting their supposed ‘treat’ in their cages.
I could make better with the scraps of paper and card laying about anyway. At least I wouldn’t have spent a poxy £2.00 on that to be ignored.

My verdict, don’t waste your pennies folks. Your small furries would love a honey-nut chew stick to nibble – tasty, long-lasting and the same price as this rejected post-it note book thing.

I may very well take it out of their cages. Its just cluttering up the place. I could use it to scribble down really short shopping lists..

Got a decent chew toy?? What is it? Value for money? Let me know, comment below! 😀 

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Also a little reminder I have stocked up the Etsy shop so if you want your own custom-made pet shoulder bag get in touch! All the details are on the blog, click here, or just go straight to my online shop to check it all out: www.etsy.com/shop/chaoticscribbles  You can still get 20% off your order, exclusive for Hamster Diary readers with the code: hamsterdiaries20