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DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

Apparently when a captive hamster does it it’s usually caused by a nutrient deficiency. There was some research like a decade ago on how corn based diets didn’t offer enough B3 and would create nearly 100% cannibalism rates, with similar problems in diets lacking in protein.

So if you’ve ever had a mad cannibal hamster mom don’t worry, it was YOUR fault!

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MousePotatoDoesStuff@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
What food do they need added to their diet?

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- moakley@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  baby mice
  
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- Tonava@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  [deleted]
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  - MousePotatoDoesStuff@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Thanks! I don’t actually have a hamster, I was just curious 😅 and hopefully, someone will find this thread at some point and it helps save some hamster babies
    
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espurr@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
how come b3 deficiecy leads them to want to eat other hamsters?

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- DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Hard to say exactly but it causes dementia and increased aggression in humans as well, it’s simply necessary for proper brain function. Brains need glucose to function and B3 is used in several vital functions related to both energy production and neural health.
  
  It could also just be an instinctual trigger in hamsters that makes them think they’re starving and tbf they kind of are.
  
  What we can say is fixing the deficiencies almost entirely eliminated the cannibalism.
  
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rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
technically better than having to deal with hamster babies…

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