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🐹 Why Foraging Is Important for Hamsters & Gerbils
Foraging—searching, digging, and exploring for food—is a natural behaviour for hamsters and gerbils. Encouraging it in captivity supports both their physical and emotional wellbeing.
🌿 Supports Natural Instincts
Hamsters and gerbils instinctively dig, gather, and hide food. Foraging lets them express these behaviours naturally.
🧠 Provides Mental Stimulation
It keeps them engaged and prevents boredom, which can lead to stress or destructive habits.
💪 Promotes Healthy Exercise
Foraging encourages movement—digging, sniffing, climbing—and helps maintain a healthy weight.
😌 Reduces Stress
A stimulating environment with foraging opportunities helps prevent anxiety and repetitive behaviours like bar-chewing.
✔️ Easy Ways to Offer Foraging
Scatter feeding, hiding treats in bedding or toys, foraging mixes, shredded paper, and safe enrichment items.
Greater Plantain Forage
Greater Plantain (Plantago major), also known as Broadleaf Plantain, is a rounder, broader leaf compared to its relative Ribwort Plantain. Naturally high in fibre, it is well regarded for supporting healthy digestion.
Rich in vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds
We recommend freezing all sprays and foraging items for 48 hours, allowing them to defrost for 24 hours, and then freezing again for a further 48 hours.
This process helps ensure the items are completely pest-free and safe for your small animals.
