What to feed your pet Steppe Lemmings

What to feed your pet Steppe lemmings

You may have noticed if you were thinking of getting Steppe lemmings as a pet that is very little information about caring for them on the internet. Feeding them seems to be the hardest thing to find information on but luckily I have managed to find information from a great pet store when I recently got my two Steppe lemmings from and I thought that I should share my new found knowledge with the rest of you that are wanting to get these pets for yourselves.

First of all, Steppe lemmings are sugar intolerant which basically makes them naturally diabetic creatures. This means that when they are fed food with a high sugar content they will become rather poorly and could lead to them passing away. There have been reports on the internet that Steppe lemmings last for a very short time in captivity as pets and this is mainly due to the fact that people are killing their pet lemmings with kindness, feeding them food that is too rich for their poor little bodies to deal with.  

Generally a lot of people would assume that normal rodent food such as that for hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs is a suitable diet for Steppe lemmings but in actual fact, it is this that can kill them. These foods have fruit within them in a dried form usually and these fruits are far too high in sugar for the pet lemmings to handle. In actual fact the best food that you can feed your pet lemmings is food especially made for degus which are another form of rodent which is also sugar intolerant. You can get special food for pet lemmings at certain pet stores and on the internet but it can be a struggle to find them. I managed to find some pet lemming food in a pet store in Germany but in places like this, lemmings are considered more of a pet and less of the exotic type.

Alongside lemming food or degu food, you can also feed your pet lemmings carrots, broccoli and cabbage as well as other root vegetables. This is the sort of food that they would eat and come across in the wild and they are quite partial to grass so the straw or hay that you can get from pet stores to feed rabbits and guinea pigs. Alfalfa is also another firm favorite and again, you can get this from most good pet stores.