In March of 2020 I wondered if there were more to make Beanie forage for her food, since it would be very enriching. I didn’t want her food in her Eco Earth pit for fear she’d consume it, and sand definitely wouldn’t be good either. Then I looked across my kitchen and saw my bag of oat bran which I use for making pet treats sometimes. Bingo! I took the oat bran, poured some into a food dish, and mixed Beanie’s food in it.

The Bran-Bowl was an instant success! Ever since I created it I’ve been using it, and Beanie adored digging around in it, and even uses it as a litter box. Obviously the Bran-Bowl is not a replacement of a sand bath, but I think Beanie enjoys finding her food in it. Unlike with Eco Earth, when Beanie eats the food it doesn’t have the fine, powdery dirt on it, therefore tasting better (I’ve never tasted Beanie’s food, but it sounds like a logical theory to me 😆) and being safer.

How To Make A Bran-Bowl

• Get a large food dish.
• Pour some oat bran in.
• Add your hamster’s normal amount of food.
• Serve to hamster.
• Clean as needed, sifting recommended.

I hope your small pets enjoy my invention as much as Beanie does! I just got an Instagram, so if you’d like to see more of Beanie follow us there! If you’re interested in more hamster-related content be sure to like this post and follow the blog, and I’ll be back on Tuesday with more small pet care, DIYs, recipes, cage setups, stories and more, have a ham-tastic day!