Nutrition is an essential factor when keeping your pet hamster healthy. Understanding what to feed your hamster is a vital part of having one as a family pet. Hamsters are omnivores, which means they can eat both plant and animal matter. This article provides a detailed guide on creating a balanced diet for your hamster, covering essential food types, safe and unsafe foods, and practical feeding tips.
The Foundation: Commercial Hamster Food
Commercial pellets should be the central part of your hamster’s diet. Nutrition-packed nuggets, especially designed for hamsters, replicate their natural diet. Mazuri Rat and Mouse Blocks are considered one of the best diets on the market for hamsters, often used by veterinarians and zoos due to their high standards. These blocks eliminate the possibility of malnutrition that can occur with seed mixes.
Why Choose Blocks?
A block-based diet ensures that hamsters receive a balanced intake of nutrients, preventing them from selectively eating only their favorite parts of a mix. The hard and crunchy nature of the blocks also helps to keep their teeth trim. If you had the option of eating a cupcake or a salad every day, you would be likely to pick the cupcake more often than not. Hamsters think the same way! They will pick out all the yummy stuff from their seed mix and leave the rest behind. Unfortunately, whatever is left is often the healthiest and most nutritious part of the diet.
Alternatives and Supplements
Higgin's Sunburst, Hamster and Gerbil is a high-quality, high-variety seed mix that can be used to provide dietary variety and cut overall protein as your hamster ages. It's recommended to feed about a handful, once or twice per week. To provide cognitive and instinctual stimulation, you can try scatter feeding! Throw a handful of seed mix over your hamster's bedding, and they will enjoy "hunting" for their favourite pieces.
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: Essential Additions
Fresh vegetables and fruits, offered in small quantities, are crucial for providing essential vitamins and minerals. A small handful of leafy green vegetables provides a welcome addition to a hamster’s diet daily.
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Safe Options
- Fruits: Apples (without seeds), bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pears.
- Vegetables: Carrots, cucumber, spinach, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, baby corn, green beans (runner beans/string beans) after pulling the strings off first.
- Leafy Greens: Spinach (occasionally), kale.
Portion Control
A daily piece of veg or fruit should be no bigger than your hamster’s ear, approximately.
Hydration
Cucumber is popular with hamsters and can be useful for hydration in a pet carrier also. Cucumber and watermelon both get a bad reputation as more watery fruits. They are perfect foods for providing hydration especially on long journeys. As well, a hamster will simply moderate their water intake to make up for it.
Protein Sources: Supporting Growth and Development
Hamsters are naturally omnivores, so they’ll happily munch on seeds, grasses, and the occasional creepy-crawly. Protein is important for their growth and development, and can be sourced from both animal and plant matter.
Good Choices
- Cooked eggs
- Cottage cheese
- Unsalted low-fat meat (like chicken or turkey)
- Dried crickets, grasshoppers and mealworms
Frequency
Pet parents should add protein to their meals at least twice a day.
Grains: Fuel for Activity
Wholegrain’s provided in a hamster food are recommended to wear down their constantly growing teeth and to keep their gut healthy. Grains are considered healthy carbs. You should add to your pet's diet as they help your pet to remain full for a longer time and also provide energy for their day-to-day work. Considered a food that provides fuel to hamsters after every day’s work and keeps them active.
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- Whole oats
Water: The Elixir of Life
Hamsters also need a constant supply of fresh drinking water. Fresh water must always be available. It can be provided in a bottle or a bowl. Choose a bottle with a valveless sipper tube to make it easier for them to have a refreshing drink. Make sure to check the sipper of the water bottle at least daily as they can become clogged. Water bowls should be heavy so they are not knocked over.
Foods to Avoid: Protecting Your Hamster's Health
Knowing what not to feed your hamster is just as important as knowing what to feed them. Certain foods can cause digestive issues, toxicity, or other health problems.
Dangerous Foods
- Citrus fruits: Particularly lemon and lime which are highly acidic - they could cause issues with pouches due to acidity. Citrus fruits are also high in an acidic form of Vitamin C and research shows that pure ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) increases cancer and tumour growth in hamsters.
- Onion and garlic: This includes all types of onion including leeks. Research shows onion can cause haemolytic anaemia in hamsters and many domestic animals, which can lead to breathing difficulties and heart failure. Onions and garlic also contain thiosulphate, which is toxic to hamsters in large amounts (but not humans) - but the main concern is haemolytic anaemia, causing breathlessness leading to heart failure.
- Rhubarb: Rhubarb stems/fruit are also quite high in oxalates, acidic and could cause illness and digestive issues. It's not a suitable fruit for hamsters. The RSPCA say don't give rhubarb to hamsters
- Avocado: Avocado stones and skins contain Persin, which, while safe for humans, is toxic to animals. Persin can leach out from the stones and skin into the flesh. Persin can cause ill health or digestive problems in animals, including hamsters, even if it may not be fatal.
- Fruit Pips and seeds: These include Apple Pips, Pear Pips. Grape Pips and cherry stones. It's best to avoid the seed and pips of all fruit. They contain amygdalin which converts into the poison, cyanide, when digested.
- Grapes and Raisins: there are different opinions over whether Grapes themselves, and not just the pips, are safe or not. The RSPCA says they are not safe and can be poisonous to rodents. The notion of grapes being unsafe may be due to the possibility of mycotoxins that can be present in some grapes. These are not visible on the surface and are within the fruit itself. This also applies to dried fruit such as raisins.
- Uncooked kidney beans and other pulses Raw or uncooked kidney beans aren't safe to give.
- Tomatoes: Unripe or green tomatoes contain high levels of solanine and tomatine.
- Raw potato or green potatoes: green potatoes and raw potatoes are very high in solanine.
- Chocolate: Chocolate melts and becomes sticky and could stick in their pouches. It contains Caffeine as well as Theobromine.
- Hamster muesli: Muesli-based hamster diets encourage selective feeding, where they eat high starch/sugar components of the muesli while rejecting the more fibrous pellets.
Other Considerations
- Spicy peppers: Spicy peppers and citrus fruit should be avoided, as they can cause gastrointestinal problems with your hamster.
- Seeds: Seeds are high in fat and low in other nutrients, and this can lead to obesity or malnutrition.
- Celery stalks: Celery stalks can pose a danger to your hamster because their “strings” pose a choking hazard.
- High carb bread, pasta, crackers and biscuits: High carb bread, pasta, crackers and biscuits can cause digestive problems. Chocolate and dairy products are particularly dangerous and citrus fruit can upset their sensitive tummies.
Feeding Schedule: Establishing a Routine
Pet parents should know how, what, and when a hamster should be fed. A proper diet is not only essential but is important for their health and well-being. Adult hamsters generally need to be fed once or twice daily, with the bulk of their meals provided in the evening when they start to wake up. Rather than just putting your hamster’s favourite food in a gnaw-proof ceramic bowl, scattering some of it around encourages natural foraging behaviours. Maintaining a regular feeding routine is essential for their digestive well-being and helps avoid overeating, which can result in obesity. It is important to offer a specific quantity of food tailored to the hamster's size and activity level; typically, one to two tablespoons of a premium hamster mix is adequate. Additionally, fresh fruits and vegetables should be given in small amounts several times a week, and any leftover fresh food must be promptly discarded to prevent spoilage.
Hydration: An Overlooked Necessity
Often overlooked by parents, adequate hydration is very important and should be focused on while feeding your hamster. Like other living organisms, hamsters need a constant supply of fresh water to maintain their bodily functions. Water aids in digestion, nutrient absorption, and waste elimination. Although hamsters get moisture through fresh vegetables and fruits, that is not sufficient to meet their daily water needs. Not drinking adequate water can lead to dehydration, especially in the summer season.
Homemade vs. Store-Bought: Finding the Right Balance
There has always been speculation about whether to feed your hamster homemade food or store-bought food. According to the vet, the dog's diet should have a mix of both foods. While homemade foods like vegetables and fruits provide essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals, store-bought foods are specially formulated to meet their daily nutrient requirements.
Read also: Feeding Your Syrian Hamster
Addressing Common Concerns
How Often Should You Feed a Hamster?
Adult hamsters generally need to be fed once or twice daily, with the bulk of their meals provided in the evening.
How Long Can a Hamster Go Without Food?
A hamster cannot go long without food; generally, they should not be deprived of food for more than 24-48 hours. Due to their small size and rapid metabolism, hamsters require frequent access to food to maintain their energy levels and overall health. Extended periods without food can lead to severe health consequences, including hypoglycemia, organ damage, and even death.
What About Supplements?
Providing hamsters have a good hamster mix, with the correct nutrients and protein levels, they do not need any supplements.
Can Hamsters Eat Dairy Products?
Unlike many other animals, hamsters are not lactose intolerant. This means they can consume dairy and dairy products without any issue. However, there is no real benefit as probiotics for humans are unlikely to have effect on hamsters.