What do hamsters eat? - Complete guide

2024 Author: Carl Johnson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 06:19

Sometimes these little companions come to our homes that seem to hardly need care but if we do not pay attention to their basic needs, such as food, he alth problems can be triggered that affect their quality of life. To avoid this, in this article on our site we are going to explain what hamsters eat, taking into account the peculiarities of some of the most common species in homes, such as the Chinese or the little roborowski.

General hamster feeding considerations

Before explaining in detail what hamsters eat, we must take into account how to offer them that food, for which it is advisable to attend to the following considerations:

Hamsters are omnivorous animals, so in addition to fruits and vegetables, we must include meat in their diet. In the wild they eat insects and even frogs and lizards.
We must offer him food away from the place he uses as a bathroom.
Also, the quantities will be small to avoid leftovers as much as possible, which we will have to remove.
Hamsters are hoarders, that is, it is normal for them to take food back to their nest. They are nocturnal animals that sleep most of the day, although they wake up several times to eat what they store. We must observe when the hamster eats to put the food at that time. He will distribute them to you.
The fruits and vegetables that we offer must be very well washed and dried, at room temperature and not directly cold from the fridge.
In addition to food, the hamster must have water available. The drinkers that are hung from the bars of the cage are very useful, as they cannot be knocked over. Even if it has water, we must change it daily.
On the market we can find a considerable variety of feed, which will make our task easier, as long as we make sure that they are suitable for hamsters and of good quality.
In addition, we can offer you sporadically cereal bars for hamsters, mineral blocks, cuttlefish bones for parakeets or some toasted bread, feed or hard dog biscuit so they can gnaw. Any food hanging from the cage is a fun time.
The administration of any supplement should be consulted with the veterinarian.
Finally, it is not advisable to give sticky sweets, since they can stick to the teeth.

What do hamsters eat? - Balanced diet for a hamster

Although in our homes we can live with different species of hamsters such as the common, the Chinese, the Russian, the Syrian or the roborowski, the truth is that, in general, they will all eat the same, with some peculiarities that we will discuss in the following sections. To know what a common hamster, or any other hamster species, eats, we must take into account their diet in the wild As we have said, they are omnivorous animals, this means that their diet is varied, feeding on both vegetables and animals. Thus, when it comes to establishing what hamsters eat and knowing, thus, what can be fed to a hamster, we can say that a balanced diet modelis as follows:

About half of the daily feed should be made up of special feed for hamsters The required protein is 16%. If the feed does not cover it, we should offer the hamster products such as fresh cheese or turkey Thus, if you are wondering if a hamster can eat cheese, the answer is yes, being this the most appropriate.
A 45 % of the diet should correspond to the raw vegetables.
Finally, approximately the remaining 5 % would be the fruits.

To choose the right hamster food we must pay attention to the number of pipescontaining. Generally, an excess of them indicates that the feed is of low quality. If we don't want to feed him we should offer him a mixture of raw seeds, grains and nuts . Fruits with too much caloric content must be limited to avoid overweight problems, especially in Russian hamsters. For the same reason, we should not overdo it with fats. We must also be careful with citrus fruits, as they can be too acidic. Albino hamsters do not present particularities in their diet, so if you wonder what an albino hamster eats, you should follow the instructions described in this section.

What do hamsters eat? - What do hamsters eat? - Balanced diet for a hamster

How to feed a hamster correctly?

Once we know what hamsters eat, we must be careful with the way we introduce the food to ensure that none of it harms them. To do this, we must give him a very small amount A couple of days later, if we have not noticed any adverse reaction, we can give him a larger amount. After another couple of days we will be able to give him the full ration, if we have verified that he assimilates it well. On the rest days of the food in question we can offer others always following the same pattern.

As for the amount of daily food for hamsters, these small animals tend to distribute themselves same the food, so we cannot establish a common quantity for all. Thus, as we have already indicated in previous sections, the important thing is to offer moderate amounts to avoid wasting too much food. Likewise, we must pay attention to the time of day preferred by the hamster to eat.

What do Chinese hamsters eat?

These hamsters will follow the general diet that we have indicated, but to know what these hamsters eat we must take into account that they have a higher risk of suffering from diabetes and osteoporosisTherefore, your diet should be limited in terms of sugars and with a good supply of calcium. Thus, in addition to looking at the composition of the feed, it will be important to provide the animal with fresh cheese from time to time and vegetables rich in calcium suitable for the hamster, such as spinach.

What do roborowski hamsters eat?

To know what these hamsters eat we just have to take into account their small size For them, commercial feed can contain food that is too large, so we will have to break them into accessible pieces. We must also be careful with fats because they do not usually tolerate them well. Finally, whenever we give him natural foods, such as fruits, vegetables or cheese, we will have to follow the same dynamics and chop it very small to facilitate chewing.