Can hamsters eat raw and boiled potatoes?

The quality of nutrition largely determines the degree of health and life expectancy of the animal. Before offering a pet a new product, in our case potatoes, a caring owner will wonder if hamsters can have potatoes. There is no definite answer to this question, since this vegetable can both be useful for the animal and harm it. Consider all options.

The benefits and harms of raw potatoes

Let’s first resolve the question of whether hamsters can eat raw potatoes. In the wild, small rodents often store potato tubers in their pantries to feed on them during the cold season. So this starchy vegetable is a natural food for them and, accordingly, you can give the hamster raw potatoes. This product is useful because it contains:

• a large amount of vitamins C, PP and group B;
• folic acid;
• a lot of potassium, calcium, fluorine and copper.

With moderate use, these components help to avoid diseases of the circulatory system, beriberi, pathologies of fetal development in pregnant females. Raw potatoes also have a positive effect on the digestive organs – it reduces the acidity of gastric juice, eliminates constipation.

You can include this product in the diet of a sick animal to improve the general well-being of the animal.

However, this useful product also has some disadvantages. The starch contained in the tubers, when eaten in excessive amounts, will lead to obesity. Such nutrition can be useful only for hamsters with reduced body weight.

Also beware of giving hamsters potatoes that have turned green from being in the light for a long time. This will lead to poisoning of the baby, since the toxic substance solanine accumulates in such tubers. It causes diarrhea, negatively affects the nervous system.

Properties of boiled tubers

Thermally processed vegetables are recommended to be included in the diet of rodents. Boiled or baked potatoes lose a relatively small amount of nutrients (especially if cooked directly in the skin) and become more tender, easier to digest. So the answer to the question, is it possible for a hamster to boil or bake potatoes, it seems, should be unambiguously positive, but not everything is so simple.

Tubers treated in this way contain even more starch in percentage terms than raw ones. So it is contraindicated to give boiled potatoes to overweight hamsters.

It is best to include boiled potatoes in the diet of the elderly, who find it difficult to digest tough raw food. It is better to feed your pet in small portions of goodies. Salt or oil should not be used in cooking.

Potatoes in the diet of Djungarian hamsters

Djungarian dwarf hamsters, to the chagrin of their owners, often suffer from obesity and the disease associated with this condition – diabetes. Preventive measures should be taken to keep a tiny pet healthy and cheerful. Compliance with a special diet will protect the jungar and prolong his life.

Due to the fact that the starch contained in potato tubers causes an increase in body weight, raises the level of sugar in the blood, it is better not to offer potatoes to the Dzhungars.

General recommendations for eating potatoes

Before you treat your pet with a healthy, tasty vegetable, rinse it thoroughly in water and carefully examine it. If there are green areas or “eyes”, either carefully cut off all the green peel and another solid layer under it, or simply take another tuber. It should be borne in mind that solanine accumulates in and under the peel during long-term storage, so if the vegetables have lain for several months, feed the baby with the core of the tuber.

It is best to use vegetables grown on your own to feed your pet, so as not to expose the animal to the danger of chemical poisoning. If there is no certainty that the vegetables do not contain hazardous substances, cut them into pieces and soak them in clean water for several hours. In no case do not treat the rodent with fried tubers. This food is not at all suitable for the animal, because it contains salt and a lot of fat.