What do hamsters eat at home: a list of foods that can and should not be given to eat
Empirically, it is impossible to determine what hamsters eat at home. Hungry animals will begin to grab everything, including products that are unsuitable for them. Before you get a pet, find out what you can and cannot eat.
Contents
- What does a rodent eat in nature
- What does a hamster eat at home
- How much do domestic hamsters eat
- How do rodents drink?
- What can you give hamsters from homemade food
- Delicacies or what can hamsters eat
- What fruits can pets eat
- What do little hamsters eat
- What can hamsters eat and what not
- Hamster daily diet
- Animal protein should be given 2-3 times a week 1 type from the list
What does a rodent eat in nature
The natural food of the animal depends on its habitat, and what hamsters eat also depends on it. They prefer to settle in the fields, so their main diet is cereals. If there is a village nearby, animals will definitely visit it. There they deal with stored vegetables and fruits. Fresh herbs are part of the diet. The hamster eats grass and field plants. Beetles, spiders and caterpillars are the favorite prey of rodents. The nature of animals is far from angelic, if they come across a wounded animal, the rodent will not disdain fresh meat.
What does a hamster eat at home
The closer the diet is home to natural, the better for the animal. In the wild, no one cooks him fried potatoes and dumplings. Therefore, homemade fried, salty, smoked and sweet foods will very quickly destroy the baby.
Hamsters should not eat fatty, spicy foods and canned foods.
The main part of the diet is cereals. Watch how hamsters eat and choose the right mixture. Special mixes can be purchased at the store. Vitamins are usually added to more expensive mixtures.
Willingly eats at home the animal and fruit. This is important if there is no drinker in the cage. Fruits and vegetables are given to animals in finely chopped form or in large pieces so that teeth can be ground down.
Perishable foods must be removed from the cage after 6-8 hours, so as not to poison the kids.
Do not give to animals:
- citrus;
- potatoes;
- cabbage;
- exotic fruits;
- brazil nuts.
Homemade hamsters are happy to eat boiled chicken breast, eggs and insects, low-fat cottage cheese, seeds and nuts. No need to stuff animals with meat 3 times a day. Such food should appear “on the table” 2-3 times a week.
The protein component must be present in the menu of pregnant and lactating females almost every day.
Earthworms – very nutritious food, the hamster eats them with great appetite, but you can’t dig worms in the garden. Pets can become infected with something. There must be a mineral or chalk stone in the cage for grinding incisors.
How much do domestic hamsters eat
Animals are nocturnal, so their main meal is in the evening. The amount of food that should be given to the baby depends on the size of the animal. With double feeding, the Syrian should be given 1 tbsp. a spoonful of the mixture in the morning and evening, and 1 teaspoon of jungarik. In the evening, put the animal juicy fruits and vegetables, and in the morning carefully remove their uneaten remains from the cage.
For a hamster, food is not only a daily diet, but also supplies. The animal will hide the uneaten food for a rainy day. In addition to removing perishable foods, review and discard supplies while cleaning to prevent toddlers from eating spoiled foods. To prevent the rodent from being too offended, put a few seeds in a clean pantry.
How do rodents drink?
The inhabitants of the steppe do not need baths with water for drinking, and they clean the skin in containers with sand. However, a special drinker must be in the cage with the animal. It can be hanging or in the form of a small bowl. If you have a bowl of water, it should be changed daily, even if the water doesn’t seem dirty. Water must be boiled. As a last resort, hamsters eat juicy fruits and vegetables instead of water, such as cucumbers. But the lack of a drinker requires the owner to carefully monitor that the animal does not suffer from thirst.
What can you give hamsters from homemade food
If you want to treat your pets to homemade dishes, remember that animals should not be given sweet and fatty foods. You can cook cereals for kids in the water. Buckwheat, Hercules, Millet, Wheat, Lentils – diversify your pet’s table. From homemade food, animals can be given low-fat cottage cheese, boiled eggs and chicken breast. Canned food is allowed only from mixtures for babies: meat puree, vegetable and fruit puree, which do not contain salt, preservatives and sugar.
Delicacies or what can hamsters eat
In addition to the main diet, there are not too well-known delicacies for family pets. These products can be offered to animals in addition to food:
- hummies;
- flax seeds in small quantities;
- milk thistle;
- dried fruits of house drying, not market;
- moth and its larvae home breeding.
This list can be supplemented by the personal preferences of the animal. If you are giving a new food for the first time, give a small piece, “one bite”.
What fruits can pets eat
There are certain rules that should be followed when feeding animals with fruits. They should be followed so that the food does not harm:
- feed the animals with locally grown seasonal fruits;
- fruit must be sufficiently mature, but not rotten;
- sour fruits are dangerous for animals;
- rodents should not eat fruits with stones, take them out before feeding;
- do not give fruits more than 1-2 times a week;
- do not give animals exotic tropical fruits.
Remember that the diet of the Jungariks is slightly different from the diet of the Syrians. Dzungarians are prone to diabetes, so they can get fruits much less often than the Syrians.
What do little hamsters eat
Usually, the mother feeds the babies herself, if normal conditions are created for her. She even delivers food to the house on her own. You don’t have to go to the animal. But it happens that the children remain orphans or the hamster runs away. We have to muster up the courage and feed the children.
If such a misfortune occurred after childbirth, you can make your own food, but it is better to buy a mixture for feeding kittens at the pet store. Dilute it to the state of milk and feed the babies every 2 hours with a dropper or paint brush. The brush should be dipped in the mixture and given to the kids. After feeding, massage your baby’s tummy so that he can “go to the toilet.” Put warm bottles, but do not overheat. The temperature should not be higher than 31 ºС. A two-week-old baby can be given:
- infant formula Agusha and Gerber;
- cereals without sugar and milk;
- fresh clean greens grown at home.
Pumpkin or meat puree from baby food, mashed cottage cheese will go well, you can knead the egg yolk.
A three-week-old animal can be given chopped “adult” food. Continue feeding with mixtures until the age of one month. Grate the kids cucumber, carrot. Place a water bowl in the cage. Hamsters eat on their own.
A pregnant and lactating female must be given chicken breast, insects and boiled eggs. Sufficient amount of succulent feed and water should always be in the cage.
What can hamsters eat and what not
Favorite food for hamsters is selected empirically from the list of allowed foods. You need to understand that your pet may prefer one kind of food, but the food must be balanced. Try to choose from each category what the animal likes to eat.
Hamster daily diet
Can eat | Undesirable | Must not |
---|---|---|
Dry food for hamsters | Dry food intended for other small animals and birds | |
Nuts | Almonds, Brazil nuts, acorns, cherry and apricot pits | |
Sunflower seeds, pumpkins, melons | Watermelon | |
sprouted bamboo, oat sprouts, wheat and alfalfa greens | Drops for rodents, white and black bread, muesli and breakfast cereals | |
Cereals | Rice only as a remedy for diarrhea, boiled | dry pasta |
pulse | Red beans and their sprouts | |
Berries are sweet | Currant only sweet | |
Seasonal sweet fruits, bananas and chips from them | Watermelon contains a lot of nitrates | Exotic (pineapple, kiwi, mango), persimmon, citrus |
Raw and cooked vegetables | cabbage, potatoes, onion, garlic | |
Parsley and dill, clover, dandelion, nettle, lettuce | Spicy greens, wild garlic, sorrel, grass from city lawns | |
Dried fruits for home drying | Glossy market dried fruits and candied fruits | |
Branches of fruit trees and deciduous | coniferous branches |
Animal protein should be given 2-3 times a week 1 type from the list
Can eat | Must not |
---|---|
Boiled chicken breast | Sausage, sausages |
Yogurt or cottage cheese, low-fat kefir all products 1% fat | Cheese, sour cream, cream butter |
Chicken or quail egg | Sugar, salt, spices, gozinaki, fruit juices, mint, confectionery sweets, ice cream, cow and goat milk, mushrooms, honey |
Butterflies, locusts, mealworm home grown or from a pet store | |
Lean boiled fish | |
Dry gammarus from a pet store |
This is a fairly complete diet of animals, where ordinary food is combined with treats. Do not give him only “sweets”, the diet should contain all the elements: proteins, fats, fiber, carbohydrates.
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What does a hamster eat at home
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