All hamster breeds enjoy a tasty, juicy fruit such as a peach, and if you’ve ever given your pet a slice, you surely would have seen it eat it up in no time. However, the fact that a hamster likes a certain food does not always mean you should keep feeding it to your pet.
Dwarf hamsters can eat peaches, but only in tiny quantities, and as a treat because of the high sugar content in peaches. Unlike their bigger counterparts, dwarf hamsters are highly susceptible to health risks related to consuming too much sugar, such as diabetes.
If you want to let your hamster have the occasional peach, you can safely do so, even if you have a Roborovski hamster, the smallest of all dwarf hamster breeds. But you should be careful because when it comes to these sweets, it’s easy to give a dwarf hamster too much. So stick around to find out the answers to these questions and more.
How Often Can You Feed Dwarf Hamsters Peaches?
You should only give a dwarf hamster peaches once every two weeks. With larger breeds, such as the Syrian hamster, you can get away with giving a small slice once or twice a week. But with dwarf hamsters, keeping portions very small is crucial to keep them from developing health problems.
Keeping treat-giving at a minimum also has other benefits, such as:
- It prevents a common behavior among hamsters where they become selective of their food, eating only the bits that they like.
- Treats don’t become ordinary to your pets, so they feel excited whenever you give a treat, even if it’s the same fruit or vegetable.
- They reap the benefits of the fruit without acquiring any negative side effects.
Due to their small size, dwarf hamsters need very small quantities of food. Give them 1 tbsp (15 grams) per day, which includes a main meal of a well-balanced hamster pellet mix and the occasional treat.
Effects Of Overfeeding Peaches On Dwarf Hamsters
Due to their tiny size, dwarf hamsters are incredibly easy to overfeed. If you’re the type of fur parent easily tempted to give your pet more food when the bowl is emptied, you may want to unlearn old habits and learn new ones, especially when caring for a dwarf hamster.
Hamsters hoard food, keeping any excess inside their cheek pouches or hidden underneath bedding material. So an empty bowl doesn’t always mean your hamster is still hungry. More often than not, it simply means it’s hoarded whatever it can no longer eat.
If you’ve not been careful in measuring the amount of food you gave to your pet, your hamster is in danger of suffering the following health risks.
Obesity
Dwarf hamsters are highly susceptible to obesity, but they’re adorable when they’re happily munching on a slice of fruit, aren’t they? So it’s easy to want to give them something more to chew on.
However, giving them more food than they can digest daily can wreak havoc on their health.
And one of the most common health issues that dwarf hamsters experience is obesity. Granted, they’ll look even more adorable with their bellies bulging and their frames rounder than ever, but it’s a death sentence to feed them to the point of obesity.
Obesity can:
- Significantly shorten a hamster’s life: Most hamsters in captivity can live for two to three years. It’s an already short life that can be even shorter when a hamster is overweight.
- Cause a hamster to have heart problems: Obese hamsters become lethargic, which is unhealthy for their hearts. To stay healthy, they need lots of play and exercise.
- Cause organ failure: Obesity can also cause other organs, such as the liver and kidneys, to malfunction.
An adult dwarf hamster should weigh only 0.11 lbs (50 grams), while Roborovski hamsters, the smallest breed, typically weigh less, at around 0.09 pounds (43 grams). You can also tell if your adult hamster is overweight because it will be plumper than normal and will have practically no interest in playing.
It will, instead, spend more time sleeping.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a health problem that stems from a hamster’s obesity. Although hamsters can develop diabetes without being overweight, obesity significantly increases the risk of diabetes in hamsters, just as in humans.
So if your hamster is already overweight, you might want to check in with your vet, as an early diagnosis of diabetes makes it much easier to manage and treat.
Some of the signs of diabetes in hamsters are:
- Excessive thirst: A diabetic hamster will drink much more water. So if you notice that it goes through a water bottle more quickly than usual, it could be a diabetes symptom.
- Increased appetite: Not only will a diabetic hamster drink more, but it will also eat more. However, this is tricky to detect because healthy hamsters are normally hearty eaters.
- Increased urination: Together with increased water consumption is increased urination. You might also want to check if your pet’s urine is yellowish. If you have the tools, checking the urine with a glucose tester or a diabetes test helps.
- Dramatic weight loss: Diabetes may also cause hamsters to lose weight fast despite eating a lot.
- Yellow nails: The nails of a diabetic hamster may also turn yellow and appear thicker than normal.
Note: How diabetes affects a hamster’s appetite varies from hamster to hamster. Some hamsters lose their appetite, while others may have an increased appetite for food. The biggest telltale sign is when a hamster’s eating habits change drastically.
Conclusion
Peaches are a healthy fruit rich in vitamins that aid in properly developing a hamster and strengthening its immune system. They can also vary your hamster’s diet, so it won’t get bored.
But, like with many things, too much of a good thing can be bad for these small pets. To reap the benefits of peaches, keep portion sizes small, and only give peaches to your dwarf hamster as an occasional treat.