Bread is a staple in most homes all over the world. If you love bread, it’s understandable that you’d want to share one of your favorite foods with your beloved hamster. Before you do this, though, you must understand the risks that come with feeding bread to a hamster.
Hamsters can eat bread in moderation without developing any complications. However, it is not the best source of nutrition for them. Bread is mostly carbs, and hamsters need a healthy mix of proteins, vitamins, fats, and carbs.
In the rest of the article, I’ll explain in detail the types of bread you can feed your hamster and the varieties you should avoid. I’ll also tell you what you should incorporate into your hamster’s diet, including treats you can give your pet instead of bread.
What Types of Bread Can Hamsters Eat?
Generally, it’s safe to feed your hamster bread in moderation. Bread, however, comes in such wide varieties that it would be imprudent to feed your hamster every kind of bread you bring home.
In the wild, a hamster will comfortably eat seeds and grains. These are whole grains with shells that provide essential nutrition to them. Millers will usually remove the grain shells while making the flour for bread. Processed bread doesn’t have as much nutritional value to a hamster as the grains it would typically eat in the wild.
Most markets generally categorize bread into white, brown, and whole-grain. Below is an explanation of what these classifications mean:
White Bread
White bread is made using light-colored flour. This flour is light-colored because the millers remove the bran and germ layers of the wheat entirely. They may bleach the flour further to get a whiter color. Besides the bran and germ layers, the milling process also removes natural oils from the wheat grain.
Brown Bread
Unlike white bread, where the bran and germ layers of grains are removed entirely, brown bread is made using a significant amount of whole-grain flour, usually whole-grain wheat flour. The addition of coffee or molasses may enhance the brown color. You should be able to tell if these additives are present in your brown bread by checking the list of ingredients.
Whole-Grain Bread (Whole-Wheat Bread)
Whole-grain bread is also known as wholemeal bread or whole-wheat bread. Manufacturers mill its flour primarily from whole grains or—sometimes—entirely from whole grains. Whole-grain bread is brown bread, but not all kinds of brown bread fall under whole-grain bread.
Stick to Whole-Grain Bread for Your Hamster
Since whole-grain bread has more of the original grain in the final product, it has more nutritional value for your hamster than white or generic brown bread. You probably already recognize that white bread is mostly junk with empty carbs. Just as you would choose whole-grain bread over white bread, treat your hamster to the healthier option.
While whole-grain bread is a better option when pitted against other types of bread as a hamster treat, it is grossly inferior to other healthy hamster treats such as carrots and squash. Bread should not be the default treat for your hamster.
Can Hamsters Eat Bread Crumbs?
Hamsters can eat bread crumbs. When feeding a hamster with bread, it’s best to do it in small portions. Bread crumbs are already in the size and texture that hamsters can easily consume.
However, you shouldn’t get into the habit of leaving bread crumbs on surfaces for your hamster to eat. Bread should be an occasional treat and not a regular feature in your hamster’s diet.
Can Hamsters Eat Breadsticks?
Hamsters shouldn’t eat breadsticks. Bakers top breadsticks with sugar, garlic, and other toppings that make them a tasty snack or dessert for humans but a terrible food for hamsters. Recipes for premade breadsticks vary a lot, and some of the ingredients may not be good for hamsters.
Why Bread Should Not Be the Default Treat for Your Hamster
Ideally, you should not give your hamster bread as a treat. Bread has fewer nutrients than the food you’d typically feed your hamster. The high carbohydrate content in bread can also contribute to obesity and diabetes in the hamster.
A hamster’s weight is determined mainly by its diet and activity level. Even with a hamster wheel, it’s unlikely that a caged hamster will stay as active as a wild hamster. Feeding your pet lots of energy-giving carbs when it is unlikely to expend all the surplus calories running will leave you with a fat hamster.
Designing a Healthy Diet for Your Hamster
When designing a diet for your hamster, ensure it has a healthy balance of carbs, protein, fats, and fiber. Generally, the composition should be as follows:
- Carbohydrates: 35%
- Protein: 24%
- Fat: 5%
- Fiber: 5%
The staple food for a hamster should mostly be commercial rodent chow. You can supplement this with vegetables and small fruits. Any other food should be added as an occasional treat and should not be a mainstay in the hamster’s diet.
You want your hamster’s diet to mimic what it would look like in the wild. Some of the treats you can include in a hamster diet instead of bread include:
- Squash
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Cucumber
- Cauliflower
- Spinach
Aside from veggies, you can also give your hamster plain scrambled eggs as a treat. Veggies and protein sources such as scrambled eggs will go a long way in boosting your hamster’s health, much farther than bread would.
You should also be monitoring how much food your hamster is eating. The quantity and the quality of the food are equally important. Like a human being, a hamster will prioritize the tastiest food first and ignore bland food even when it’s healthier. If you give your hamster a mix of seeds, it will first eat more flavorful seeds, such as sunflower seeds.
Final Thoughts
Hamsters can eat bread and enjoy it occasionally. But since bread has little nutritional value, you should only give it to your hamster occasionally as a treat. Your hamster’s diet should be nutrient-rich with a healthy mix of carbs, proteins, fats, and fiber.