Have you ever noticed that hamsters tend to polish off their food quickly? If you’re a hamster owner, you know what a temptation it is to keep refilling those bowls to ensure our tiny pets are happy and full. But are we doing them good by giving them lots of food, or is it detrimental to their health?
You can easily overfeed a hamster, negatively impacting its health and well-being. By nature, hamsters are hoarders that will keep gathering food as long as it is available. This hoarding is a natural hamster instinct that is very useful in the wild, where food is often hard to come by.
If you have been refilling your hamster’s food bowl several times a day, you might want to read further to learn about the signs of overfeeding your hamster and how to feed a hamster properly.
Signs Your Hamster Is Overfed
Who else enjoys watching their hamster nibble their food? It’s so much fun! They hold their food with both hands and chew on it with their big teeth. No wonder hamster owners can’t stop giving their pets food.
But before you reach for that pack of hamster food mix, you might want to check your little pet for signs that they’re overeating. You may not know it, but you could be causing harm to your hamster’s health.
Your Hamster Is Hoarding Too Much Food
It’s perfectly natural for hamsters to hoard. If you observe them, you will notice that they will clean out the food in their bowl but won’t eat it immediately. Most of that food will go straight into their cheek pouches, which is why many hamsters have bulging cheeks.
This hoarding behavior is innate in hamsters and valuable in the wild, where food is not always available. So when they find food, they tend to gather as much as possible, store it in their pouches, and eat it later when there’s no food to forage.
Adverse Effects of Excessive Hoarding
When hamsters have too much food, they will hoard more than they should, which will end up hurting them. And don’t underestimate those cute food pouches, either. They may seem small, but they can store as much as 20% of a hamster’s total body weight.
When you keep refilling your hamster’s food bowl, you are encouraging your hamster to eat more and hoard more. While those pouches can stretch quite a bit, they can only accommodate so much food before it becomes a problem.
The effects of excessive hoarding in hamsters include the following:
- Moldy food: Hamsters don’t only store food in their cheeks. They can also set excess food aside, urinating on it to mark it as their property. This peed-on food could become moldy or rot when not consumed right away.
- Infection or abscess in the cheek pouches: When hamsters store too much food in their cheeks, it could damage their cheek pouches, causing an infection or abscess.
- Impacted cheek pouches: If you don’t stop the excessive hoarding, the food (and debris) stored in their cheek pouches can eventually harden, making it difficult and sometimes impossible for hamsters to remove themselves.
Your Hamster Has an Upset Stomach
The quality of the food you give your hamster also determines whether you may be overfeeding them. If you give food that is too oily, sugary, or non-nutritious, chances are that they will gain excessive weight. Hamsters require nutrients, like protein, essential for a good diet, and failing to provide a proper diet could affect their health.
One sign that your hamster is overfed is when you notice that its stool is softer than usual or they have diarrhea. Hamster stool should look like small, solid pellets without a watery consistency.
Also, place food and water bowls above the substrate so their feces don’t contaminate their food source.
Your Hamster Shows Rapid Weight Gain
Hamsters gain weight when overfed, much like humans. A dwarf hamster, for example, should only weigh up to about 50 grams (1.76 oz), while a mature golden hamster should weigh around 200 grams (7.05 oz).
You don’t have to be too exact about the weight, either. You will notice the change in your hamster’s appearance because those added grams will pile on quickly and become noticeable immediately.
Your Hamster Is Not Finishing Food in the Bowl
Another sign that you’re giving your hamster too much food is when you notice that they are no longer finishing the food in its bowl. Hamsters will naturally clean up their food bowl, eating as much as they need to feel full and storing the rest.
If they keep leaving leftovers, it indicates that the food you’re giving is too much, even for their extreme hoarding instinct to accommodate. You may also see piles of untouched food stored in the corner of their cage.
To help your hamster lose weight, try adding a few toys to its cage and reducing food intake.
Your Hamster Is Sluggish and Lethargic
An overfed hamster will feel sluggish and will not find its toys as appealing as they used to. Your pet might even stay in the corner of its cage for long stretches. This listlessness is a side effect of obesity, which makes it uncomfortable for hamsters to move as they used to.
Proper Feeding Habits for Hamsters
So, how should you feed hamsters? Even though they are highly enthusiastic about food, you should not give your hamster just any type of food or give it as much as you want to. Here are some tips for feeding your hamster properly:
Give Only the Recommended Amount of Food
It’s best to provide your hamster with one to two tablespoons of hamster mix every 24 hours. This duration means that once they clean up that bowl, you should only reach for the feed packet the following day.
Due to their tiny bodies, you should avoid feeding dwarf hamsters more than one tablespoon of food daily.
And if you want to give treats like fresh fruits, veggies, or treats from the pet store, these should be delivered in tiny amounts. Consider how much food your hamster already consumes before supplementing its diet with treats.
Provide a Nutritious Diet Suited to Hamsters
Hamsters need a protein-rich diet. This requirement means giving them grains, fruits, and vegetables. Avoid providing sugary foods, like cereals with high sugar content, chips, or oily human food. Most high-quality commercial hamster feeds offer the perfect balance for your pet’s health.
You should also supplement your hamster’s food with fresh fruit or vegetables daily to provide for all their nutritional needs. These portions should be small, and hamsters love a variety to sample.
Safe vegetables for hamsters include the following:
- Green leafy vegetables such as spinach or kale
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
Fruit is good in moderation as many contain a high sugar content. Serve small amounts of fruit—avoid the citrus range as it may harm your hamster’s digestive system.
Remove Uneaten Fresh Foods From Your Hamster’s Cage
If you want to give bits of fresh fruits and vegetables as treats, check their cage a few hours later to see if there are any leftovers. You should remove any fresh foods left behind to keep them from rotting in their enclosure. Moldy food can become a breeding ground for bacteria and germs.
Conclusion
Hamsters are hearty eaters that need a close eye on how much food they consume in a day. To keep your hamster healthy, give it only nutritious food in just the right amounts. Monitor your tiny pets’ weight and eating behaviors to ensure that they don’t suffer from obesity, and provide plenty of toys and activities to keep your hamster in excellent health.