The hamsters adore you, and you adore them! Care encompasses an array of objects, but it mainly entails ensuring that your hamsters are fed foods and snacks that are nutritious and good for them. If you kept giving kids foods that were bad for their health, you would not be wonderful parents.
This frequently causes us to question what kinds of goodies these little hammies can eat, such as whether they can consume nuts. Hamsters can consume walnuts without a problem!
But provided that they are given to the hamster in moderation, they can make a tasty snack which can lead to issues if not controlled.
This post will discuss the advantages and drawbacks of giving pet hamsters walnuts, in addition to guiding how much to feed them and other frequently asked questions regarding this matter. We’ll also discuss how to give the pet walnuts and which walnut components benefit the hamster!
Origin of Walnuts
Contrary to peanuts produced below the earth’s surface, walnuts are delectable nuts that grow in trees. Each year, 3.8 metric tons are produced, mainly in China. California is where 99% of its growth in the US has occurred.
This incredible food can be eaten whole, used as a garnish, and even has a few medicinal uses. You have the option of purchasing them without or with the shell, and you may even grow these yourself!
It makes sense why so many people want to know if our adorable furry pals can consume them.
Read more: Can Hamsters Eat Grass From Outside
Are Hamsters Able to Eat Walnuts?
As previously indicated, they most certainly can! This nut will be incredibly delicious to our animal friends, who will devour every single one you can provide! However, it would help if you were cautious with the quantities; we’ll discuss this soon.
If you give the hamster too many walnuts, there are many risks and advantages. But you should watch out for some things in the walnuts you feed the hamster, such as sweeteners, extra salt, and additional ingredients like honey. Also, they must be entirely natural!
How To Feed Your Hamster Walnuts?
Ensure you are handling your hamster or being nearby whenever you give them snacks, like walnut. Giving the hamster treats can deepen the relationship and help socialize them. To determine whether your hamster likes walnuts, only offer them a tiny bit at the start.
Giving a hamster too much of it won’t help if they reject it. However, your hamster may have placed the walnut in its cheek pouches.
Before starting, be sure to wash the walnut. This removes any compounds the walnut may have had on it all to shield it when it was grown. Pesticides can be unhealthy for the hamster.
Think about incorporating nuts into the hamster’s everyday diet and tasty snacks like cabbage, carrots, and pumpkin seeds! Consuming a large number of nutritious vegetables and fruits will benefit your hamster.
How Often Walnuts Should My Hamster Receive?
The species of your rodent will determine how many walnuts one can give it. Dwarfs must only consume a tiny amount, while Syrians and robots may consume a tiny portion. This relates to how well-developed the pet’s digestion is! As we’ll discover later in this post, adhering to these rules is crucial.
Can You Offer A Syrian Hamster A Certain Number Of Walnuts?
Due to their size as domesticated rodents, Syrian hamsters may consume the most nuts. Each week, give the Syrian a nut or two. This is just enough for them to reap the rewards without putting them in danger of overconsumption.
Can I Feed The Robo Hamster A Certain Number Of Walnuts?
Robo hamsters can’t consume too many walnuts as Syrians because they are shorter than them. Once a week, you ought to offer the Robo hamster a nut. This is done to avoid overeating, which can lead to many health problems!
Can I Offer My Dwarf Hamster Many Walnuts?
Dwarf hamsters can eat one walnut every two weeks. The stature of Dwarf hamsters would cause this significantly decreased number! This implies that if there are too many walnuts, they will rapidly become full and cause issues.
Advantages of Walnuts
Walnuts have many advantages for people, but do hamsters also benefit from them? Absolutely! The pet will gain various advantages if you give them walnuts in moderation. Among the advantages of walnuts are the following:
- Antioxidants: It safeguards your hamster from various adult issues, including cancer!
- Protein: It promotes healthy growth and prevents disease in the hamster.
- Vitamin B: This helps the pet’s immunity and gives them tremendous energy.
- Vitamin E: It improves the eyesight and cell regeneration of the pet!
- Omega 3 fat: It has a reputation for promoting health!
- If you only give your pet a small number of walnuts, doing so could benefit their health.
- Walnuts are a great source of vitamins A and K, calcium, phosphorus, manganese, and magnesium.
- For hamsters, calcium intake is a little higher than average, but it also contributes to strong, robust bones and prevents several cancers, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
- Phosphorus is also very beneficial for maintaining healthy, strong bones. Additionally, it aids in the growth, upkeep, and repair of the hamster’s body’s tissues and cells.
- Magnesium promotes healthy bone development, aids in the prevention of diabetes, and supports your hamster’s heart health.
- Since manganese is such an antioxidant, any dangerous radicals the body produces will be assisted in being eliminated from the body. By eliminating them, your body improves its health, immunological system, and ability to resist sickness.
- If you give your hamster walnuts in moderation, which also contain vitamin A, they will benefit from an immune response boost. Vitamin K is beneficial for bone health and controlling the body’s levels of blood calcium in rodents.
Dangers Of Consuming Walnuts
Despite the many advantages of walnuts, overconsumption might still have adverse effects. There can never be enough of a positive thing, and your furry buddies are no exception.
It can be problematic since hamsters’ digestive systems are less robust than ours. Overfeeding the pet has several dangers, including:
- Obesity. Since walnuts contain high fat, the hamster may become obese if they consume too many.
- Digestive problems. The walnuts contain many acids, and eating too many of them may irritate your hamster’s stomach.
- Choking. Walnuts grow to be fairly extensive, which can lead to choking. You might want to chop the walnut in half if your hamster is small.
- Undernourishment. Because nuts can be so filling, the pet might not have space for its hamster food.
As you’ve seen, these only cause issues when people overfeed! Your pet should be able to handle a tiny amount.
Read more: Can Hamsters Have Tomato
FAQs
Let us look at the commonly asked questions regarding the walnuts and the hamsters.
Are Walnut Shells Edible for Hamsters?
Hamsters can devour walnut shells, but they won’t ingest them. After nibbling it between the teeth, your hamster will pass through aside the shell to eat the delicious walnut inside it. If it does eat the shell away, it has no harm. Therefore, walnut shells are safe for hamsters.
Why Are Black Walnuts Not Given to Hamsters?
Black walnuts are the mysterious nuts because there has been little to no research that could talk about the side effects of black walnuts on hamsters. It is better to stay away from these for your pet’s safety.
Are Roasted Walnuts Safe For Hamsters?
The hamsters adorn roasted walnuts; however, one must not give hamsters a roasted nut with additives. These additives, such as honey or sweeteners, will cause obesity and, therefore, could harm the pet.
If you want your hamster to enjoy these treats, roast the walnuts without additives and cool them down before giving them to the hamster.
Are Salted Walnuts Safe for Hamsters?
Although there is no harm in consuming salt in average amounts for humans, the hamsters are a different case. The typical amount of salt for humans can be dangerous for hamsters’ health. So, salted walnuts are a no-go for hamsters.
Can A Campbell Hamster Digest a Walnut?
All Dwarf hamsters, including the Campbells, can devour the walnuts. However, avoid giving them to the Dwarf hamsters because the amount of fat in walnuts is not easily digested by these miniature versions. If you want your hamster to have these, only consider giving them occasionally for the treats.
Can I Feed My Roborovski Hamster A Walnut?
Giving a walnut to your Robo Hamster once a week is permissible, and we suggest limiting it to this frequency.
Can My White Dwarf Hamster Consume a Walnut?
Dwarf hamsters find it challenging to digest the fat in the walnut, so it is best only to give your white hamster a walnut rarely.
Is It Okay to Give Chinese Hamster A Walnut?
Yes, but only give them occasionally because Chinese hamsters are also dwarf species, so digesting the nut may be difficult.
Conclusion
In summary, can hamsters eat walnuts? Yes, your fur balls can have them, which is not harmful. They can devour as many walnuts as they like; however, sticking to one or two every week is the right way to ensure that the walnuts have no negative impacts on a hamster’s health.
It is obvious that there are advantages to giving your hamster a walnut since it can improve its health, but there are due dangers as well, like the high-fat content in the nut. If you have a dwarf hamster specie, then it won’t be able to digest this amount of fat so treat them with walnuts very rarely.
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My name is Everly. I am a Milwaukee-based mom of 2 and have been a proud owner of many hamsters throughout my life. Like many of us, my introduction to hamsters happened when I was very young. My family saw several hamsters come and go through the years, and I enjoyed playing with them, but I never fully appreciated them until I grew up and my own children decided to jump on the hamster bandwagon. At that point, I was determined to learn all I could about caring for these adorable pets. Read more