Crispy, crunchy, and downright delicious, many people enjoy cracking open a walnut and popping it into their mouth. But can you share your adoration for walnuts with your pet hamster? Are walnuts safe for your rodent to consume?
Fortunately, the quick answer is yes. Your hamster can safely eat a walnut. However, you should know the proper way to feed a walnut to your hamster and the possible threats of her consuming this type of nut.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about walnuts and hamsters!
Are Walnuts Safe for Hamsters to Eat?
Yes, your hamster can safely eat walnuts! She may even find it quite a tempting treat. However, you should only feed your hamster walnuts in moderation, not as a daily component of her diet.
Additionally, when feeding a walnut to your hamster, ensure that it does not have added salt, any type of sweetener, or extra ingredients, including honey. The walnut your pet eats must be completely natural.
Image credit: Pixabay
Healthy Hamster Diets
While hamsters are omnivores and enjoy eating a variety of nuts, walnuts should not be a large component in her diet. A good hamster diet consists of commercial hamster pellets, Timothy hay, and small helpings of fruits and veggies. You should only give a walnut to your hamster as the occasional treat.
Walnut Health Benefits
Walnuts are nutrition-packed snacks. They contain large amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, protein, and a ton of vitamins, including vitamins A, B1, C, E, and K.
Walnuts are great treats for hamsters during the wintertime and pregnant pets because they give your rodent an instant boost of nutrition. Walnuts can also help hamsters to develop and maintain tissue, build strong bones, prevent diabetes, and destroy harmful free radicals inside their bodies.
Image credit: tanya_morozz, Shutterstock
What Are the Risks of Feeding Walnuts to Your Hamster?
Walnuts contain high amounts of fat. If your hamster regularly eats walnuts, she can quickly become obese or develop diabetes. The salt in walnuts can cause kidney damage. Additionally, never feed your hamster walnut butter. This product is high in fat and other ingredients that can harm your pet.
Other possible risks include digestive issues, choking, and malnutrition.
How to Feed Your Hamster Walnuts
Always feed your hamster walnuts in moderation. This equates to one or two walnuts per week, depending upon the size of your hamster. You should never roast the nut as this removes vital nutrients. Also, steer clear of salted walnuts and only feed your hamster natural ones.
You can leave the shell on if your hamster is fully grown. She may even enjoy cracking open the shell to find the treat inside.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Tasty Walnut Alternatives for Hamsters
Other yummy alternatives you can safely offer to your hamster include:
All of these options must not be salted, sweetened, or seasoned in any way. Aim to get them as plain as possible.
The Bottom Line
Yes, you can safely feed walnuts to your hamster. However, it must be done in moderation. One to two walnuts per week is best. The walnuts should not be salted or seasoned.
Your hammy will enjoy cracking open the walnut shell to reveal the tasty treat inside. For her, it’ll be like unwrapping a holiday present.
Nicole is the proud mom of 3 rescue fur babies, Baby, a Burmese cat; Rosa, a New Zealand Huntaway; and Mac, a Lab/Mastiff. A Canadian expat, Nicole now lives on a lush forest property with her Kiwi husband and new baby daughter in New Zealand. She has a strong love for all animals of all shapes and sizes (and particularly loves a good interspecies friendship) and wants to share her animal knowledge and other experts' knowledge with pet lovers across the globe....Read more
