Hamsters are major fruit enthusiasts, so it may not surprise you to learn that they both can and will happily eat blueberries.
However, you should be careful not to feed your hamster too many blueberries; just one berry a couple of times a week is plenty!
Like all things in life, even the good things can be bad for you and your pets if you eat them in large quantities. Smaller portions and often if the best way to feed your hamster blueberries.
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Why Should Hamsters Only Have One Blueberry At Once?
We all know that blueberries are very healthy foods, containing lots of antioxidants and vitamins, including vitamins A, B, C, E, and K.
They also have plenty of fiber in them. That sounds great, so why can’t you give your hamster whole handfuls? After all, humans can’t easily overdose on blueberries!
Hamsters can eat blueberries as part of a balanced diet. Hamsters are a lot smaller than humans. Just one of these blueberries represents a very large dose of those things, and you don’t want your hamster eating too many. Hamsters need a good mixture of many different foods to be healthy, so don’t give them a lot of blueberries, or offer them too frequently.
How Do I Find Out If My Hamster Likes Blueberries?
Your hamster is very likely to enjoy blueberries, but with any food, you should take it slowly and do a trial run.
To introduce blueberries to your hamster for the first time, wash and cut a berry into quarters and offer just one quarter.
See what your hamster does. If it tucks in, great: your hamster likes blueberries. If it’s not interested, wait a little while, and then remove the blueberry and conclude that no, your little friend is not fond of blueberries.
It’s always good to try foods out before you let your hamster eat them in any quantity. If the food upsets your hamster’s digestive system, you need to know about this, and using small amounts is a good idea.
Leave it a good few days before you offer your hamster more blueberry, and keep an eye on the hamster after.
If you notice your hamster’s droppings are runny or your hamster seems sleepy or off its food, you should stop giving it blueberries and conclude that there are other fruits your hamster can enjoy.
What If I Give My Hamster Lots Of Other Fruit?
If you already supply your little fuzzy friends with many kinds of fruit, you’ll want to adjust the quantities a bit before you add blueberries to the mix.
Fruits are high in sugars as well as good vitamins and nutrients, so it’s important not to offer too many, even if your hamster loves them.
As a rough guide, hamsters should get a teaspoon full of fruit a couple of times a week. You can spread this out to offer regular treats, but make sure you keep a rough tally in your head, and don’t let your hamster eat too many fruits or they could become ill.
Offering many different kinds of fruit is a good idea, so rotate what you supply in your hamster’s “fruit salad.”
This will ensure they are getting a good range of nutrients, and also keep them interested and excited by the fruit.
Clean Uneaten Blueberries Away Promptly
Blueberries are quite a wet fruit, so don’t let your little buddy bury them in its cage for months on end.
Hamsters love storing food and it’s okay if they tuck a snack away for later, but don’t let them have whole fruit hoards moldering away in corners of the cage.
If your hamster is storing lots of fruit, rather than eating it, you are probably feeding it more than it needs. Reduce the amount of fruit offered and remove its food stocks, and then slowly reintroduce it.
What If My Hamster Wants More Blueberries?
Unfortunately, hamsters don’t have a sense of portions or healthy quantities. In the wild, they eat what they can get when they can get it. In a cage, it’s up to you to control what they eat and how much they are allowed.
Giving your hamster treats is one of the joys of owning one. It’s so cute when they tuck into their food, and very hard to resist giving them more just to watch them eat.
However, it’s important that you resist this temptation and keep your hamster on a balanced diet which will ensure they stay healthy.
Conclusion
Blueberries are probably a top snack for many hamsters, and they are a healthy boost of vitamins if you only allow them to eat small quantities.
If you have a very small hamster or you’d rather give little treats more regularly, consider halving the berry – you can always eat the other half yourself!
