Celery is known for being nutritious and healthy, and the good news is that hamsters can benefit from eating it just like people can. If you want to feed your little furry buddy celery, you’ll be providing it with a major vitamin boost, including vitamins A, B, C, E, and K!
However, don’t go celery mad; there are a few caveats to that.
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How Do You Prepare Celery For Hamsters?
Celery can sometimes be very stringy, and those tough fibers can be surprisingly hard for a little hamster to cope with. You don’t want your pet choking, so you should always wash celery thoroughly and then cut it into small chunks.
Hamsters enjoy nibbling, so if you aim for raisin-sized chunks, they’ll have plenty to sink their teeth into, but they won’t be at risk of choking or eating too much at once. Cut away or tear off any fibrous bits before you give the celery to your hamster.
How Often Should I Feed My Hamster Celery?
Veggies are good for hamsters, but you need to be careful not to overdo it. If you feed your hamster too many, you may find that it doesn’t eat enough of its feed mix, which could lead to deficiencies.
Varying a hamster’s diet regularly ensures that it gets all the nutrients it needs, and also keeps it interested. If you keep feeding your hamster the same old snacks over and over again, it’s quite likely to get bored, and it may also start lacking some of the nutrients it needs.
By offering plenty of different fruits and veggies, you can keep your hamster engaged and make sure it’s getting everything it needs.
A quarter of a teaspoon of celery per week should be plenty for your little friend. You can space this out and just offer one little bit per day, or create a mixed vegetable bowl a couple of times a week and include the celery in it.
If you like watching your hamster nibble away, little and often may prove more satisfying for you as the pet owner, and more stimulating for your hamster, so it can be a good idea to space treats out and vary them over the course of the week.
However, it’s harder to keep track of quantities and easier to accidentally overfeed your hamster like this, so be disciplined and keep a written log if you need to.
Nutritional Value of Celery
Celery is also a good source of:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin K
- Potassium
- Folate
Nutrients per Serving
A cup of chopped celery contains:
- Calories: 14
- Protein: Less than 1 gram
- Fat: Less than 1 gram
- Carbohydrates: 3 grams
- Fiber: 1.6 grams
- Sugar: 1 gram
Could My Hamster Be Allergic To Celery?
While celery is safe for hamsters as a species, any individual can react badly to any kind of food. If you have never fed your hamster celery before, you should introduce the food slowly and carefully.
Cut just one little piece of celery for a test run. Offer it to your hamster with no other new foods, and see how it responds. If it eats the celery, you’ve introduced a new food!
However, you should keep an eye on your hamster over the next few days and see if you notice any odd behavior.
Diarrhea and vomiting are sure signs that celery doesn’t agree with your little pal, and lethargy is another thing to watch out for. If your hamster seems off its food, you should also avoid feeding it celery in the future.
Feeding just a small quantity of celery for the first run is important because if your hamster does have a bad reaction to it, it should be minimal.
That means that even if your hamster seems to really enjoy the treat, don’t give it more until you’ve established that the hamster doesn’t run into any issues.
My Hamster Keeps Burying The Celery And Doesn’t Eat It
This is important behavior to look out for. If your hamster doesn’t eat celery when it’s offered, that may mean it doesn’t like it, or that it’s bored with it. In these cases, the hamster will probably carry the celery off and store it somewhere, as part of its “emergency backup” for later.
It’s fine to let your hamster have little food stocks, but remember to clean them out often and don’t allow food to go moldy in them.
Take note if your hamster is consistently burying one type of food, as that may indicate that your hamster isn’t enjoying it anymore and you should stop giving it that food for a while.
Final Thoughts
If your hamster is burying a lot of its food, check whether you are overfeeding it. Hamsters do like to store food, but they shouldn’t be leaving the majority of their meals in a food stock.
If they are, change their diets, offer them different treats, and cut back a little on the quantities.
