Are Carrots Good for Dwarf Hamsters to Have?
Hamsters love sweet tasty fruits. As we all know, carrots are sweet, crunchy, and tasty. They are one of the best sources of vitamins. They are also a good source of several other beneficial nutrients. Many pets, including Hamsters, love carrots. However, the fact that Hamsters love tasty fruits doesn’t automatically mean they love carrots. Even if they do, are carrots safe for feeding hamsters? How beneficial are carrots for Hamsters? We’ll find out these and more in this write-up.
Can Hamsters Eat Carrots?
That’s a resounding. Yes! Hamsters can eat carrots. So, if you’ve been pondering on whether to share your bundles of carrots with your Hamster, now you know you can. Carrots are very beneficial to humans, and so are they to hamsters too.
What’s in it for my Hamster?
Your hamsters stand to gain a lot by consuming carrots. Carrots are packed with large amounts of calcium and vitamins. They have particularly high levels of vitamins A and C. These nutrients are essential for keeping your Hamster’s teeth strong and firm. It also helps to keep their vision sharp and their brain in top performance. Vitamin A is particularly important for your Hamster’s eyesight. It is also a strong antioxidant that helps to protect your Hamster against several cancerous conditions. Vitamin A also helps your Hamster grow in a healthy way.
Vitamin C, on the other hand, helps to boost your Hamster’s immune system and keep certain heart conditions at bay. It strengthens the blood vessels of your Hamster. It also contributes to the restoration and healing of different kinds of tissues and conditions throughout your Hamster’s body. In other words, the rich amount of vitamin C in carrots will help your Hamster live as closer to its maximum lifespan as possible.
The calcium in carrots will also help your Hamster build stronger bones and teeth. Also, even without the calcium, frequently chewing on carrots helps exercise your Hamster’s teeth, thereby strengthening it. Carrots are also known to contain healthy amounts of moisture. This means carrot consumption will help your Hamster stay hydrated. All in all, carrots contain enormous amounts of nutrients and provide a wide range of benefits to your Hamster.
Carrot Nutrition Stats
Carrots may have a little amount of calories, but they contain lots of important nutrients. A cup of chopped carrots contains about:
- 6 g of fiber
- 3 g of carbohydrates
- 52 calories
- 2 g of protein
Carrot Nutritional Facts
A cup serving of chopped raw carrots contains approximately:
- 9 mcg of vitamin K
- 3 mcg of folate
- 4 mg of magnesium
- 8 mg of vitamin E
- 21383 iu of vitamin A
- 8 mg of phosphorus
- 6 mg of vitamin C
- 42 mg of calcium
- 410 mg of potassium
- 4 mg of iron
Are Carrots Safe for Hamsters?
Your hamsters may love carrots, but is it safe for them? That’s a little tricky to answer. Generally, carrots are safe for hamsters. However, that safety clause only holds if you feed your hamsters carrots in moderated amounts. Carrots are sweet, tasty, and nutritious, but they also have a significant amount of sugar.
As you probably know, too much sugar has never been a good thing, not for humans and not for Hamsters as well. Since carrots are sweet, your Hamster would probably be open to eating as much of it as its stomach can take. But feeding too much of it to them means they’ll have an increased risk of getting diabetes. Carrots contain around 4.7 grams of sugar per 100 grams serving. This may not seem like a lot, but for Hamsters, that amount consumed repeatedly could cause serious problems. The high levels of vitamins A and C, as well as calcium, can cause bladder stones and diarrhea in your Hamster.
The solution? Give your hamsters only a small amount of carrots. Just how small are we talking about? Two small carrot coins or one large carrot coin is enough to provide your Hamster with the beneficial nutrients it needs. If your carrot is in the form of a paste, half or one teaspoonful will do. Also, you don’t have to feed your hamsters with Carrots on consecutive days. Skipping a day or two is advised, but feeding them carrots in few consecutive days shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.
When feeding your Hamster with Carrots, ensure that you use fresh organic carrots. This is the safest kind of carrots to feed your Hamster. Also, ensure the carrots are properly washed and free of any form of pesticides.
