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Each hamster will have different tastes and not all hamsters like the same things to eat. However, it is important to know what can and cannot be fed to hamsters to avoid harming the hamster and to help keep the hamster healthy.
Hamsters have cheek pouches which they use to collect food. They push the food into the pouches which expand and then carry the food to some "safe" place. Here the hamster will empty the food from the pouches by pushing the food forwards and out of the mouth and create a food store. The inner lining of the cheek pouches are very delicate and sharp or sticky foods can become stuck.
FOOD...
There are different kinds of food to feed a hamster.
These form the main part of a hamsters diet. These usually consist of crushed oats, barley, rodent pellets, peanuts, sunflower seeds and maize. There are also rodent or hamster pellets sold in some stores. These are compressed food pellets and although they are designed to meet a hamster's nutritional requirements they do not give the hamster any variety and some hamster mix fed with the pellets provides an adequate main diet with some variety.
Although the hamster mix will provide the hamster with a good basic diet, hamsters also enjoy fruit and vegetables. However, it is important that fruit and vegetables should be introduced to a hamster's diet gradually as a sudden large amount of fruit or vegetables can cause diarrhea.
There are a large variety of hamster treats sold in pet shops and most hamsters love these. Although these are designed for hamsters, they are designed as treats and should not be fed in large quantities to your hamster. The overfeeding of treats which are high in sugar could lead to your hamster becoming obese.
