We love our hamsters, and our hamsters love us! This love reaches to what food we give our hamsters, we can’t love them if we give them the wrong types of food! This applies for nuts especially. So can hamsters eat cashews? Absolutely! They can be a great snack for your hamster if given in the right quantities!
This article will be looking at all of the possible questions surrounding this delicious nut! We’ll be looking at how to give these nuts to your hamster, as well as the benefits and risks of it. The quantity of cashew that you give your pet is important as well, so we will be looking at that.
The cashew is a delicious nut that comes from South America! Although the majority is now produced in Asia by countries like India and Vietnam. They can be used to make oil, chocolate or can simply be eaten on their own as a delicious snack. It’s incredibly versatile, no wonder people are wondering if their hamsters love them!
As stated before, absolutely! All types of hamster can eat these nuts, but you need to feed them sparingly. This is due to the high amount of fat and sugar contained within this delicious snack. It’s simply too much for their digestive system if too much is eaten! Make sure that the cashew nuts that you give your hamster are:
- Unsalted
- Unsweetened
- Natural
If they pass these three criteria, it should be fine!
When you are giving treats, such as this nut, to your hamster, always make sure you are holding them or make sure that you are close to them. This is because giving treats to your hamster can strengthen your bond and assist in socializing them. Only give a small amount to your hamster at first, this is to figure out if they like cashew. There’s no point giving your hamster a lot of it if they just ignore it! Your hamster might put the food in their cheek poaches though.
See also Can Hamsters Eat Oranges?
Make sure that you wash the nut beforehand. This gets rid of any of the chemicals that may have been on the nut to protect it whilst it was growing. Pesticides can hurt your hamster’s health.
Consider feeding cashews to your hamster as part of a daily diet including treats like pumpkin seeds, cabbage and carrots! Lots of fruit and vegetables are great for your ham!
The amount of cashew nuts that a hamster can eat depends on their breed. Syrians can eat more than Robos. Dwarfs can only eat a tiny amount! This is due to their size and the strength of their digestive system! Dwarfs simply cannot handle it in large amounts.
Cashews are a delicious nut and your Syrian will love it! You just need to make sure that you feed the right amount. Feed your Syrian Hamster around 1 cashew a week.
Robos are smaller than Syrians and therefore shouldn’t have as many cashew. Give them one every fortnight. This will help to protect them from the risks of cashew nuts, including the large amount of fat
Winter White dwarf hamsters, Chinese hamsters and Campbell Dwarf hamsters can only eat one cashew a month. This is because these hamsters are so tiny! They simply cannot handle a lot!
There’s plenty of benefits when it comes to cashews. They give lots of benefits to humans, but what about hamsters? Some of the benefits that come with giving your hamster cashews include:
- Vitamin B – This gives lots of energy for your hamster and lets them play even more!
- Vitamin K – This gives your hamster the ability to protect their blood through clotting.
- Vitamin E – This helps give your hamster lovely skin and eyes!
- Iron – This helps red blood cells transport oxygen around your hamster’s body!
- Copper – This helps protect against heart disease in your pet.
See also Can Hamsters Eat Popcorn?
Whilst there are plenty of benefits to Cashews, there’s also some risks! These risks mainly come about if you feed too much of this nut to your hamster. These risks include:
- Obesity – This is due to the high amount of fat in the cashews. This can cause your hamster to become obese
- Diabetes – This is due to the high amounts of fat and small amounts of sugar. Keep the amount moderated!
- Nutrient problems – Too many cashews can fill up your hamster and not provide enough nutrients.
There are plenty of different types of cashews that exist, this can cause confusion! Let’s look at the different types of cashew and if your pet can eat them.
Absolutely not! Any nut with added salt is sadly a no-no. Salt can cause serious problems for your hamster’s digestion.
Nope! Sweetened cashews will have extra sugar which can cause diabetes in your furry friend. Stick to unsweetened and natural cashews
You should remove the shell. This is because we don’t know exactly what the risk is for your hamster when it comes to the shell.
Absolutely! You can roast the cashew but remember to let it cool down before you feed it to your hamster.
We hope that we have answered all of the questions that you might have on this topic! Cashews can be a delicious treat for your hamster, but they must remain a treat and nothing more. They have plenty of benefits but also some risks! Don’t give your hamster salted, shelled or sweetened cashews but you can absolutely roast them!
