Introduction
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Hamsters are small or medium-sized rodents that occur in the United States, Israel, Armenia, Greece, and Romania. They also occur in southeast Europe. The Syrian hamsters, which are native to Syria, are the most common species of hamsters. And are more commonly kept as pets. Other species of hamsters are Roborovski species, and Dwarf species. Hamsters are mammals. Hamsters are undeniably cute, exciting, loveable pets in many places across the world. Getting close to hamsters make them better pets because it makes them feel more loved and confident with their owners. In fact, getting closer to hamsters implies making them feel safe and lead optimum lives just as they would live in the wild.
Nutritional Benefits of Carrots to Hamsters
Carrots, like other vegetables including blueberries, cucumbersmore and dandelions, are good for hamsters. In fact, hamsters will enjoy eating carrots on a daily basis if they have their way. Carrots have essential nutritional benefits for hamsters, just like they provide for humans. First, carrots contain vitamins A, B, and C which are all beneficial to hamsters. Vitamin C is beneficial for hamsters’ eyesight. And, in fact, a deficiency of it results in health problems including scurvy, slow-to-heal wounds, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. Vitamin A, also present in carrots stimulates hair growth. Hamsters tend to have bald patches on their bodies resulting rubbing their bodies against the cage and tick infestation. Carrots also contain essential minerals including calcium, potassium, and magnesium. While magnesium and potassium is vital for healthy nervous system and heart in hamsters, calcium helps in building strong bones and teeth in hamsters. Carrots also contain sugar, which is pretty good reason hamsters will always like to have them in their diets. On the contrary, too much sugar than necessary is unsafe for hamsters; it may result in obesity and diabetes. Antioxidants, also present in carrots, help prevent cell damage in hamsters. Excessive carrots in hamsters can also result in bladder stones. Interestingly, whole carrots, whether cooked or uncooked may be offered to hamsters only after they have been washed thoroughly. However, care should be taken to ensure feeding carrots to hamsters in moderate quantity because of complications that might result from giving them more than they require. Veterinarian’s advice is that half or full teaspoon of chopped carrots should be fed to hamsters once in two days.
Tips on Preparing Carrots for Hamsters
Wash the carrots before feeding them to hamsters. It is essential to wash the carrots to remove pollutants such as pesticides, additives, and preservatives before serving them to hamsters. Serving fresh carrots to hamsters is vital so as to avoid digestive problems.
Take time to cut the carrots into pieces. Cutting carrots into pieces before feeding them to hamsters is as essential as making hamsters to feed well. Making carrots into smaller pieces is also vital because hamsters are small mammals; so, cutting carrots into pieces will make it easier for hamsters to eat. Where available, it is preferred to use a shredder.
Remove sharp edges from the small pieces. Sharp-edge pieces of carrots pose problems for hamsters. Apart from finding it difficult to eat hamsters, sharp-edge hamsters may hurt the mouth pouches of hamsters. Wounds resulting from sharp-edged carrots may result to loss of appetite and not allow hamsters to feed well.
Serving Carrots to Hamsters
Prepare the feeding dish. All hamster foods are best served in a flat ceramic dish rather than a plastic dish; hamsters tend to gnaw on a plastic dish. Having prepared hamsters’ carrots, the carrots are transferred into a flat dish. Where carrots are being served for the first time, they may be peculiar to hamsters. So, it may take a while before hamsters get used to carrots. Alternatively, carrots may be mixed with other food before they are served to hamsters.
Place the feeding dish before the hamster. It is essential to supply only a small quantity of food to hamsters at a time. So, bring the food dish, containing few pieces of hamsters to the hamster, and check whether the pet embraces it or not. Where more pieces are supplied, and the hamster dislikes the carrots, everything will go a waste.
Check the hamster for digestive problems. After the hamster has been fed with carrots, it is pertinent to observe the pet closely for digestive problems. Digestive problems may be marked by any or combination of reduced activity, loss of appetite, and smears at the gut or rear part of the body. Where these signs are noticed, it is vital to discontinue feeding hamster with carrots and seek veterinarian’s assistance. On the contrary, if the hamster shows no negative reactions to carrots, then it is safe to continue to include carrots in hamster’s diet.
What Hamsters Enjoy
Domesticated hamsters require that certain things be adopted if they will thrive well away from the wild. First, hamsters enjoy to be fed preferably by hand. Hamsters also enjoy to be provided with plenty of materials such as coconut shell, pumice stone, hay cube, and cardboard to gnaw on. And they enjoy cuddling too. Hamsters also enjoy being given occasional treats of fresh foods such as small pieces of fruits, excluding oranges and lemon, morereference‘ vegetables, and herbs. Hamsters prefer to sit up to eat their food. Also, hamsters should be given as much water as they require. Just like humans, hamsters require water for digestion and normal body metabolism. Hence, providing enough water for them to sup is vital. Before providing water for hamsters, it is essential to wash their water bottle on a daily basis and scrub too when necessary; and then refill the bottle with fresh, clean water. Hamsters are neat mammals. So, they enjoy staying in a serene cage. In addition, hamsters enjoy foraging for their food in hideouts. This is one of the ways hamsters exercise their body. Last but not least, hamsters enjoy living in spacious cages. Such a place provides enough space to scatter hamsters’ treats and allow them to look for them.
Conclusion
Carrots provide a wide variety of pretty good nutrients to hamsters. This is why including carrots in their diets is very vital. But it is even excellent when mixed with other food sources. However, moderation is vital in providing all kinds of food to hamsters.
