What Do Pets Need
Your answer

What do hamsters eat?

Hamsters eat pellets made for them, with a teaspoon or two of fruit, veg and herbs a day. Some foods are poisonous to rodents, and on grapes the sources disagree.

What food is it?

Can it eat this?

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Everyday food and water

RVC says pelleted diets are readily available and much healthier than muesli. A small daily portion of fresh food adds variety (PDSA).

Hamsters need fresh, clean drinking water all the time, and RSPCA prefers a bottle with a valveless sipper tube.

Grapes: the sources disagree

RSPCA says not to give grapes or rhubarb, as these can be poisonous to rodents. Woodgreen allows grapes as an occasional treat in small amounts. Leaving grapes out is the safe side.

Cage, bedding and wheel sizes are on what does a Syrian hamster need and what does a dwarf hamster need.

Common questions

Can dwarf hamsters eat fruit?

Yes, in small amounts. PDSA says not to overfeed sugary fruit and veg, and particularly not to Russian dwarf hamsters.

Can hamsters eat human food?

Woodgreen says to avoid salty, sugary or seasoned human foods and processed meats.

Keep going

What does a Syrian hamster need?What does a dwarf hamster need?What do guinea pigs eat?

Where we get our information from

Diet advice comes from RSPCA, PDSA and Woodgreen (UK pet charities) and the Royal Veterinary College. Checked against published data from RSPCA, PDSA, Woodgreen Pets Charity and Royal Veterinary College.

See all 4 sources
  • RSPCA, Hamsters: environment, company and diet
  • PDSA (UK vet charity), Hamsters as pets
  • Woodgreen Pets Charity, Caring for hamsters; What to feed your hamster
  • Royal Veterinary College (Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital), Hamster care, December 2022 (PDF)

General care guidance from animal welfare charities, vets and makers' published sizes. It isn't veterinary advice: if your pet seems unwell or has eaten something it shouldn't, call your vet.