Yes, your hamster can eat bananas. But the same is true here as with most other fruits. It's the quantity that determines whether it's healthy or not. As a treat, a banana is excellent. We will tell you what you need to consider when feeding bananas to your hamster.

Should hamsters eat bananas?

As a predominantly herbivore, hamsters need a diet that is as balanced as possible. For you as a hamster owner, this means that you must provide your animal with sufficient vitamins and minerals. Bananas can support you in this task. However, it is important to know that hamsters should only complete a small part of their meals with fruit, such as bananas.

The most important reason for this is that bananas have many healthy ingredients but also a high sugar content. Too much sugar in animals, as in humans, leads to diseases and health suffers in general. The most important aspects here in relation to the hamster are that the hamster can get tooth decay and thus its seeds and grains can no longer crush and properly utilize.

Bananas can also cause gastrointestinal problems. Too much intake of bananas can lead to constipation. This is difficult to detect and a hamster can suffer greatly. This can even go so far that he can strengthen from constipation (intestinal obstruction). Therefore, give the bananas only according to our feeding recommendations.

The greatest danger, which remains undetected for a very long time in most animals, is due to the high sugar intake. Diabetes develops, which is often detected too late. This means a slow and sometimes agonizing death for the animal, as the body no longer produces enough insulin and diseases subsequently occur. These include heart disease, occlusion of the arterial vessels, and diseases of the eyes and kidneys.

How to feed your hamster bananas

If your hamster has never eaten bananas before, then you should watch your animal closely when it is these fruits for the first time. A common danger is that the cheek pockets of the animals stick together, because the bananas as you know yourself can be very sticky. You should also observe if your hamster eats the fruit or just stores it in the cheek pouches.

Often young hamsters deposit the fruit somewhere in their hutch to eat it later. Here you should observe exactly what your animal does with the bananas. You should also pay attention to whether your animal reacts strangely to the bananas in any way. Diarrhea is the bananas almost impossible, but constipation can occur.

Therefore, the days after giving bananas, watch to see if your hamster continues to have normal bowel movements. Bananas are often sprayed with a wide variety of highly toxic pesticides before they are harvested. That's why we recommend that when you feed your hamster, you use fruit that has been grown in a controlled environment. This will protect an animal from diseases and the rest of the banana, you can taste yourself.

A disc of about 5 mm thick is perfectly adequate for a hamster. For a dwarf hamster, a 3 mm thick slice is also sufficient. This amount of bananas, should be given a maximum of 1-2 times a week.

Are hamsters allowed to eat dried bananas?

Yes, dried bananas may also be eaten by your hamster. However, there is also something very important to note here. Dried bananas contain more than twice as much sugar as fresh bananas. Therefore your hamster should get even less of it than of the fresh bananas. Here is the sugar content for comparison.

• Fresh bananas sugar content about 20 %
• Dried bananas sugar content approx. 50 %

So make sure that with dried bananas your hamster is only offered about 30-35 % of the amount (by weight). Otherwise there is a significantly increased risk of disease, especially diabetes.

This is what you should do after feeding bananas

As we briefly mentioned above, our hamsters hoard all sorts of things. Maybe also the bananas that you offered him. If these are dried bananas, then this is not bad, but a fresh banana is rotten within a few days and inedible for your animal. Therefore, closely observe what your hamster does with the banana.

If you don't see it happening with the banana, check its favorite food depots a day or two later to see if they are clean.

Bananas as an attractant for the hamster

If your hamster is crazy about bananas, use this to make him hand-tame. To do this, take very small pieces of banana and place them on your fingertips. Most hamsters will recognize their owner by smell, as the rest of his food will also carry your scent. So he will at least go near your hand and look what is there.

This attraction will not work right away with a young hamster. But the more often you try it, the more likely it is that the hamster will come to you and eat the offered banana. Please also take into account that it can happen that the hamster sees your finger as food instead of the banana. This has happened to me at least.

Every day banana for the hamster?

No, this would be the direct path to diabetes. As we have said before, the sugar content of almost all fruits is so high that this would not be healthy for the hamster. So here again is our feeding recommendation. Once a week a slice of banana with a thickness of 5 mm. For dwarf hamsters, the slice should be a maximum of 3 mm thick.

It is ideal if you prepare a small fruit mixture for your hamster. Here you can mix bananas, grapes and berries. The amount should be about a well-filled teaspoon and should be given a maximum of twice a week.

Are bananas healthy for the hamster?

Yes, of course, bananas are healthy and, as with all foods, it always depends on the quantity. In the bananas are many important nutrients that every organism needs. Here are the most important ingredients.

• Vitamin E
• Vitamin B1, B2, B6
• Folic acid
• Vitamin C
• Beta-carotene
• Sodium
• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Phosphate
• Iron
• Zinc

A complete package that is good for your endurance runner. It is not for nothing that athletes take a banana as a quick energy supply during stress. In addition, the nutritional values that are contained in the banana, each related to 100 g.

• Fat: 0.3 g
• Protein: 1.1 g
• Carbohydrates: 23 g
• Dietary fiber: 2.6 g

Should the bananas be ripe for the hamster?

Yes, a green banana has not yet formed all the ingredients and so your hamster gets only part of the important nutrients. We personally find green bananas also not particularly tasty. The typical sweetness of bananas is also not yet present and therefore a missing taste experience. Therefore, make sure that your hamster gets ripe bananas to eat.

Are all hamster breeds allowed to eat bananas?

Yes, all hamster breeds can eat bananas. Here you just have to adjust the amount to the size of your hamster. Never forget that bananas are only a supplement to the normal diet. Therefore dose accordingly. The amount is very important for dwarf hamsters, here you should pay special attention that there is not too much sugar in the food.

Because it is known that especially dwarf hamsters get diabetes very quickly. Therefore, eyes on and rather a little less of the tasty bananas than too much.