The food mix you feed your hamster on a daily basis has a great overall nutritional value for your pet. It is meant to mimic what a hamster might eat in the wild — grains, berries and protein sources like seeds and grubs.
Eggs are a great occasional treat for hamsters. They’re a good source of a boost in protein.
Let’s dive into the details of eggs for hamsters, from health information to feeding guidelines.
Contents
Nutritional Information of Eggs
1 teaspoon of a hard-boiled chicken egg (double the appropriate serving for a hamster) contains the following nutritional values:
- Calories: 4.4
- Protein: 0.36 grams
- Fat: 0.3 grams
- Carbohydrates: 0.03 grams
- Cholesterol: 10.57 milligrams
- Calcium: 1.42 miligrams
- Iron: 0.03 milligrams
- Magnesium: 0.28 milligrams
- Phosphorus: 4.87 milligrams
- Potassium: 3.57 milligrams
- Sodium: 3.5 milligrams
- Zinc: 0.03 milligrams
- Vitamin D: 0.06 micrograms
Health Benefits of Eggs
Eggs can be quite beneficial to your hamster when eaten in moderation.
A Source of Protein
Protein should make up between 12% – 15% of a hamster’s diet. While a lot of that is covered in your pet’s food mix, eggs can provide a good protein supplement for your hammy.
Protein is a big source for amino acids, which are necessary for all animals. Amino acids maintain body structure and integrity.
Protein and its essential amino acids offer many health benefits, including but not limited to:
- Helping to heal wounds
- Keeping skin and fur healthy
- Maintaining muscle mass
- Maintaining good reproductive health
A hamster’s body can produce some amino acids on its own. However, essential amino acids are those that can’t be internally produced. Hamsters rely on food sources to provide these.
Pregnant hamsters, who need more nutrition to produce health babies, will especially benefit from the boost in protein and calories that eggs can offer.
Roborovskis are prone to protein deficiencies, so they too could benefit from an occasional extra shot of good protein.
Vitamin D Benefits
This antioxidant is important for bone health. Animals need vitamin D in order to absorb calcium.
Health Concerns of Eggs
Hamsters with cardiovascular issues or overweight hamsters should not eat any animal products, including eggs. The high levels of cholesterol could lead to heart disease and obesity.
Make sure you feed your hamster appropriate, moderate amounts of eggs to avoid health issues.
Feeding Eggs to Hamsters
Feed your hamster no more than ½ teaspoon of egg one or twice per week.
It’s best to feed hamsters fully cooked eggs, either hard boiled or scrambled. Remove the shell before feeding your hammy a hardboiled egg.
Make sure you don’t add any other ingredients or flavors to the eggs. This includes tasty additions humans like in their eggs, such as butter, salt, pepper, cheese and cream.
Serve your hamster cold eggs to avoid burns or discomfort.
As with all fresh foods, work your hamster up to a full serving of egg and monitor its reaction to the food.
