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Hamster · Vegetables

Can hamsters eat mushrooms?

Better not

Better not. Mushrooms add little for hamsters, wild ones can be deadly, and raw button mushrooms contain agaritine, considered a potential weak carcinogen in mice.

Sugar: 2 g / 100 g

If your hamster already ate some

A nibble of a plain shop-bought mushroom is not an emergency: remove the rest and watch for diarrhoea, a wet or dirty tail area, or reduced appetite over the next day or two, and contact a vet promptly if these appear. If your hamster ate a wild mushroom, call your vet immediately and take a photo or sample.

Why

Risks. Wild mushrooms can be highly toxic and are hard to identify. Raw cultivated button mushrooms contain agaritine, which a 2020 scientific review describes as a potential weak carcinogen in mice. PDSA lists mushroom as suitable, so sources disagree.

Questions owners ask 2

Are cooked mushrooms OK?

Cooking reduces the concern about raw mushrooms, but they still add little, and cooked dishes often contain garlic, onion, butter or salt. We suggest skipping them.

My hamster ate a mushroom from the garden. What should I do?

Call your vet straight away. Many wild mushrooms are poisonous and cannot be reliably identified by sight.

Mushrooms: nutrition per 100 g

Water	92.5 g
Energy	22 kcal
Sugars	2 g
Fat	0.3 g
Protein	3.1 g
Fibre	1 g
Calcium	3 mg
Phosphorus	86 mg
Calcium : phosphorus	0.03 : 1
Sodium	5 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	0 µg
Vitamin C	2.1 mg

“Mushrooms, white, raw”, USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC 169251). Public domain.

Sources & method 2

No source we found covers mushrooms for hamsters specifically, so this verdict is reasoned from general feeding guidance and nutrition data. Confidence: low. Rated on the JOMIZOO Feeding Scale; when good sources disagree we choose the more cautious level.

Hamsters as pets — PDSA
Warning on False or True Morels and Button Mushrooms with Potential Toxicity Linked to Hydrazinic Toxins: An Update (Lagrange E, Vernoux JP, Toxins 2020;12(8):482) — Toxins (MDPI) - PubMed record

Other pets

Can budgies eat mushrooms?Better not Can cockatiels eat mushrooms?Better not