Hamster · Snacks & drinks
Can hamsters eat potato chips?
Better not. Potato chips (crisps) are salty, fatty junk food with no benefit for hamsters, and flavoured kinds may contain onion or garlic powder. A stolen crumb is not usually an emergency.
- Sugar
- 0.3 g / 100 g
- Fat
- 34 g / 100 g
If your hamster already ate some
A crumb of plain chip is unlikely to cause harm: remove the rest, make sure fresh water is available, and watch your hamster for a day. Call a vet if it ate more than a crumb or a flavoured variety, or if you notice heavy drinking, wobbliness, trembling, lethargy or diarrhoea.
How to serve it
- Offer a piece of plain air-popped popcorn or a vegetable instead
- Keep snack bowls out of reach during free-roam time
Why
Risks. Chips are high in salt and fat. Too much salt causes thirst and, in larger amounts, salt poisoning, which is more likely if water is not available. Dwarf hamsters weigh about the same as a budgie, so for them even one or two chips is a lot of salt. Flavourings such as onion and garlic powder can damage red blood cells in pets, and sharp shards could injure the cheek pouches.
Questions owners ask 1
Can hamsters eat unsalted potato chips?
Unsalted chips are still fried and fatty and offer no benefit. A piece of plain, air-popped popcorn is a better crunchy treat.
Potato chips: nutrition per 100 g
| Water | 1.9 g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 532 kcal |
| Sugars | 0.3 g |
| Fat | 34 g |
| Protein | 6.4 g |
| Fibre | 3.1 g |
| Calcium | 21 mg |
| Phosphorus | 153 mg |
| Calcium : phosphorus | 0.14 : 1 |
| Sodium | 527 mg |
| Vitamin A (RAE) | 0 µg |
| Vitamin C | 21.6 mg |
“Snacks, potato chips, plain, salted”, USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC 169677). Public domain.
Sources & method 5
The sources below discuss potato chips for hamsters (or for pet rodents generally). Confidence: high. Rated on the JOMIZOO Feeding Scale; when good sources disagree we choose the more cautious level.
- Hamster Care — San Diego Humane Society
- Hamster care — Blue Cross
- What Can Hamsters Eat? — PetMD (written by Angelina Childree, LVT; reviewed by Melissa Witherell, DVM)
- People Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pets — ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
- Salt Toxicosis in Animals — Merck Veterinary Manual
