The 5 Best Hamster Foods of 2024

Best Overall

Oxbow Essentials Hamster and Gerbil Food

$6 at Amazon $5 at Chewy View on Oxbowanimalhealth.com

Pellets are the easiest way to feed your hamster, giving them a nutritious foundation that can serve as their primary diet, with room for supplementation with fruits and vegetables. Oxbow pellets include timothy grass meal, barley, oat groats, to provide a range of grains for smooth energy absorption. Each pellet also includes all required fiber, vitamins, and minerals, in addition to antioxidants and prebiotics for gut health. 

Oxbow Essentials Hamster & Gerbil Food is nutrient dense, without extraneous fillers or preservatives. An eighth of a cup if they are small (dwarf hamsters or juveniles) or a third for adult hamsters are typically sufficient to keep your hamster healthy throughout their lifespan. Oxbow Essentials Hamster & Gerbil Food is available in one pound and 15-pound bags.

_{Ingredients: Timothy meal, pearled barley (rolled), oat groats, canola meal, millet, canola oil | Nutrition: 15% crude protein (min), 4.5% crude fat (min), 10% crude fiber (min) | Serving Size: ⅛ cup for dwarf and juvenile hamsters, ⅓ cup for adult and full-size hamsters}

Best Foraging Mix

Kaytee Food from The Wild Natural Snack

$4 at Amazon $4 at Chewy

This blend contains a multitude of different seeds and nuts, packed to the brim with protein and crude fat. Pumpkin seeds, dehydrated carrots, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and dried rose petals offer a wide range of foraging options. Stuffed barley and puffed wheat also provide carbohydrate energy sources. 

This snack mix is particularly useful in combination with a pellet diet, and can provide that last 20 percent of your hamster’s daily nutrition. However, it’s easy to go overboard with this snack, since the mix is high in fat content—hamsters shouldn’t be fed more than a teaspoon daily.

Kaytee Food from The Wild Natural Snack is available in two-ounce bags. There’s also a more nutritionally complete version that incorporates pellets into the blend.

_{Ingredients: Dehydrated carrot, pumpkin seed, peanuts, dried rose petal, sunflower seed, puffed barley, puffed wheat | Nutrition: 16% crude protein (min), 18% crude fat (min) | Serving Size: one teaspoon}

Best Premium Pellets

Mazuri Hamster & Gerbil Food

$8 at Amazon $8 at Chewy

Mazuri has created a unique blend of wheat, soybean, and corn transformed into a pellet that encourages chewing for great dental health. Packed with high fiber and probiotics, it's designed to help your hamster digest the nutrients packed within. There are no added colors or artificial flavors, everything inside is entirely natural. There’s even omega 3 and vitamin E, a source of antioxidants for added health. If you are willing to spend just a bit extra and need a pellet, then this is a great option. We especially like that the pellets come in a range of shapes to stimulate your hamster’s foraging instincts.

_{Ingredients: Wheat middlings, ground timothy hay, dehulled soybean meal, ground soybean hulls, ground corn | Nutrition: 17% crude protein (min), 4% crude fat (min), 10% crude fiber (min) | Serving Size: 20 to 25 grams per day}

Best Treats

Vitakraft Treats for Hamsters

$6 at Amazon $6 at Chewy

Vitakraft Drops Treats are sugary morsels available in multiple flavors like milk and honey, banana and strawberry, and yogurt. These treats include real fruit, but are primarily sugar-based and high in fat, so you have to be very careful about serving sizes. Adult hamsters should only be given 1–3 drops per day. 

There’s also a smaller version available for dwarf hamsters. Keep in mind that these treats can melt in high heat. 

_{Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil, dried whey, dried skimmed milk, dried strawberries | Nutrition: 3.7% crude protein (min), 19% crude fat (min), 3% crude fiber (max) | Serving Size: 1–3 drops per day}

Best Hay

Oxbow Animal Health Western Timothy Hay

$22 at Amazon $22 at Chewy $29 at Walmart

Alongside pellets and grains, hay is a great food source for your hamster. Oxbow has a delicious Timothy hay that is packed full of fiber that will help your hamster’s digestive health. The hay is not only great for chewing, but it also helps mask some of the smells that your hamster will produce. Cultivated without artificial flavors or preservatives, putting a handful of hay in their enclosure every day mixed in with their regular food will make your hamster the happiest pet it can be. 

_{Ingredients: Timothy grass hay | Nutrition: 7% crude protein (min), 1.5% crude fat (min), 32% crude fiber (max)}