"Pumpkin Bread" Easy Hamster Treat Recipe

[@SomethingAnimal]

It's 3am, here's a bread recipe. Full written recipe below ⬇ Pumpkin-shaped, tomato flavoured mini bread rolls. Recipe makes 1 mini bread roll or 2 extra mini bread rolls. Safe for all species of hamster. Ingredients: 2 tbsp flour (all purpose / wholemeal) 1/8 tsp baking powder 1 pinch of table salt 1/4 tsp tomato paste or purée 1/2 tsp cooking oil (sunflower, olive, vegetable, etc) 1 tsp water Cooking twine or string. Optional stalk from a vegetable leaf eg. spinach 1. Preheat an oven to 180C (350F). 2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. 3. Add the tomato and oil, rub together with fingers until breadcrumbs form 4. Add the water and mix until a dough begins to form. 5. Roll the dough into a tight ball, or divide and make two balls. 6. Loosely wrap twine or string around the dough ball in alternating directions. Tie the end in the double knot to prevent unraveling. This step will create the pumpkin shape when the dough expands in the oven. 7. Bake for 15 minutes or until very lightly browned on top. 8. Let the bread rest and cool outside of the over for at least 10 minutes 9. Remove the string. 10. Optional: Poke a hole in the top of the pumpkin bread and add a spinach leaf stalk to decorate. 11. Feed to your hamster. You can feed it whole or cut it into smaller pieces, whichever works best for your pet. 12. Eat some yourself because it’s really nice. I ate all of the practice rolls and nearly ate the one made for Lemonade. Reckon they’d go really well dropped in some soup 🥣 G'night 💤

[@DyreElsker78]

Thank you so much

[@toccabrigitte2684]

Watching a hamster carry an edible miniature pumpkin into its bed chamber...you make the world a magical place. 🌟🌈

[@catzoran]

Ignoring the bread to eat the table cloth, classic hamster energy right there! 😁

[@DreamyDuskywing]

That bit made me laugh! I wondered if the pumpkin was going to be spurned so watching her carry it home was a joy!

[@everything_movies602]

Carrying the pumpkin so adorable

[@isabou]

You are so incredibly talented! Thank you for sharing this with us, and thank you to Lemonade for being so funny and taking the tablecloth before the actual meal!

[@emerlad3638]

THE LITTLE WADDLE CARRYING THE PUMPKIN MY HEART

[@everything_movies602]

Lol So cute how he went for the greens first 🐹

[@dagnolia6004]

of all the autumnal treats appearing on the KZbins this Pumpkin "bread" is the BEST

[@AngelChristinaaa]

“Yes, Thank You, BYE”✌️ Cute!!!

[@flowersnfireworks1114]

Lemonade eating the bread is so cute!!!

[@everything_movies602]

Ommgggg this is the most adorable idea!!!

[@hisnamewasrocco]

That's one spoiled hamster!! Happy Halloween!!

[@ethanchasejackson]

Thank you for this recipe! I’ll definitely try it with my hamster Joey😊🐹

[@wickedwest89]

so excited to get to the kitchen and give this a try for our Alfie

[@Kuro_Reaper]

Tomorrow at work: "How did you spend your Halloween?" Me: "I made my hamsters Pumpkin bread." People at my work: "You are weird." Me: "Yes, yes I am." :)

[@moda78z]

So cute!

[@cakeeeetime]

I had severe ginger bread hous flash backs, when Lemonade ate the spinach leafs first!

[@billythehamster2486]

Is the salt required for the recipe, or is it okay to not include? I’ve heard mixed opinions about salt in hamster treats, does the baking process make a difference? Or maybe I’ve just seen incorrect info which could definitely be true. If anyone knows that would be super helpful, as I want to make these for my hamsters :D

[@SomethingAnimal]

I think you could skip it without it causing a huge difference, but it does contribute to the flavour and texture of the bread. A small amount of sodium in the diet is a necessity for all mammals, so including it in rarely fed treats is completely harmless, long term and regular over-consumption of salt is what will lead to health problems. The biggest risk for too much sodium comes from the "salt lick" mineral blocks that pet shops push, as they make it too easy for a hamster to over consume. So unless your hamster is regularly eating lots of highly processed foods then you don't need to worry :)

[@billythehamster2486]

@@SomethingAnimal Alright, thank you! That makes a lot of sense :D

[@itsmekimmielc]

Freaking adorable. very clever. Making these for my rats.

[@vivianelabelle3992]

😍🐹😋🎃

[@bunlapin]

I realize it was just a bit for flavor, but isn’t tomato’s bad for rodents? Also… this being a Pumpkin Bread… I thought the purée would be pumpkin… could it still be used?

[@joannashaw4668]

I wondered that, thought that tomato was one of the foods they can't hsve.

[@mousenation3867]

Yep I had tomato down as not safe, but there’s conflicting information when you google it ?

[@finley6161]

Tomato is actually safe for hamsters, I think it's a myth that it's too acidic for them. Victoria Raechel talked about it when she made hamster safe spaghetti bolognese. However, as with many things, it should still be fed in moderation.

[@SomethingAnimal]

Don't worry tomato fruits being unsafe is just an old myth, I'm not sure where the myth started but the repeated claim was that they're "too acidic". In reality fresh tomatoes only have a pH of 4.3-4.9 ("acidic foods" have a pH of 4.6 or lower so it only barely makes that list). Other foods like apples, apricots, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, grapes, mangoes, peaches, plums, pomegranate and strawberries all fall lower on the pH scale (they're more acidic than tomatoes) but have always been considered safe for hamsters. Additionally, by combining the purée with baking powder (which contains an alkaline) in this recipe the acidity is reduced even more in the final cooked bread. The only part of a tomato to be avoided are the leaves and stem, these are known to cause medical problems for some animals but not enough research has been done into whether they effect hamsters in the same negative way, so for now it best to avoid them until more information becomes available. The fruit itself is fine to feed as an occasional treat. The generally accepted serving size is no more than 1/2 tsp. If you wanted to use pumpkin purée instead you could certainly try it, though you might not get the bright orange colour that the tomato provides. Pumpkins are hard to find where I live and very expensive which is why I used tomato to get the colour and add flavour instead. (Added a couple of useful links below) www.clemson.edu/extension/food/food2market/documents/ph_of_common_foods.pdf Clemson University pH values of common foods and ingredients. ontariohamsters.ca/education/Food-safety.html IMO this is the most comprehensive and trustworthy hamster food list currently available, I highly recommend bookmarking it.

[@joannashaw4668]

@@SomethingAnimal thankyou for the clarification, much appreciated.

[@lenkaahmad2054]

....where is the pumpkin? 😅 Don't get me wrong. It looks absolutely gorgeous but I thought there will be actual pumpkin in the recipe 😅.....hmmm can hamsters eat pumpkin?

[@SomethingAnimal]

It's pumpkin shaped! Pumpkins themselves are a hard to find luxury (expensive) fruit, well outside of our food budget 😅 You can use real pumpkin if you want but it will likely affect the colour and taste, it's safe for hamsters though.