Buckwheat, kasha, and other groats

[EasternWinds]

Hello. I just bought a hamster three days ago (the cutie is around 5-6 weeks old). I want my sweetie to be healthy and happy, so I want to make his diet full of many different things. And since hammies eat a lot of stuff that humans do, I find it convenient to feed him whatever I eat (obviously no spices and within reason). I tried googling for the answers to my questions, but I couldn't find anything reliable. So, my questions are:
1. Is it safe to feed my hammie buckwheat. In particular I mean roasted whole-grain buckwheat. Click! If so, should it be dry or boiled? Or can it be either one of those? If it can be boiled, can it be with a little bit of salt? (rougly one teaspoon for a whole pot, just like rice?
2. Is it safe to feed my hamster other groats? Dry or cooked. I mean proso millet, barley and things like that
3. If I feed my hammie dry groats or rice, is it possible that if he eats too many of them, they will take water in his stomach, get bigger and make him ill?

Probably some of these questions are silly, but I am hardly an experienced pet owner. So please don't be too harsh on me.

[SKB_Hamsters]

Hello and Welcome to hamster central. Don't worry this forum is really friendly so don't worry about asking questions as we are more than happy to help you out.

1. Buckwheat is safe to feed hamsters raw - I think it ok to be feed cooked too (but I wouldn't advise adding salt just boiling it in plain water)

2. Both proso millet and barley are safe too along with Grains like, oats wheat, foxtail millet, sorghum (Dari) and Linseeds. I also believe quinoa is ok too.

3. Yes, it ok to feed groats raw to hamsters as they have quite different digestive systems to humans and they are capable of breaking down the groats without having any ill effects.

I don't have as good knowledge on diet as other members on the forum - so hopefully they will see this thread and be able to help you out to.

[cypher]

Welcome to HC & congrats on your new ham
I feed buckwheat to my hams but not roasted, it's better to feed things in their natural state if possible, I use buckwheat still in the shell (or husk?!) dry & shelled buckwheat sprouted & it is a really good food for them.
Other groats that are good to use are oats & Barley, all types of millet are fine but again the natural unprocessed or cooked grains or sprays.
Dry groats are fine but I wouldn't feed dry rice, it's not really a good food for hams.
Quinoa is fine for hams but unlike other foods not ideal in it's raw state due to the high level of saponins, it's best sprouted but cooked would be ok too.
I wouldn't use any salt at all if cooking grains for your ham, a tiny bit might not hurt but it is best avoided if possible.
Cooked foods of any kind are generally only given as an occasional treat, not an everyday thing & most hamster food should be hard not soft like cooked grains.
Although healthy all the groats & grains you mentioned should only be given in moderation as treats rather than a main part of their diet.