Iceberg Lettece?

[Teddy001]

Does anyone know why iceberg Lettuce is not safe for hamsters? Is there something in the lettuce that's " toxic" if eaten by hamsters? The reason I'm curious, is a friend has had 4 hamsters die, within weeks/months apart, and they were not elderly- the only similarity, is she was feeding them iceberg lettuce. It just could be a coincidence that they passed one after the other-

[Willow Wisp]

As far as I'm aware there are no 'bad' properties in iceberg lettuce, but there isn't any nutritional value to it either, basically it fills up an animal, (so they don't eat their healthy foods), without giving them any goodness.
Or at least that's my understanding of it

[Thin Lizzy]

I have given mine it on rare occasions.

[cypher]

I don't think there's anything bad about it either it just has virtually no nutrients, it's practically all water. Something in lettuce generally isn't too good for them if given too often so I guess with iceburg they just get the bad stuff & lots of water!

[kittokitty]

I think it can cause diarrhea due to high water content. Cant imagine it being harmful in really tiny amounts.

[Teddy001]

Okay, thank you..

[HammieWilson]

I used to feed my hamster iceberg lettuce, but then I watched one of ChocolateColors26 video on lettuce and saw that crunchy leaf lettuce, red lettuce, romaine lettuce, and butterhead lettuce are the safest.

[velma]

I've read somewhere before that there's something in it that can harm their liver? But I've no idea as to that accuracy of that. (It was most likely a thing I've read in my pre-forum days so could possibly have picked that up from any old dodgy website )

[Peanut84]

Lettuce often contains nitrate, which can be bad for the hamsters health if consumed in high quantities. It also contains oxalic acid, which can harm the kidneys. It's still safe as long as you don't overdo it.

[Teddy001]

Thanks everyone--.. Peanut, that could have been the underlining cause of her hamsters dying, since she said she fed them ice burg lettuce, almost each day- when I asked to see how much ( portion) she showed me, about an 3 inch x 3 inch piece, per serving..! -