Dandelions ?

Teddy001 · 10-04-2014, 02:53 PM

Has anyone had issues with feeding your ham dandelions? Someone on another forum said her hamsters got severe dierreaha after eating them. So, I research a bit, and read they are diuretics.?

BrainGirl · 10-04-2014, 03:03 PM

Diuretics. And yes, they can cause problems if you feed too much of them. They're safe, but only as an occasional treat

kaptenanna · 10-04-2014, 03:48 PM

Dandelions in themselves are fine. However, if you give the hammy too much and/or the hammy is not used to eating fresh vegetables that may lead to diarrhea.

Diuretic means that it causes increased urination, so not diarrhea.

Teddy001 · 10-04-2014, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrainGirl

Diuretics. And yes, they can cause problems if you feed too much of them. They're safe, but only as an occasional treat

oops, yes, "diuretics". I've not tried feeding my hams them. but good to know they are safe for hamsters. thanks, Braingirl

Teddy001 · 10-04-2014, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaptenanna

Dandelions in themselves are fine. However, if you give the hammy too much and/or the hammy is not used to eating fresh vegetables that may lead to diarrhea.

Diuretic means that it causes increased urination, so not diarrhea.

okay, thank you. Yes, diuretic, means urination, that's just what the article said, it causes, however someone from another hamster forum said that her two hamster ate them, and had bad diarrhea.

I have not tried feeding my hamsters dandelions, however my older hamsters have adapted to fresh veggies. I have dandelions "seeds", that I was thinking of planting, and putting in hams cage, but don't think that would be a good idea, for hams to have unlimited access to dandelions..LOL

BrainGirl · 10-04-2014, 07:41 PM

Yes, it's the unlimited access to too-rich fresh veg that causes the problem. Dandelions are quite tasty in small amounts so if you planted the seeds you could harvest the extra for yourself

Willow Wisp · 10-05-2014, 12:26 AM

I give the girls a small dandelion leaf each day with their fresh food, they love them and have never had problems but it is just one small leaf a day, they don't have access to more than that

and neither of them like the flowers and I think it's the flowers which cause the problems.
One of my male tortoises makes a beeline for them, he will eat 10 or more in one go, the other tortoises eat maybe one or two flowers and then move on to something else. I read if tortoises eat too many dandelion flowers it can give them kidney stones which was a big worry for this particular tortoise so I spoke to my reptile vet, he said as long as I kept him fully hydrated it was very unlikely he would get kidney stones, so I make sure all the tortoises have a warm 15 minute soak every morning

So I think the fact that dandelions are diuretics if over fed they 'could' end up causing more problems than just excess peeing, but in moderation they are fine

cypher · 10-05-2014, 12:59 AM

My hams love dandelion leaves but I only give them small amounts as with any veggies, they are quite a potent herb but I think you'd have to give quite a lot to cause a problem.
I've tried growing dandelions in a pot, a deep one as they have a really long tap root, so I have clean fresh ones for my hams but for a weed that grows everywhere they are ridiculously hard to grow where you want them!!

hammy2 · 10-05-2014, 01:20 AM

I've fed all my hams Dandelions, seeds, flower, root and leaves and never found a problem. as long as it is a treat it should be fine

**ianpallen** · 10-05-2014, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

My hams love dandelion leaves but I only give them small amounts as with any veggies, they are quite a potent herb but I think you'd have to give quite a lot to cause a problem.
I've tried growing dandelions in a pot, a deep one as they have a really long tap root, so I have clean fresh ones for my hams but for a weed that grows everywhere they are ridiculously hard to grow where you want them!!

I bought 5,000 seeds off ebay and planted them in two places. One lot was in a large planter and the other lot was in the soil along a fence. The ones in the planter grew, but only 5 plants grw out of over half the seeds. The ones in the border along the fence are not grown yet or they had started to grow and the snails and slugs have eaten them.
I give my hams a dandelion leaf about once a month as a treat. I feed the rabbit them almost every day, but I am running out of plants to cut the leaves from.