How to Prevent Ants in a Hamster Cage?

How to prevent ants in a hamster cage -You can prevent the entry of ants into your hamster’s cage by ensuring its proper cleanliness and hygiene. You can also use a specialized bowl to keep ants out of your pet’s food.

Can Ants Harm Hamsters?

Ants are attracted to food, especially sweets. But, what if they get into the hamster cage? You may serve sweet food to the hamsters, so it is obvious that an ant colony will be drawn to the cage. Your hamsters will refuse to eat anything that has the ant colony all over it. 

Ants can bite hamsters, and it is going to be worse for your tiny pet. Hamsters require low maintenance as compared to other pets, but ants can cause a problem. The last thing you want is for your hamster to feel itchy and irritated all the time due to the ants biting them. The good news is it will no longer be a problem now. We will walk you through a few easy and effective tips for keeping the ants out of your hamster cage. Let’s take a look:

Keep Your Cage Clean

Ants gather around food. So, one of the reasons why your hamster cage is attracting the ant colony is the food lying around. Keep your floors clean and take care of the hamster’s bedding. You need to wash the cage every day to keep the unwanted pests away from your hamster. 

You can also keep the cage in the freezer for a while before using it. Ants and other pests are likely to thrive in warm areas, so keeping your cage in the freezer can reduce the risk of the bugs collecting around your hamster. 

One major problem with these pets is that they are messy eaters. If you have had hamsters before, you know how they like to eat food. They like sweets and fruits, but if they don’t eat them immediately or create a mess in your house, it will attract ants. So, make a habit of feeding the hamster within the cage so they don’t go around dropping food in the corners. 

Serve Clean Food

You may not notice it, but the food you are serving to the hamster might be infected with the insect’s eggs. These eggs thrive in a warm and moist environment and can hatch easily. A simple way to keep your hamster cage free of insects is by serving them clean and fresh food. Keep their food in airtight bags in the freezer. Serve the food in small amounts and take the uneaten food out of the cage immediately.

The common mistake of people is that they keep adding more and more food to the same plate. It creates an unwanted mess, attracting ants and other insects to the cage. Plus, it gives a perfect environment for these eggs to hatch.

Use a Moat Food Bowl

You can keep the pet food in the freezer as much as you want, but there’s one place where you will have to keep it open – the food bowl. And considering how your hamster eats food, it goes without saying that an ant colony will be gathered around the food bowl in no time. Most pet owners keep the food out so that their little hamsters can enjoy the meals whenever they get cravings. Keeping the food out for hours can draw bugs. 

The moat food bowls are designed to keep insects away from the hamsters. These are the two bowls separated by the rings of water. Your hamster can eat from these bowls, but the ants can’t reach the food because of the rings between the inner and outer bowls. Ants can’t cross this gap between the bowls. That’s why most pet owners have started using the moat food bowl to keep insects away from the hamster’s food.

You can very easily create a moat food bowl for your hamster by taking 2 bowls (1 should be a little bigger or can even be a plate) putting a little bit of water in the bigger bowl and placing the smaller bowl in it with the food.

How to Remove Ants from the Hamster Cage?

The above tips will help you keep the ants away from the hamster food and cage, but what if they are already there? What if there is an ant colony around the pet food bowl?

Pesticide seems the best solution to get rid of the ants collected in the cage. There are tons of pesticide solutions that are safe for the hamster but can kill the ants. You should use ant repellant to get rid of the ants.

Make sure you talk to a vet first before using any pesticide. Usually, they are safe for pets, but some strong and harsh chemicals can pose health risks for certain kinds of pets. So, it is best to run the pesticide or ant-repellant solution by a veterinarian first.

Trap the Ants

Another way to kill ants is by trapping them into a plastic container that has poison to kill ants. These plastic containers contain edibles or chemicals that can kill ants as soon as these insects eat them. These plastic ant-trapping containers should be kept in a place where they can trap the ants easily. Plus, they must be small enough to not let the hamster in. 

If this doesn’t work, the least you can do is remove the food trail. When an ant finds food, it lay the formic acid on the trail. This helps guide other ants to the source. If you have seen a couple of ants near food, wash the area immediately with a detergent and warm water. Vinegar is a good option for those who want to get rid of the ants for good. Not only does it destroy the trail for other ants, but vinegar is frustrating for insects. There is a good chance they will leave your house for good if you wash your floors with vinegar and acidic cleaning solution regularly.

Conclusion

It is important to take proper care of your hamster. As you prevent the entry of ants into its premises, you are taking care of both the comfort as well as cleanliness of the animal.