# Is there a safe water bottle?



## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

Until recently, I had been using a water bottle for Piglet, since it's the one the breeder gave me and it seemed to work for him. Then in the past couple of weeks I read on here that bottles can knock out their teeth over time, so I switched to a bowl. Piglet never really got the hang of it - he just dunked his face in it, then snorfed around for a bit to get the water out of his nose, so I switched back to the bottle. For hedgies that don't like water bowls, is there any particular brand/shape/design of bottle that is safer than others and less likely to hurt his teeth?


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## abbys (Oct 13, 2012)

This is the bottle I currently have:


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## sparkmanr (Aug 29, 2012)

Water bottles can be somewhat contraversial around here. I bought Milo from a reputal breeder who uses water bottle with all her hedgies and in her over 10 years of breeding has never had an incident with them. I had read about the teeth and tongue issues with bottles. When I brought Milo home I had a water bottle for him but I also got him a water bowl and put that in his cage as well. He seemed to prefer the bowl so I took the bottle out and never went back. I'm not sure which is best when it comes to bottles except I thinkt he smaller the piece they drink out of the less likely they are to get their tongues stuff from what I've read. I just did what worked for me and Milo. I'm not sure this helped at all but I think as long as the bottle is a small size meant for smaller animal then your hedgie should be fine.


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## charleston213 (Dec 10, 2012)

i use water bottles for all my hedgehogs and have never had a problem. i believe that the only time a hedgehog gets hurt is when he/she is not aware on how to use it and will bite at it


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

You can try putting the nozzle of the bottle into the bowl so he realizes what its for. As a precaution, try using a smaller dish that he can get used to first, until he realizes what to do. As for finding a safer bottle, I'd wait for someone else to reply. Maybe they have one to recommend


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## Hazesti (Jan 19, 2010)

I'd leave him both options for a while, to give him time to figure out the bowl. It looks like you're keeping the bottle very low, so at least he won't have to tilt his head back to drink. As for the safety for teeth and tongue, I don't know if any bottle is better, as far as I know, they are all made of metal and they all have the same ball in cylinder mechanism so the risk would be the same for all of them... Does he bite at it? Quinn did, even though she knew how to operate it, so I switched to a bowl when I read about the dangers. If he doesn't bite at it I guess the only thing left is the tongue getting stuck...


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