# Hedgies dislike stainless steel water dishes?



## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

My hedgehogs have also used cermaic dishes for their water, but recently I noticed the ones I had for the past 8-12 months were developing a weird white colour to them (they are normally dark blue). It almost looks like mineral deposits, but I use bottled water, so I didn't think this would happen?

Anyways I bought new ceramic bowls, and they switched to them no problem, but it's been a month or two and same issue, weird white stuff. So I finally decided to try stainless steel water dishes. They are the same height as the other dishes so I didn't even think twice about the hedgies not liking them. Well apparently they don't. It appears they both drank little to none water last night, so after syringing them both with pedialyte, I put their old ceramic dishes back in.

I am trying putting the stainless steel dishes in as well tonight, but with pedialyte. I've already seen Puff drink from it, so maybe it's just an acceptance thing? I don't know I don't wanna risk them not drinking, but the white stuff is yucky too, so I'm not sure what else I could use. 

Has anyone had a problem with their hedgies not liking the stainless steel dishes, or with the weird white stuff on their ceramic water dishes? 

What else can I use? I am worried the white stuff is bad, but I can't use the stainless steel ones and risk them not drinking.


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## rainbowcookie (Dec 21, 2009)

We have that white stuff on the water bowls, too. I think it is mineral deposits. We use tap water, but I think even bottled water has minerals that will leave deposits. I scrub at it when I wash dishes, but it's on there pretty good. I assume it doesn't hurt anything since it's in the water and won't come off anyway.


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

I haven't had this happen with my dishes yet but if you still have the ceramic dishes you can let them soak in full strength vinegar and then you wont have to scrub to get the deposits off of them. The vinegar will dissolve the mineral deposits without leaving any bad residue.

Ill keep an eye out on my dishes cause it sounds like we might have similar ones.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I've also had the white stuff, I just washed Lily's bowls tonight, actually, and worked on scrubbing some off. If I scrub hard and scratch at it sometimes, a bit will come off, but not all of it does. I came to the same conclusion as well though, that it's just mineral deposits. Lily gets bottled water too, Ice Mountain brand.

I'll try soaking Lily's water bowl in the vinegar though, and see if it'll come clean. It may not be harmful, but I like her bowls being all smooth and clean, lol. Thanks for the tip, hedgieonboard!


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm pretty sure that all water has trace minerals and calcium in it unless it is distilled. I haven't noticed a build up in Quigley's bowl but I switch between two so he has water while I'm washing it. Maybe it will take twice as long for the mineral deposits to build up?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

My bowls get it too but it seems to take a long time for it to start to build up. For some reason I think it seems to build up more in winter than in summer and I've wondered if the dry air and evaporation causes it to happen more than normal.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I've been using the same water dish for Inky for almost three years, and haven't seen any sort of buildup. He's using a small blue ceramic dish.

Maybe the stainless steel ones get too cold? Or the edges are uncomfortable to put their feet on when they are eating?


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## hihihishite (Jan 12, 2010)

The stainless steel dish probably taste metallic. Some are worse than others. Smell the dish. If it smells like metal, that's the problem. The metallic tasting ones usually have a rougher feel and more raw look to them too.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

LizardGirl said:


> I've been using the same water dish for Inky for almost three years, and haven't seen any sort of buildup.


I've had the same ceramic water bowls for over 2 years and never had any sort of buildup either.


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## nationofamanda (Jan 19, 2010)

San antonio uses water from a natural aquifer, and we have REALLY REALLY hard water. i get that residue on everything. bottled water is ofter "enriched" with minerals, and honestly it's just filtered tap water from somewhere, so it's very likely that their source has mineral rich water too.

we charcoal filter our own water at home instead of using bottled, and it still leaves residue, so it's not surprising that a bottled water would also.

vinegar will get it out, and you can always try a different brand of bottled water, and see if that helps if it bothers you...you probably don't want spring water since that leaves the minerals in... but honestly it's harmless. it does make the dishes look dirty, but just soak them in pure vinegar for a few hours once a month and then clean as you normally would after wards, in addition to the daily scrubbing out.

p.s. unless you are really concerned about the water in your area for obvious reasons...ie: flouride, a really sulfur rich water, or well water or something, it's fine to give pets tap water, and a home filter is much more economical than buying bottled for you both.


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## leannem (Mar 27, 2009)

Not only is a home filter such as a Brita economically but it also helps save our environment by cutting out plastic bottles.


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

Thanks everyone,I will try the vinegar! They're really picky about what kind of bottled water they drink, and I find everything except the brand I'm using now gives them green stool, so I don't really want to switch brands or to filtered tap water. I've concluded they just don't like the stainless steel so I'm sticking to the cermaic, some vinegar and some good old elbow grease.

I'm glad to hear this happens to some other people and that it's not really dangerous though!


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