# Food/water bowl questions?



## Mury821

I was wondering if I need a specific size food bowl? Ezra's previous owner had a food bowl about twice the size of him that took up way too much room in the cage. Also, he had a water bottle, are bowls better than bottles? I bought two smaller bowls for food and water figuring they would probably be better.


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## nikki

I find that low heavy bowls work good, not to big because you need to put fresh food and water in every day anyways and you don't want them to climb into them.


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## moxieberry

Ceramic bowls work well, especially the ones that are a more bottom-heavy design. 1-2 inches in height is good. I use 2oz mini ramekins, they're pretty much the perfect size. Depending on the manufacturer, some are shallower than others. You can see the details here (scroll all the way to the bottom).

As for bottle vs. bowl for water, there are definitely less controversial subjects, haha. Most people will say bowls, and that's what I recommend as a starting point for new owners. However, they both have pros and cons, and depending on the hedgehog, sometimes a bowl doesn't work well and a bottle ends up being a better choice. When you have just one hedgehog, or a few of them, it's easy to make those decisions based on each hedgie's individual needs. For me, after using water bowls for a while, I switched completely to bottles. Some of mine would be fine with bowls, but with 30+ hedgehogs isn't not practical to do something like that different for each individual, when there's one option that will work for everyone. Bowls was not that option, in my experience.

Think about what your priority is. For me, it's clean, fresh water available at all times. So if a hedgehog is always pooping/peeing in the water, or knocking it over (which some manage to do regardless of how tip-proof the bowl is), or dragging their bag/blanket into it which soaks up all the water - then a bowl is just not a good option for that particular hedgehog.

This is a copy/paste from something I've been working on; a comparison of different supplies options.

Bowls
Pros:
- more natural drinking position
- easier to clean
Cons:
- can be unsanitary (poop/pee/food crumbs getting in the water)
- can be knocked over (resulting in no water and wet bedding/liners)
- water will be soaked up by any fleece that gets into it (and if that happens to be a sleeping bag, you end up with no water AND a wet/cold hedgehog)
- not as easy to keep track of how much the hedgehog is drinking

Bottles
Pros:
- contains more water than most bowls
- easier to keep track of how much the hedgehog is drinking
- water cannot be dirtied with poop/pee/food
- water can't get dumped out
- doesn't take up any floor space in the cage
Cons:
- unnatural drinking position (depends on how high the bottle is positioned and the angle of the nozzle; it's possible to make adjustments to this)
- moderately more difficult to clean (still not particularly hard)
- allows laziness about changing/refilling water
- some hedgehogs won't drink as much compared to if they have a bowl available
- risk of caught/cut tongues (I believe this depends on the nozzle type)
- risk of chipped teeth*

*Very low risk, unless the hedgehog in question makes a habit of chomping the metal with its front teeth; most hedgehogs 'tap' it and don't use their teeth at all, and those that "chew" the metal tend to do it with their back/side teeth, which are low and broad and have very little chance of being broken.


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## nikki

Another "pro" for bowls is most hedgehogs will drink more water from a bowl than a bottle.


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## Mury821

Thanks! I think I'm just going to have a smaller bowl for his food and stick with a bottle for water since I've noticed that he does have a habit of pushing/pulling things into his food bowl and his water bottle is low enough so he doesn't have to be in an awkward position and he has chewed the metal a couple times but only with his back teeth.


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