# Do ants bite hedgehogs?



## cancelledout (Jul 14, 2010)

Small red ones tend to get into their food. Since my hedgehog doesn't gobble it all up, sometimes, there are ants in its food dish.

Do they bite hedgehogs?


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

I'd be much more worried about the possible poisoning of your hedgehog...
Ants are coming from an unknown and uncontrolled environment, meaning they could bring disease, pesticides, and harmful chemicals to your hedgehog. 

I know there was a thread earlier about keeping ants away from the cage, but it's 3am and I'm really tired. If you did a search for ants, that thread will show up and you can look through the responses. The search function is located in the upper right corner.


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## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

Following what Immortalia has said, you can sprinkle cinnamon/sugar around the cage to ward off ants usually. They don't like the high sweet flavor sugar and cinnamon give them.
Please, if you see ants, change the food immedately!!! 
What type of food does your hedgie eat?


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

You have to be really carful with ants, Im not sure what kind you have in your area but the ones here bite people, animals and anything else they can. If you try the sugar and cinnamin trick but are still getting them there are eco friendly, pet and child safe sprays you can pick up that are made out of soybean oil.


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## cancelledout (Jul 14, 2010)

@Hedgieonboard and tie-dye hedgehog
We feed it Friskies cat food since it was fed with this by its breeder and the petshop.

Yes, the moment we see the ants, we throw out the food and clean the whole cage immediately. So far so good.  The ants here looooove sugar. How about using baby oil and apply it on the top sides of his plastic box? By assumption, it would do the trick in preventing any ants from getting inside.

Thanks for your replies guys. I appreciate your every concern. ^^


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## HedgeMom (Nov 7, 2008)

To prevent the ants from getting into the cage, if the bottom few inches of the cage is plastic, put the whole cage in a larger container with an inch of water. You can also use petroleum jelly to create a barrier around the entire cage. Just fingerpaint a line around the entire cage about 1" from the bottom

To get rid of ants, mix one part boric acid with one part of sugar. Put small amounts into bottle caps on the ant trails. They will increase as they eat the bait and will decrease as the bait kills them. It's pet safe.


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## Etresia (Feb 8, 2015)

Hi i really need emergency help. My hedgehog had babies and they are now one week old. My cage is full of ants and im worried about the babies, what should i do?theres about 200 ant. Please help


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## Nick120180 (Oct 27, 2014)

Friskies isn't a great food. Try to transisttion him to a blend of more high quality biscuits along with some fresh food. See stickies in diet section.


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## Tongue_Flicker (Jun 11, 2013)

This is a very old thread. Anyways yes, ants do bite hedgies and I did have a baby hedgehog die from being eaten alive by red ants a few years ago. Not a fun moment at all


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Etresia, please make a new post in the Breeding & Babies section so you can get advice from the breeders. If you don't know how to make a new post, click this link - http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/forums/24-breeding-babies-help/ - and in the upper left hand corner, there's a "new thread" button. Click that and you can make your own post. Something should definitely be done about the ants, but I'm not sure what (no breeding experience), so you need advice from someone who knows what they're doing.


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