switch from bottle to bowl

[Brigo0]

I wasn't sure where to put this so I stuck it here. For the past two weeks Hamlet's water bottle has been terrible. Obviously this means I should just get a new bottle and I am going to.

Be that as it may - I wanted to see if he would use a bowl. In a nutshell, he won't. I put the bowl in with him last night to see if he would test it out. When I woke up I saw what looked like some food crumbs. During play time just now I tried the bowl again just to be sure that I wasn't pretending I saw crumbs this morning to comfort myself. I set Hamlet down right next to the bowl and he flipped out - it was something like bath time he just ran up my arm as fast as he could. Maybe he is just scared of water or was reminded of last week's bath, but even before that he simply gave the bowl a sniff and let it be.

bottom line
I think I'm going to give up on this quest, but I'm still intertested in advice and stories of how others have helped thier hedgies make the switch from bottle to bowl (or vice versa).

[Jessicy]

I have a bottle and a bowl for Popples and he will use both. But he has a multi floor cage and there is a bottle on one floor and a bowl on the other. Some times i find food in his bowl of water all i do is change the water and give it back.

[paris26]

I've had no problems switching my hogs from bottles to bowls. I would put a bowl of water next to where their water dish was hanging and they figured it out within a few days. I still keep a few water bottles around to transition any new ones that may come along. I had a hedgie chip a tooth on a bottle and I will never use them as a sole source for water again.

[PrettyHate]

Sometimes sticking the water bowl underneath the nozzle of the water bottle will help get the idea across that the bowl is for drinking from- just like the bottle :)

[Brigo0]

Thanks you guys. The whole bowl under bottle thing - that's what I thought. I actually did that last night anyways because of the leak.