How to Keep Ants Away From Rabbit Cage?

Many people like to keep rabbits inside their homes as these furry animals look so innocent and cute that they attract attention, but indoor pests like ants can affect them by biting.

How to Keep Ants Away From Rabbit Cage? You can keep ants away from rabbit cage by keeping its floor clean, removing food particles, hiding the food tray, making moats around the bowl, and using ant baits. In addition, sprinkle vinegar solution, use insecticidal spray, spread cinnamon powder, cayenne red powder, or pour hot water directly on the ants.

It is better to find suitable methods for keeping ants away from pests, as contaminating insects can transfer pathogens and lay eggs within their fur.

The dry place of the cage and sufficient food can attract them to come inside and live or multiply there.

Cover food bowl 

Most commonly, insects get attracted to pet food, and rabbit food can also provide good nutrition to these tiny creatures. Ants can reach bunny food as it contains protein and fat-rich nutrients. Few species of ants can harm rabbits.

In addition, they eat grass hays that can also appeal tiny insects and make them reach inside the cage. Accordingly, you have to cover the food bowl when pets are not eating from it.

Cover it with aluminum foil using rubber to fix it accurately, or add a plastic cover to restrict their entries. Seal the tiny holes in food bowls as they can sneak through them easily.

It is better to consider that they have sharp mandibles and can chew the material quickly. You can use aluminum as a cover because climbing on slippery surfaces is difficult.

Make use of ant baits

It is better to make potential baits like Terro or raid and kill the colonies to avoid the risk of another attack because killing a few workers by targeting ant trails cannot provide benefits in the long term.

The baits are usually slow acting and allow the workers to pass on the consumed food to their nest mates, including growing larvae and queens.

The queen ant’s death ensures the whole colony’s removal because she can introduce more insects inside the house after a few days by laying and fertilizing eggs.

In addition, the boric acid powder is usually used to make baits by mixing it in a sweet substance that can be powdered sugar or peanut butter.

These insects will get attracted to sweet substances and die in a day or two due to the high toxicity of boric acid, creating problems in food digestion.

Keep food and water bowl clean

You have to avoid the dirt within the cage and food bowls because it is one of the primary reasons for ants to reach inside the cage.

Rabbits poop a lot as they release almost 250 to 280 pellets a day and drop them inside food or water bowls, posing a risk of contamination.

Their poops or cecotropes can provide nutrition to ants and other insects, making them come inside the hutches and eat food to their fullest.

Accordingly, wash the bowls 2 to 3 times a week at least because the poop can accumulate in the bowls and attract hungry insects.

Make moat around the bowl

Creating a moat around the food bowls can keep annoying insects away from them and ensure the rabbits’ safety, as they can suffer from ant poison.

You can find food bowls with a setup of the moat in stores where a small bowl is fixed inside the larger one that can hold water inside without wetting food.

Ants are not good swimmers and drown in the water; these insects prefer to stay away from the water even if they have to get food.

Furthermore, you can also create a moat by keeping the bowl inside a larger tray with higher edges to hold sufficient water and restrict entries of insects.

Sprinkle vinegar solution

A vinegar solution can be prepared at home using white vinegar, commonly used for cooking purposes.

Mix the concentrated vinegar solution into the water in equal amounts.

Put this vinegar solution into a spray bottle and spray it within the cage. The vinegar does not harm rabbits but can keep insects at a distance from them.

In addition, spray the solution on the cage floor, food or water bowls, and other areas inside the cage to make them repelling and make the surface uncomfortable for these tiny creatures.

Put repelling plant

You can also prevent ants from reaching inside the rabbit hutches by growing a plant with a strong, pungent odor near its cage. These insects avoid harsh or strong odors and return to nests.

Various plants are known to repel ants, like basil, mint, eucalyptus, lemon, lavender, and thyme. You can get benefit from their repelling properties to avoid these insects.

These plants have a strong repelling odor or an unpleasant aroma that can put off pests of different types and keep your pets safe. Put one of these plants close to the cage and get rid of ants.

Use insecticidal spray

An insecticidal spray is an effective solution for heavy infestations as they contain harsh chemicals and kill the pests in a few minutes by drowning or disrupting their body structure.

You can try natural repelling methods to keep ants at a distance, but it is better to use chemical sprays when their population exceeds an average size.

Moreover, you can get commercial products from chemical stores and spray them on mounds or ant trails, but it is better to read the label and follow safety measures.

In addition, you can hire professional exterminators to get rid of the colonies on a lawn or indoors, as these insects can keep coming inside rabbit cages until they are present inside the house.

Spread cinnamon or red chili powder

Cinnamon and red chilies are readily available to home ingredients and are pretty effective at repelling insects away from the house due to their strong odor.

You can create a boundary around the rabbit cage by spreading cinnamon powder or using red chili powder to restrict their undesired entries.

These insects do not cross the boundary line and begin to move in another direction if they detect any strong odor in their pathway. However, it gives rise to a sense of fear and danger, so they change their path.

Pour hot water 

Hot water can kill the ants instantly as they are not resistant to high temperatures.

Extreme conditions do not support their survival and make them die due to the drying or freezing of their bodies. You can use this method to keep them away from the bunny cage.

These tiny insects are cold-blooded creatures that cannot resist changing weather as their body temperature drops to a deadly level in a freezing environment and can result in death.

They prefer a moist environment to live and reproduce as their exoskeleton begins to get dry and hard in dry conditions, which can cause breakage of the outer shell protecting them.

In the same way, high temperature leads to the evaporation of moisture from their exoskeleton and causes drying that can result in death ultimately.

So, you have to take the pets out of the cage, clean their hutches, and pour hot water inside to kill the hidden insects, as water can reach every corner and kill them.

Related Articles:

Keep Ants Out of Cat Food Bowl

How to Get Rid of Ants in RV Walls?