How to avoid insects in/around hamster bin cage

[babysecretyoyo]

Hi, I have just got a female hybrid dwarf hamster named Angel A week ago and this after I saw ants trail into her bin cage. The last time I saw the cage without ants was like two hours ago which means the trail is fresh, so I feel cleaned the cage and replace the beddings. Sadly in Malaysia and the house in staying in is quite old, there can be ants, lizards, or small spiders anywhere somewhere anytime in the house. Can I spray eucalyptus oil around the outside of bin cage? Will that affect the respiratory system of Angel?
Any other suggestions that I can do immediately?
How about sticking a tape around the cage and stick it with some cinnamon powders?

[Ria P]

Can you get the sticky tape used to catch flies? Maybe a tape like that stuck on all around the cage would stop the insects getting in.

I've never heard of cinnamon stopping insects but if it works and it's on the outside and well away from the hamster it's probably ok.

I'm not familiar with eucalyptus oil spray for insect control. It's used to treat colds over here and has quite a strong smell so probably not a good idea near a hamster.

[AmityvilleHams]

Eucalyptus definitely shouldn't be used around/in the same room as small pets in general. It also should be avoided around cats by the way as they can be fairly sensitive to it as well for a variety of reasons, though you shouldn't ever allow cats or other predatory pets(ferrets and dogs for example) to be in the same room as hamsters anyway. It's very strong especially when dealing with the essential oil form and would definitely be capable of irritating delicate hamster respiratory systems.

Food grade diatomaceous earth would be worth considering(just not pool filter grade or any other sort of non food grade type as they're not necessarily going to be free from potentially harmful contaminants/additives/impurities/etc). It kills insects in a way that cannot be adapted against like the synthetic pesticides as it is a mechanically killing type of thing - it has grains that are just sharp enough to pierce exoskeletons which leads to the insects essentially drying out and dying, but it's not actually sharp to hamsters for example or humans.

Keeping lizards out however would be another issue as wild lizards(and many wild animals in general) can harbor & spread things like parasites and disease. Finding and patching holes or sealing them up in some way is the long term goal but it can be difficult to find every little hole. The main thing is preventing them from getting around your hamster or any other pets though. I would definitely find some sort of way to keep the hamster's cage off the ground in this case, preferably at least somewhat away from touching walls too if possible.

[Pebbles82]

I can't remember if it was you or someone else having problems with ants, but remember Souffle saying you need to find the source and stop them getting in. There will be a nest somewhere. Either they are coming in from outside (eg under a door in which case you'll see where the trail comes from) or they could be nesting in the cavity walls of the building and coming out through a crack in a wall or where wall meets floor.

Follow the trail and see where they're getting in. You can then put something down that they will eat and take back to the nest and it kills them all. It used to be called "Nippon" - just a small amount on a coin. I think it's borax. Obviously make sure there is nothing like this around when the hamster is out of the cage!

This works - unless the flying ants have started hatching, then it's too late to kill off the nest - they will keep hatching. Had this once and used to have to hoover them up off the floor each day and open windows so they could fly out. They will be off to make a new nest somewhere. You can see some quite large flying ants too - these are Queens that have hatched and will be setting up a new colony somewhere. Once they've flown and set up a colony, their wings drop off and they become normal ants.

Nippon Pack of 3 : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Spiders and lizards won't do any harm.

[AmityvilleHams]

Spiders and lizards absolutely can do harm if a hamster did come into contact with them and they had any sort of parasites and such, also the potential for salmonella contamination with lizards which is worth mentioning. Obviously they're good to have around for pest control reasons, but you don't want them coming into contact with hamsters!

Some lizards and spiders can also carry a nasty bite. While the OP mentioned small spiders, there's definitely at least one tarantula species native to Malaysia. Generally tarantula venom is fairly harmless even if potentially quite painful to humans(unless you're one of the unlucky but fairly uncommon people with an allergy to it), but that does not mean it couldn't be potentially more harmful to hamsters. Tarantulas also have urticating hairs - again, generally not harmful to humans except with allergies, but it is extremely irritating and frankly not something you want a hamster to experience at all.

There's also at least one hunstman spider in Malaysia, and those while not considered deadly to humans are still generally venomous(and that doesn't necessarily mean their venom may be non deadly to hamsters, plus even non deadly venom can still be very painful and sometimes long lasting in terms of symptoms). Just like other spiders they're great to have in the environment for pest control, but again it's not worth the massive safety risk to allow them to access hamsters.

I'm very fond of spiders, but it is quite important to not let them get too close to hamsters and even sometimes other pets too for their safety.

[Pebbles82]

Good point - depends what kind of spiders. I think Lizards are not so likely to be in contact with a hamster, like ants who can get in a cage. We can't protect them from everything, but we can do our best and if that's how things are in Malaysia then it's just a case of doing your best and thankfully hamsters live in fairly secure environments in cages. Although they will want out of cage time sometimes, so it would be a case of checking the area first - as we all have to do to some degree (like hoovering the floor in case there's some unsuitable bits of food dropped or something or other things on the floor a hamster could pouch).

[AmityvilleHams]

I definitely agree with checking the area first before out of cage time. Even cleaning up before and after out of cage time would honestly be a good idea. Sometimes ants in particular can be an absolute nightmare to deal with but getting bits of food and such off the floor as soon as possible can at least help to some degree!