I attempted to make a watering system using PEX tubing and those same ebay nipples. It didn't work out so well. I'm having to redisgn it from scratch. The red T's that came with the nipples are very brittle and break easily. I am looking forward to a nice tutorial as well. Hopefully after I sell some more of my californian bunnies I will be able to afford a decent watering system

I was planning to buy all new T's...since I had heard this from others...

Not without ordering from somewhere. $ shipping is highway robbery. Home depot carries the tubing but nothing else to go with it. I spent some time there before work this morning. By the time I order from bunnyrabbit.com, and they add on an extra $23 for shipping, I might as well buy the whole kit.

Looking at Bass. This may be a good time to look at other things I didn't buy because of shipping.

The 1/4 tube fits into the 5/16, so i'll go with that for now.

__________ Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:26 pm __________

ok so I put it together but found the nipples too stiff. going to order some new nipples and try this again.

Which nipples did you buy? The ebay ones with the red connectors?

Yes. The kits couldn't seem to get the water out.

Did you try to adjust them? They should have come with an Allen wrench that you can use to loosen them...

Nope no wrench. EBay so not original. Probably ordered a bunch from. China and repackaged them. It's just a piece of brass with a stem how would I make adjustment s. I need a picture.

Mine are not brass, they are stainless steel coated....can you post a pic? On mine you insert the allen wrench into the connection end and twist...

Do they look like this?


Here are adjustment instructions if so...

https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/image ... KXo29l4hqQ

I’m in my second rabbit keeping incarnation. Thirty years ago I had rabbits and then when the 4-Hers went off to college we took a break from animal husbandry and lived a different life for a while. I had set up an automatic watering system using the Edstrom valves and black plastic tubing. Either the bunnies or the wild rodents regularly chewed through the plastic tubing in various places and there was a big mess to deal with on a regular basis. We tried cutting up garden hose and slipping that over the smaller tubing to protect it from the chewing but it still happened. When that wasn’t happening something else would intermittently happen so that one or more cages wouldn’t have water. Sometimes I wouldn’t notice it for a day or so, NOT GOOD for bunny health. After all, it was supposed to be AUTOMATIC [not]. When we sold the animals we kept the cages and the valves and tubing sat out in the back of the barn still connected to the cages for more than a decade.

This time when I decided to repopulate our place with animals I didn’t start with rabbits. We got sheep and goats and a couple of cows and some ducks and geese. My husband, for some reason that neither of us can quite remember, was negative on getting rabbits again. I still had such a hankering for them that he was a good sport about it when I asked him to help me recondition and replace the cages and “just go look” at the rabbits that I found for sale One of the things that I did NOT do, after I had taken everything apart and cleaned the cages and the cob webs, was to reattach the “automatic” watering system. I elected to buy [lots] of 64oz Lixit wide mouth bottles and I have NEVER regretted that decision. Yes it takes me about an hour or more a day to check and fill the feeders and waterers, but I think that I spend Less time messing with things that don’t work the way that I expected them to and more time admiring and talking to the bunnies, rather than cursing at them or the wild rodents for chewing the tubing. And I know that I have to check every cage every day to be sure that they have water and it’s easy to see if they do or they don’t, unlike my experience with the valves and tubing that I didn’t have x-ray vision to trouble shoot. And it’s also easy to add the ACV to each bottle, which would not be so easy if I were using the “automatic” system.

Nope, maybe they are stainless steel coated.


When I got home I saw a place in the back for an allen wrench. I will make the adjustment and try it again.

__________ Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:46 pm __________




I'm starting to think this automated thing is a waste of my money. First, I don't have the rabbitry finalized, so I can't use pvc. Things get moved too much. The 5/16 tubing fits over the t barbs, but slides easily off of the nipples. I have 5/16 nipples, but no 5/16 shut off valve. I can't get the connection to the bucket to stop leaking, no matter what sealant I try (and I drilled the second one into the bottom of the bucket). More importantly, I can't get the bucket high enough to get the pressure to go to the cages on the second level. I have to carry the filled bucket from the backyard to the barn, and hoist a filled bucket eight feet up into the air. That's more than a little bit dangerous. I would have to take this bucket and do this probably twice a week, maybe more in the heat. Since there is no electricity to the barn, I would not be able to use this in the winter time. I think I will just buy some bigger bottles. I will never have more than 15 adult rabbits, just because of cage space, and in the season they will drink the most, I'll be home to fill bottles.