Water bottle spigots?

I recently bought 5 conversion kits for 2 liter bottles. They use a different style of nipple than what I currently use. My current water bottles are 1 quart with the balls in the nipples. Never had any issue with them, other than the occasional stuck upper ball which is easily corrected. The new ones I bought have a little pin in them to allow the water to trickle out of the bottle. And the bottle must have a small air hole put in the bottom. I got them from Bass. I didn't expect any problem. I put the hole in the bottle and set it up. To be safe while they were learning a new system I put both types on the cage at the same time. But, my rabbits have been very disinclined to use the newer style nipple, to the point that they would get thirsty waiting for me to refill the older one, while the newer one sat there with water in it. A few did use it sporadically, but many did not. And all of them were obviously thirsty when I refilled the older one.
Has anyone else had similar issues? And if so, what did you do about it? I'm just about consigned to go buy a new set of 2 liter conversion kits with the older style nipples. The 1 quart bottles just don't hold enough for a doe and kits, and I'm not especially thrilled with going out to buy brand new complete 2 quart bottles.
One of the main reasons I ask the questions is because I am thinking down the road to when I hope to eventually set up a self watering system with heater. Every such system I've seen uses spigots like the new one I am describing. Ya know what they say, "You can lead a rabbit to water, but you can't make him drink." If mine won't use that style nipple, I'm feeling kinda stuck in daily bottle refills, and frozen bottles in the winter. <br /><br /> -- Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:44 pm -- <br /><br /> I'm bumping this in hopes of some advice. I did buy 2 of the conversion spigots from TSC, with the balled nipples. One of them won't even go on a bottle, and the other one leaked a bit from the nipple. Does anyone sell one that actually works?

I recently had the very same problem with a new doe. She wouldn't use my water bottles at all and they're the same type of nipple you describe. My bottles are heated.

So I kept a small bowl in her cage and filled it twice daily. She would drink and about and hour later, the rest of the water would be frozen. I would clear the bowl the next morning and repeat. If I needed to be gone for a couple days, I put a large block of ice in her cage for her to lick. It was very frustrating to have to do this daily maintenance and worry about this rabbit.

The fix was that I removed the bottle for a couple days, washed it thoroughly to change the scent, and then reintroduced it to a different part of the cage when I knew she was thirsty, an hour or so before one of her waterings. I made sure to push the nipple to ensure that there was a few drops of water sitting on it. It took several tries, a couple weeks, but eventually her curiosity and thirst overcame her inhibition and she uses the brass nipple now.

As long as the old bottle is in the cage, your rabbit will not explore the new one. The mechanics of drinking from the pin-style nipple are very different from the ball nipple. Good luck!

The first bottles I ever bought were like that - they had a top fill option which I really liked. Being new to rabbits I didn't realize just how much they were supposed to be drinking and pretty sure I almost killed them all :x - they didn't have a clue how to use them! I didn't try to show them, I just bought some of the ball style ones and the others are still sitting out in the shed :roll: so I guess I am of no help, sorry