Training to Water Bottle

[Frecs]

I just acquired four Silver Fox bunnies (2 are 3 months old; 2 are 2 months old) and it seems they were not trained to use water bottles but they are turning over water bowls . I don't want to use crocks outside because I'm concerned they would run out of water. With water bottles, I can provide them with 2 liters of water per rabbit so they are not likely to run out on a hot day when I'm off at work.

I need ideas for how to teach them to drink from the water bottle nipple. I read elsewhere to put banana or "something sweet" on the tip of the nipple but wanted to see what ya'll suggest first.

:bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

When rabbits are having GI problems, a lot of people on RT give them Gatorade (the orange flavor seems to be a bunny favorite) so maybe you could offer that in the water bottle. Until they are accustomed to the water bottles they should still have access to a crock. Here is an idea I came up with using "gravity-fed crocks" to supply water to my growout cages that aren't on an automatic water line: post64925.html#p64925

 

[Frecs]

Do you think the rabbits can smell the Gatorade and would therefore be attracted to the nipple of the water bottle?

I saw your post. That is pretty cool. I do have a question but I'll go to that thread to ask it.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Yes, I think the smell would attract them. You could also place some food nearby.

 

[RabbitPhotoGirl]

For my rabbits who turned over water/feed bowels, I put a nice size rock in it to keep it in place and makes it a bit harder to turn over. I'm currently with one of my kits (not really a kit but I raised her from a kit) who apparently has forgotten how to drink from a water bottle since she use to at 3 months of age and now at 5 months of age she either doesn't want to or forgotten how. Now she has a metal bowel with a rock in the middle of it in the middle of her cage to drink from along with the water bottle.

I'm gonna try to make some carrot juice, basically putting the carrots I buy for my rabbits into the blender and making it into a juice, and put it in the water bottle to get her to take an interest in it and tempt her to use it. I won't buy carrot juice since the store bought has all the added chemicals and I'm trying to keep only the pellets as the stuff being closest to having extra chemicals added to it for my rabbits.
I'll probably get around to doing that Sunday as tomorrow is a day of traveling places and collecting items and a farmers market/small animal sell day. Plus tonight not enough daylight left to check and make sure it's working.

 

[AnnClaire]

I am the opposite ... I take the crock out, show them the spout, and roll the ball or wiggle the spike to get a couple of drops of water out, then come back several hours later and show them again, and again, etc. Then, at sundown, I give a crock of water overnight, but it comes back out the next morning. At a certain point, you are dealing with obstinancy rather than ignorance, so you have to wait them out. A 5 month old will not die from dehydration and the warmer weather is added incentive to get over there and learn how to operate the ball or spike. This is also why I insisted my kits learn to use both a spike and a ball spout ... you never know what the homes they are going to will be using.