Water Bottles

[wamplercathy]

:evil: Water Bottles :evil:

How do you get them to quit leaking? :? I need to know yalls secrets? :mrgreen: Every water bottle I have ever used has leaked around the rolling ball tip. :evil: I didn't buy the most expensive ones, nor the cheapest this time around. I've made those mistakes in the past. Out of hundreds and yes I mean hundreds only 1 never leaked and I believe that was just a fluke.

Any and All advice is needed and appreciated. Thank yall in advance.

 

[EnglishSpot]

They don't. None that I've had.

I did switch to the Lixit bottles, and I like those. Rabbits caught on pretty fast.

 

[Zass]

I have a bunch of older bottles from rabbitry sell outs. They work pretty well. I think...time tested and whatnot.

 

[Wheels]

some I've just had to go get different washers from the hardware store. That helped a good number of them. I don't know if it's made out of a different type of rubber or what but the replacements are always red in color (hose washers is what the guy at the hardware store calls them).

some I have to tap on the ball a few times after i've set it on the cage to get them to stop. and some just leak no matter what - I find a rigid bottle does better than the ones where the plastic is soft and flexes.

 

[wamplercathy]

Interesting :shock: :? :shock: I'll try the washers idea. But they leak worse than my colander and just at their tips. I find myself having to refill them every 36hrs. Less if I fiddle with each ball. I am planing on a gravity watering system. Been gathering the parts over the past month. I truly hate the water bottles.

Has anyone had success with these? (http://www.amazon.com/Nipple-Waterer-Dr ... erret+Mice)

 

[akane]

These are working well but all ball type will suffer leaking problems when the temps swing
http://www.amazon.com/Lixit-Corporation ... ottle+pack

I find the glass lixits only leak if you mess up the rubber washer but they are pricy and will break on hard surfaces or if they freeze with too much water. I only use them for the chinchillas.

The lixits with lever valves are better since they don't rely on gravity to stop the water but stuff can get in the valve and it can leak around the hardware sandwiching the plastic hole the valve goes through. After about 3years they would leak some on us. This is repairable unlike ball valves but annoying and I decided I'd rather just risk some leaking with the lixit 6 pack I linked.

 

[DBA]

Interesting :shock: :? :shock: I'll try the washers idea. But they leak worse than my colander and just at their tips. I find myself having to refill them every 36hrs. Less if I fiddle with each ball. I am planing on a gravity watering system. Been gathering the parts over the past month. I truly hate the water bottles.

Has anyone had success with these? (http://www.amazon.com/Nipple-Waterer-Dr ... erret+Mice)

36 hours??? Shouldn't you refill them at least once a day anyway?
In cooler weather we do once a day, in warm weather we dump and refill at least twice a day.

 

[akane]

Indoors I only fill them as needed which the netherlands might take a few days to empty. Outdoors they need filled about once a day to every other day depending on weather. It's not like water goes bad and we never see algae growth for some reason. I really don't know why people insist on fresh water constantly. I don't find water changes any even if I leave a partially drank one sit in the suv for a week and then finish it. Why would it change more in the animal bottles?

 

[Miss M]

We use the 2L bottle conversion kit from Bass. It turns a 2L bottle into a sprung-post waterer. You have to put a hole in the bottom of the bottle to keep it from pulling a vacuum and not allowing water out. They work well. Sometimes they can leak, but it can usually be cleaned so that it works correctly. I use hose washers with them. The O rings seem to work best for me.

We'd like to have a watering system some day, but this works well.

 

[wamplercathy]

Interesting :shock: :? :shock: I'll try the washers idea. But they leak worse than my colander and just at their tips. I find myself having to refill them every 36hrs. Less if I fiddle with each ball. I am planing on a gravity watering system. Been gathering the parts over the past month. I truly hate the water bottles.

Has anyone had success with these? (http://www.amazon.com/Nipple-Waterer-Dr ... erret+Mice)

36 hours??? Shouldn't you refill them at least once a day anyway?
In cooler weather we do once a day, in warm weather we dump and refill at least twice a day.

I check on them twice a day. Aside from the morning and evening feeding. (equaling 4 times a day) If their water were warm I would replace. Also plan to give them slightly frozen water when it gets warmer. We've been lucky and the temps here haven't got that high yet. But it will be coming. Hence why I have made it a habit to check on them so frequently. I am using the same protocol I have with all other animals that have come and gone threw our home. If they have need I'll adjust.

But thank you for your concern.

 

[Susie570]

Wow... I refill the bunny bottles ' as needed'. This means I top them off if I notice them lower than a third full, and do an empty and rinse about once a week for all the buns. I also believe that the acv in the water helps to prevent algae.

I use this type of bottle. They work well, maybe drip a little, but not enough to concern me
http://t.tractorsupply.com/en/store/lm-animal-farmstrade;-wide-mouth-water-bottle-64-oz

These chick waterers work well for a litter of babies with momma
http://t.tractorsupply.com/en/store/search/chicken-equipment

 

[lereg15]

Wow... I refill the bunny bottles ' as needed'. This means I top them off if I notice them lower than a third full, and do an empty and rinse about once a week for all the buns. I also believe that the acv in the water helps to prevent algae.

I use this type of bottle. They work well, maybe drip a little, but not enough to concern me
http://t.tractorsupply.com/en/store/lm-animal-farmstrade;-wide-mouth-water-bottle-64-oz

These chick waterers work well for a litter of babies with momma
http://t.tractorsupply.com/en/store/search/chicken-equipment

Will the chick waterers work with rabbits too?

 

[Miss M]

We rinse ours more in summer than in winter, but not daily.

 

[akane]

The very small chick waterers are too easy to tip for grown rabbits. They can work for small breed newly weaned kits. Generally you need a 1g minimum and I usually set them on 2 bricks or 3-5g poultry waters on a cinderblock in a pen with a few bricks to help them get that high.

 

[Ramjet]

I use crocks instead ....

 

[Susie570]

Will the chick waterers work with rabbits too?

The one gallon waterer that I use was a lifesaver in the nesIt box pen, once the kits were big enough to be pretty mobile. The doe is a Dutch and the kits are half mini lop, so they're not tiny rabbits, but not huge either.

I only had three complaints, one was that I still had to fill it up, on average, about every other day - they really drank a LOT. Next was that, in a large wire bottom cage, the weight of the water caused the waterer to tilt a bit, toward the center of the cage. I use trays right now, so placing a brick in the tray, under the edge of the waterer, solved that problem. Finally just that it takes up a good bit of space in the cage, but using a 30x36 cage, they still had plenty of room to move around, even with momma, the nest box, a litter box and two feeders.

The kits and mom all LOVED the waterer and they would gather around it like little horses at a trough, gulping the water. The kits would, sometimes, get into the water (could cause a problem for outside litters in the cold), or climb on top of it, but I never had anyone knock it over and did not need to use any other bricks or anything.

By the time it might have become an issue, it was time to separate out the kits and mom.

Btw, I still had a big lick bottle in the cage, which they all used sometimes. That way, the kits all learned to drink from a lick bottle as well and had no issue when I removed the waterer.

I believe I got the chick waterer idea from MSD.

 

[EnglishSpot]

The chick waterer is the best thing ever!!

 

[cmfarm]

Interesting :shock: :? :shock: I'll try the washers idea. But they leak worse than my colander and just at their tips. I find myself having to refill them every 36hrs. Less if I fiddle with each ball. I am planing on a gravity watering system. Been gathering the parts over the past month. I truly hate the water bottles.

Has anyone had success with these? (http://www.amazon.com/Nipple-Waterer-Dr ... erret+Mice)

We just set up an automatic system with those this weekend. So far it seems to be working well. I still have a few rabbits that haven't figured out how to use it.

 

[wamplercathy]

After reading through everyone's responses I guess they aren't leaking that bad. They just drink THAT MUCH. :x :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[EnglishSpot]

I'm still using the chick waterer for my 7 week olds and I refill that about every day and a half!! They do go through a ton of water!!!