# Water Bottle Issues



## 3pidemic (Feb 22, 2009)

My boys have two water bottles on their cage and they tend to empty one before they'll start drinking from the second one. They tend to empty the first one while I'm sleeping, but I don't worry about them since they still have a full bottle. This is IMO fine, since they still have almost a full bottle when I wake up. The issue here is that they've somehow figured out how to detach the bottle from the cage (it's one that hangs on the outside) once it's empty, which has resulted in losing a couple of those little hangy things. I have no idea how they get the bottle as I've never actually seen them do it. 

Has anyone else had their ratties do this? How did you rig up the bottle so that they can't knock it off? I've thought about trying zip ties, but I'd have to cut it off everyday to refill the bottle and that doesn't really seem practical.


----------



## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

Have you tried the spring water bottle clips? They may hold them on a little better, alternatively, if you use the plastic coated wire ones (like we have here) you can hook it all the way over so you form a loop around the cage bar and just slip the bottle in and out.


----------



## Lea (May 15, 2009)

Wow, my rats don't drink that much (3 girls). Looks like you have 4 boys according to your sig. I also have two bottles, in case one stops working for any reason, and it would take them 2-3 days to empty one if I didn't refill it. I guess my bottles might be bigger than yours though. I wonder what is the normal amount of water per day per rat?

Side note-- my rats also use the water bottle as a faucet for hand and face washing, lol. It's so cute.


----------



## 3pidemic (Feb 22, 2009)

Lea said:


> Wow, my rats don't drink that much (3 girls). Looks like you have 4 boys according to your sig. I also have two bottles, in case one stops working for any reason, and it would take them 2-3 days to empty one if I didn't refill it. I guess my bottles might be bigger than yours though. I wonder what is the normal amount of water per day per rat?
> 
> Side note-- my rats also use the water bottle as a faucet for hand and face washing, lol. It's so cute.


Yep four boys. The bottles on the cage are fairly small and cheap, so they drip a little more than they should and they have a tendancy to play with the little ball sometimes. I used to have a giant bottle for their cage, but it stopped working correctly. 

Most mornings the second bottle is barely touched at all, but I like to dump it and give them fresh water. I know they probably don't care, but I know that I wouldn't want to drink water that had been sitting around for a day. 



Ration1802 said:


> Have you tried the spring water bottle clips? They may hold them on a little better, alternatively, if you use the plastic coated wire ones (like we have here) you can hook it all the way over so you form a loop around the cage bar and just slip the bottle in and out.


I hadn't thought about bending them. I don't know if it would stop them from knocking the bottle off, but it would stop the metal things from getting lost. I might just have to dig my pliers out and give that a try.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Waterbottle spring










and for a quick fix when you've run out of everything else, a rubber band holder


----------



## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

> I wonder what is the normal amount of water per day per rat?


20-30ml per rat per day seems to be the average (I am a fountain of useless statistical information when I want to be lol)


----------



## aquaseafoam (Aug 3, 2009)

There are also small little bungee cords that work, you could use it instead of the metal holder or put one on the bottom so they can't knock it off easily.


----------



## Lea (May 15, 2009)

Ration1802 said:


> > I wonder what is the normal amount of water per day per rat?
> 
> 
> 20-30ml per rat per day seems to be the average (I am a fountain of useless statistical information when I want to be lol)


Thanks, not useless to me! Sounds like mine are about average then.


----------



## maddy (Jul 27, 2009)

wow, u have some smart rattys there


----------



## andrew1 (Nov 14, 2009)

i have two rats in seperate cages cause they fight all the time but my one little guy is a chewer i have gone through 4 water bottles in a week and i have chew toys and chew stones for him to nibble on and he still chews holes in his bottle any advice would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

He's a plastic eater, you need to make a homemade bottle guard.

I used all sorts of interesting things to prevent my rats from getting their bottles

such as, short bird ladders









mouse/hamster cage ladders









Pieces of old cages I have dismantled


----------

