# Water Bottle Woes >.<



## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I felt so bad when I came back from my boyfriend's house last night. I left my ratties with a bowl and a bottle of water and their water bottle has now stopped working entirly. Usually I shake the water bottle to get rid of any air bubbles in it and get it to flow. I felt so bad that they went without water and I wasn't even aware of it. >.<

Like I mentioned above, usually I shake my water bottle to get rid of the air bubbles and get it to flow. I found out it only works for the next 15 seconds and stops again entirly. I clean it every week, and there's nothing stuck in it as far as I can tell. I think it's just broken. >.<

I was wondering if there are any really good leak-proof water bottles out there? I would like to try one without the little metal ball in it if possible. I've gone through about 5-6 water bottles already with my ratties and none of them ever seem to work properly. Either they leak like crazy or don't release any water at all. This is starting to drive me a bit crazy. 

It would need to be a water bottle that I can put towards the inside of the cage. I do not want to cut any holes in my hardware cloth since I do happen to re-arrange my cage pretty often, and I do have some escape artists who can do a lot with a tiny hole in hardware cloth. 

The one I'm currently using is a SuperPet glass bottle. I've had Petco ones before and I've gone though a few other generic plastic water bottles.


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## CleverRat (Mar 9, 2014)

Here is one that is called a "drinking tube". It is plastic, and it has two suction cups so I'm not sure how it would attach to a wire cage but is worth a try. It does not have a ball and I think the water comes out because of suction or something, not sure the science of it. Anyways, here is a link for amazon, you can probably find it on other sites too: http://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Deluxe-...906&sr=8-1&keywords=Drinking+tube+hamsterHere is another one that is basically the same except it is glass and it says it has a metal clip for wire cages (includes suction cups too) http://www.amazon.com/Hagen-Living-...&sr=8-2&keywords=Drinking+tube+hamsterThere's I have never tried these out before with rats but I have heard good things for hamsters so I hope this helps!

Also, they are fairly small, so you might need more than one for large mischiefs.


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

So I came across two potential water despensers and I was wondering if anyone has ever used these before? Both have mixed reviews.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22183

http://www.petco.com/product/6391/P....aspx?CoreCat=LN_BirdSupplies_FoodWaterDishes


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## MrsAmberLynn (Mar 3, 2014)

I use the flat back bottle with the floating duck in it. It came from either Petco or Petsmart. It doesn't leak and I've had no problems with it. It's got a screw on the back that would go through the harware cloth and there is a bolt type piece that goes on the outside to hold it on.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

I really like the little fountains, like the second link you posted. I have a similar one that is not their main water bottle, but rather a change of pace so that they can lap water up differently and dunk their hands in to wash their faces. They enjoy both that and the standard bottles.


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

So I took a trip down to Pet Supermarket yesterday because I heard that they had the Lixit water bottles. I come to find out that they sadly do not carry them anymore and have switched over to Super Pet plastic water bottles. I heard of some pretty bad reviews about the water bottles that they were selling so I decided to look around at the waterers instead. I found one for bearded dragons. It has a little grate in front of it to prevent any nasty gunk from getting into the clean water. The water also comes out shallow enough so that any nasty gunk can be easily picked out. The tricky part is fastening it to the cage because I don't want them tipping it over. Right now I have the bottom part fastened down with wire attached to the cage bars. That way it stays in the corner and can't be tipped. The bottle is also heavy enough to put a good amount of weight on it. I also have a large tile under it incase Toast goes crazy and decides to wash his hands and face like he usually does (he loves water). It holds 16 ounces of water. It's also made by Lixit which is why I bought it since I've heard good reviews about their water bottles. I'm going to try it out and let you guys know how well it works against my rough-housing ratties. =P


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

After having the waterer for a few days now can say that I really recommend it to those who are looking for an alternative to a water bottle. It does not leak, and the water flow is nice, shallow, and constant when needed. The fact that the water is so shallow makes it easy to clean any crumbs out of it. All I do is take a paper towel and clean the crumbs out really quick. They have not tried tipping it over, and it has not made a major mess that I would have had had I had a leaky water bottle. My rats are happy with it, and I'm happy with it. 

I wish there was another solution to the wire. I wish it came with clips of some sort to hold it down. I'm still trying to find an alternative to this. I will update on it if anything changes.


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## annoellyn (Sep 19, 2013)

i always use bird water bowls. they attach to the cage with little hooks so they can't knock it off. there only four dollars at most. you can buy other bowls that attach to the cage itself in most small animal sections of the pet store.
http://www.amazon.com/PETCO-Large-S...=8-4&keywords=attachable+water+bowl+for+cages


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## Minky (Apr 4, 2013)

My SuperPet water bottles have been going strong for years. I'm a big fan of them, especially because they're glass and easy to sterilize with hot water. Occasionally they will leak -- this is caused by the inner gasket not being in place. It's such an easy fix, just get a butterknife or something to poke the gasket down flat where it rests in the inside of the the metal drinking tube (hope that's clear) and boom, it forms a perfect seal. 

I've never heard of shaking the bottle to get the water moving -- maybe shaking the bottle caused the gasket to come loose?

My rats enjoy a shallow bowl of water to play in, but since they like placing objects _inside_ the water bowl, I offer them several bottles so they always have clean water.


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

annoellyn - I have one of those! =P I really like it. It makes for a really good pea diving bowl and a nice source of water. I switch it out every day that I'm home too. I just wanted a second water bottle because mine stopped working entirely. I just panicked because usually they have a water bottle and that water bowl in their cage. I didn't know their water bottle stopped working though because I spent the weekend at my boyfriend's house. 

Minky- That was actually the water bottle that I had that stopped working. How long have you had yours? I've had mine for about a year now. I'll have to poke at he metal drinking tube and see if that fixes it. I usually wash it out once a week so it is clean and there's not dirt in it. If it works again I will probably use it as my travel water bottle (which was what it was used for before before I replaced my other water bottle with that one).


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## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

I've had the glass flat back Super Pet, some other top-fill Super Pet, they both stopped working after a few months. The glass flat back started leaking and no matter how I twisted and messed with the metal part it still leaked. The top-fill was just a huge pain in the butt-- you couldnt really fill it from the top because gravity would pull it off the plastic piece that held it on the cage, which caused quite a few floods on my floor. But the one thats worked the longest for me so far is the biggest size they had from Walmart. Its huge but I have 5 ratties so it works. Its been almost 8 months since I bought it (along with the smaller one for the guinea pig which is also still working) but I really love that little dispenser!!! Definitely looking into it for when I have a better cage.


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