# Drinking worry



## steve (Mar 13, 2011)

I'm a tad worried my two boys are not getting enough to drink , I'm told mice like to drink a lot In my new much modified RUB container I have fitted a ferplast sippy small 100cc small rodent drinking bottle. It functions perfectly, but the boys appear to be struggling with it so I'm getting worried.

I notice on many of the photos people publish quite a lot of them use drinking bowls instead of gravity bottles and I was thinking about replacing my gravity bottle with a bowl or another brand of bottle. what do you folks think?
Steve


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

I've only ever used bottles for any of my rodents...even when I had pygmy mice. I always worry with bowls about sanitation and spills.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Bucks sometimes drink next to no water. If they get whole grain and seeds that are relatively high in moisture they don't need much. It varies from mousie to mousie. Does drink a lot more than bucks, again with a lot of variation. I often change a water bottle just to put in fresh for the boys because they rarely empty theirs but I feel they should have a fresh supply.


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## NuttySian (Sep 1, 2010)

Personally I'd swap to another brand of bottle, sippys seem to confuse a lot of rodents - none of the hamsters that I tried sippys with could figure it out properly so I've not bothered with them since. Everyone now has the normal style bottles and gets on with them fine.


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## FeralWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

Stina said:


> I've only ever used bottles for any of my rodents...even when I had pygmy mice. I always worry with bowls about sanitation and spills.


I feel exactly the same! I only ever use bottles.


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

I would never use bowls for water because they very easily get soiled and can carry harfull bacteria.


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

steve, ditch these sippy bottles and buy a couple of plain Classic water bottles. These usually have red tops but can have other colours. Male mice NEED to drink a lot as they scent mark and drop urine constantly. They can get urinary tract infections or `penile plugs` if they get dehydrated, so in the meantime, put a low level dish in their cage and buy a few plain spouted bottles to hang. The dish is just temporary until they know how to drink from their bottle. Do it now!


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## steve (Mar 13, 2011)

I played safe and swapped it for a cadex drinking bottle, now i just need to stop it from dripping!!!!!. itys not easy being a mouse fancier, i either dehydrate them or drown em!!


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## racingmouse (Jan 12, 2011)

Dripping bottles can be just as bad as bottles that don`t work! They empty and the mice are (a) left without water or (b) soaked!

Buy a couple of Classic bottles. 

Fill your bottle right to the top and screw on the lid. Turn the bottle a few times and test it with your finger by tapping the ball-baring. If the water comes out freely and you notice air bubbles rising inside, the bottle is working. Keep the bottle upright and attach straight to the cage. Tap the ball baring again once it`s been hung to test it. Have TWO bottles at all times in seperate parts of the cage so that if one fails, the mice have the other one to go to. Check bottles daily, especially in warm weather.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I've ditched my water bottles,all classic,no longer the quality product they used to be.Fed up of them not working and having to replace them.x 100 cages it was an on going problem.I've changed to ceramic bowls with no resulting health issues.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

You should check to see if your bottle has a little rubber (circular ring) gasket in the lid...if it's missing the bottle will drip. I didn't realize my first water bottle needed one, and I guess it just fell out at some point and I didn't notice it, which goes to show that nothing is obvious to the uninformed.


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

Yes as moustress said about the rubber ring you must also make sure you push the drinker part with the ring attached in properly too on the sippy as it will definately leak.I wouldnt have a sippy given to be honest.I wish I could buy small enough glass drinkers but the ones you get here in the uk are too large.


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## steve (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks again folks my two lads are now slurping away merrily on a bog standard 100mil plastic hamster drip feeder.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)




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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

Mi sisters mice use a sippy, no problem.

I use a regular bottle with the rubber thing in it, but found out that I have to squeeze it before they get it in, so a little water comes out, or else there will just be air in the "pipe" and they cant get water out of it  I never experienced that with a bottle before (and I have had a lot of animals and drinking bottles), but I am defenately going to be aware of it with all my bottles from now on! That could have went really wrong.


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## Tinkers Mousery (Feb 20, 2011)

my mice didnt know how to use the sippy bottles. so i put a dish of water in and they were really thirsty. i use a mix of bowls and normal water bottles


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## geordiesmice (Oct 26, 2010)

One of my mice chewed a hole in the plastic drinker just above the drinker part last night, of course all the water leaked onto the bedding.It was a Doe with young this is not the first time its happened but every bottle she chewed was red.Could the red color make her stress like it is blood etc? She has never chewed a green or blue drinker.The bottle is attached through the lid with wire if I attach a red drinker on the wall of the tank with velcro she or her fellow Doe will pull it off every time so I dont buy red drinkers now.


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## Dragonfly-Stud (Oct 5, 2008)

SarahC said:


> I've ditched my water bottles,all classic,no longer the quality product they used to be.Fed up of them not working and having to replace them.x 100 cages it was an on going problem.I've changed to ceramic bowls with no resulting health issues.


Same here. Except I use those small yucky paste jars glued into a stainless food dish, works great they are just the right width for an adult to get their head in but narrow enough and high enough to stop spoilage except for the most persistant vandels :roll: 
Easy to clean with a nylon pastry brush too.


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## Hillcrest (Mar 28, 2011)

sometimes the new bottles just need to get broken in. When I get a new bottle I will hang it for 24 hours to see if it leaks before I put it in a cage with my hamsters or mice. If it works then it will go in and if not I have had to take them back once or twice. Also sometimes after they have drained themselves a couple of times they then don't leak any more. Not sure why. So that is just my habit to make sure it is working before I put it in. But with the hamsters (several varieties) I find that some bottles the mechinism is harder to push for the smaller varieties of hamsters so would probably be the same with mice.


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