Advice wanted, Water Bottle "debate" with a friend..

[Brittany_Lynn]

So my friend has a pet rabbit, I went over to her house the other day and the water bottle was pretty low--I asked her if Mr. Bunns usually drinks that much in a day, if my friend had only filled it halfway to monitor, or if some had spilled. Well apparently my friend only fills the water bottle after the rabbit has finished almost all of the water--I asked her how often she refills it, she said about ever 4 or 5 days (it IS a big water bottle), and Mr. Bunns is never without water, BUT I started arguing with her about the uncleanliness of the water bottle. She said that she doesn't understand what the big deal is, it's water in a closed container.
I asked - "Would you drink out of the same water bottle for 4 days?"
"I do all the time."
"Ew, gross...well anyway I read online that you should change it everyday, are you sure you aren't just being lazy?"
"Well *I* read that you can give chinchillas raisins, and we all know how you feel about that. Give me some documented proof and we'll talk about it. For now, Mr. Bunns has enough water for another day and a half, so butt out."
:eyeroll:
Can anyone help me out here, or does my friend have a point?

 

[Stackie]

Algae can begin to grow in a water bottle that has had stagnant water for awhile..though it depends on the amount of light the water bottle receives, temperature of the water, etc.

 

[toxxxic.kitten]

I don't change my bunny's water bottle everyday and he doesn't drink that much either so it lasts him quite awhile. If the water isn't disgusting looking then I just top it off with new cold water. I have a medium sized water bottle for him, which is plenty because he's a Netherland Dwarf and isn't that big really.

I still clean my bunny's water bottle though and dump out the old water every few days or so just because I wouldn't want to drink water that's room temperature for several days. It doesn't get that disgusting really since they are in a room with a very small window which is blocked off from a lot of light getting into the room anyways.

 

[Andrea]

I change the water in the bottle every day and I give filtered water but only because I myself would not drink even day old water and definitely not from the tap. Why should it be different for my pets? Plus how long does it take to actually switch the water...a few minutes? Four days seems like awhile to me but I guess I might be a bit odd in that regard

 

[Jazicat]

If the bottle is slimy at all it is because of bacteria growing. In my opinion there is no a little bit disgusting and would change the water more often.

ETA I also only use bottled water because our city water has too many chemicals.

 

[ticklechin]

I change my water every day, there was a debate here about it and those if us who did were told it was excessive.

 

[GorillaJTA]

I at least dump out the old water and refill, even if I am in a hurry. Depending on how much time I have, I will rinse the bottle out and maybe scrub it. Depending on the ball type, if they still have food particulates on their tongue, it could get backwashed back into the bottle- providing food for bacteria and lots of little beasties.

 

[Essentia]

I dump and refill bottles everyday, and then scrub every 3 days.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I change off water bottles when they are empty which is anywhere from 1 to 3 days depending on the cage. Each cage gets a freshly cleaned water bottle with filtered water to replace it, I don't refill bottles. If I took every bottle off to wash and clean every day, that is all I would do with my days.

 

[Narcissus]

I refill water bottles every day with fresh water. Every third day I clean cages and take all water bottles and disinfect them in the dishwasher (i use a bottle brush on them before they go into the dishwasher. But..... That's just me

 

[Megan]

I wash/refill when empty on the 3 cages that have bottles. The rest are on a watering system and I wash and take apart the containers every so often. They are refilled every 2 days when they get low.

 

[Pikaia]

I will admit I don't change my water everyday. They drink so little, maybe I should get smaller water bottles. I do change every few days, because I don't want them going too long. When I do this, I scrub and wash bottles. I buy jugs of water and filter with a PUR system. Our city water is so bad- it smells like mold constantly. I wouldn't dare give them this water even if it was filtered. It just grosses me out.

 

[Maia]

I do give fresh filtered water every 4 days or so, and I scrub the glass bottle every week. To be honest, he doesn't drink enough for me to feel like he needs a cleaned and filled bottle daily. If that sounds bad, I'm sorry, but that's just my POV. Ultimately your friend will do with her bunny what she feels is right. As long as he is well taken care of, and has food and water at all times, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Spoof]

Mine are all on a watering system, I swap out the containers weekly during cleaning and flush the lines every couple months.

Personally, I will drink out of a water bottle until the water is gone, wether it be a day or a week. I also re-fill them at work and continue to use them for a few weeks.

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

I only fill the water bottle up about halfway- it just seems like a waste of water to fill it up all the way. With some types of bottles though, I know they need to be filled all the way to develop the air bubble.
I clean & refill with filtered water, about every 2 days. I do a "wiggle test" throughout the day, on the bottle, just to make sure I haven't sprung a leak. That happened once and I'm still paranoid.

 

[fanofdmb84]

I clean bottles and replace the water when they get close to empty. My bottles are glass and don't get slimy at all (plastic bottles always seemed worse in that regard). I also keep a jug of filtered water in a cupboard for refilling bottles because I like to use room temp water, the bottles seem to drip less that way.

I would rather "go green" and not waste all that water constantly changing water that's perfectly fine. I also don't throw away pellets just because they have been in the bowl overnight.

I have a huge travel mug of water next to the bed...I drink out of that all week. It's protected from dust and flying fur, and that's fine with me.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

I would rather "go green" and not waste all that water constantly changing water that's perfectly fine. I also don't throw away pellets just because they have been in the bowl overnight.

That's a good point, perhaps I over reacted. :X (I feel bad calling her lazy now...better apologize! That was just because of the person she is, though, I don't mean to say that anyone who doesn't change their water daily is Lazy, that would be ridiculous for the ranchers and breeders to do anyway!)

I do that with pellets, I don't like throwing stuff away just because it's been out overnight, but I like to give them fresh water everyday. Just my thing!
Interesting to see all these different ways of changing water bottles, thanks everyone for replying! :dance3:

 

[3CsMommy]

I top up during the day if necessary, but I don't do a full change daily. Usually every other day they get dumped and rinsed out with hot water and refilled, but sometimes it's every two days depending on how I work. On Sundays I do a sterilize wash/rinse w/ vinegar water and then refill w/ boiled tap water run through a Brita pitcher (if I don't have R.O. & UV Light treated bottled water on hand).