Dripping Water Bottles

[inzeos]

With the arrival of our two new rescues we picked up a bunch of last minute supplies at the local big box pet stores. Our first batch of water bottles both seem to leak. We tried a different brand similar volume of water with double ball bearings and they still seem to leak.

Any suggestions for a leak free system? Or consistently reliable brand of water bottles?

 

[saphire]

Most bottles need to filled up to the rim, put it on the cage with a bit of an angle and then with a quick move push in the bearing/ball or a few times to have the air move out of the cilinder. For me that worked at a high percentage.

 

[CJR]

Yeah, filling them up to the top helps A LOT.

 

[3CsMommy]

What brand of bottles? That'll help a lot in determining how to fix/start the bottles properly. (Lemme guess, Super Pet?)

 

[inzeos]

One set is a 16oz glass bottle by Super Pet.

Looks like this;

The other set I believe was from the Lixit brand. Looks similar to this bottle but with a slightly different pattern and colors.

Our two recent rescues came to us using this tyle;

Which was probably pretty in appropriate for them. Not to mention a chore to try and secure to the cage they came with and the cage we have them currently housed in.

 

[Linda]

I've used the last bottle with the straight spout for at least 15 years now. It's actually a Lixit bottle which Petco recently started selling with their logo on it. The trick with those bottles is to *not* fill it to the top. I fill them to the bottom of the threads. If filled to the rim, you will find that it sometimes doesn't give out water. A double check is to put it in the cage and then touch the tip. It should leave a drop of water on your finger.

I haven't used that bottle with chins, but they've lasted for me at least a decade each. They're well made and easy to clean. Periodically I have two issues with them -- shavings in the spout or hair getting through the spout and clogging it. Those two can occur with any bottles, but specific animals seem prone to causing those problems.

It's a good bottle if you can figure out how to rig it easily with your chins. It is also reliable when used at an angle, so some of the holders used for glass bottles (like potentially those made by Ryersons) would work with it outside the cage. It's not easily chewed either.
Linda

 

[Stackie]

I use glass Lixit bottles- http://www.lixit.com/Merchant2/merc...=30-0375-024&Category_Code=Bird_Water_Bottles

They say bird bottles but they work just the same as other bottles. I get them from Petsmart in the bird aisle. They only drip a few times after you fill them up when they form the vacuum. I am currently using 6 of the bottles, and none of them leak. I use both the 8 oz. and 16 oz.

I would not use a plastic bottle. Every plastic bottle I have used has leaked badly. Not only that, but they have been destroyed within a few days. All of them had a bite taken out of them (& they were all hanging outside the cage), rendering them useless.

I have also had problems with the glass Superpet bottles. Most of them would not allow water out, so my chins were not able to drink. Even "bouncing" them off of my palm did not work. It would work for a few minutes and then clog again.

 

[Brittney]

I have the glass Super Pet bottles. It too clogged on me, but twisting the actual nozzle while holding onto the screwing rim helped and it has not clogged up since.