Kaytee glass water bottle from Petsmart

[e.murphy518]

So I just got a new chinchilla kit and realized at the last minute I forgot a water bottle. So I rushed to Petsmart and bought the biggest glass one they had which is made by kaytee. My other cage has a huge super pet glass bottle and I have not had a single issue with it, even though it's a few years old. This new kaytee bottle however, has been a nightmare. It alternates between constantly dripping and not working at all. I checked it this morning and it wasn't working so I panicked thinking the new baby had gotten discouraged and stopped trying to use it. So I cleaned the tips of the bottles and switched them cause I know the super pet one works and I know my older boys will keep trying til they get water (right now that bottle is working. I have checked multiple times) anyway, just thought I would post this to 1) get out my anger 2) warn people away from this bottle and 3) ask for suggestions for a new one? I need a really reliable bottle.

Also as soon as I put the different bottle in with the baby he drank for like 5 min straight I'm glad I am paranoid and can't go to sleep or leave the house without checking the water bottles or my poor little boy could've gotten dehydrated!

:hair::banghead::tantrum:

 

[javachin]

I hate Kaytee products. I have been buying Lixit brand without any problems.

 

[e.murphy518]

I just ordered a Lixit bottle online, hopefully that comes quickly so I can return this piece of junk to Petsmart. For now I am just continuously checking the bottle every couple of hours to make sure water is coming out and I am marking the water level to make sure they are drinking.

 

[3CsMommy]

So far, I haven't heard of a single Kaytee product for animals that wasn't a piece of junk, way overpriced, or downright dangerous. :/ Sorry you got stuck in that situation.

I like the Lixit parrot bottles when I have to have a sipper tube. Otherwise, I get Nivek rabbit bottles (w/ a valve, not the bearings) and just wrap them in hardware cloth to keep the plastic from getting nibbled. Valves are a lot more reliable than sipper tubes ime, and the "clink clink clink" in my bedroom drives me bananas.

 

[akane]

I stick with lixits and critter canteens. I have some lixits that are pushing 10 years old both glass and plastic.

 

[chinsNdobermans]

I've always had very good luck with my Lixit bottles - I have several that I got in 2007 that are still going strong.

 

[EternallyCynical]

I had the same issue with a Kaytee bottle! I thought the one my chin came with was drippy, but the one I bought to replace it (a small glass Kaytee bottle) was WAY WORSE. It dripped non stop. I don't think I even wound up mounting it to the side of the cage for use because it WOULD NOT STOP DRIPPING. There was water everywherrrrrrrre..... >.< It was awful. Its just kinda sitting around now since the one I've got is perfect compared to that mess of a bottle......

 

[e.murphy518]

Yeah the whole water bottle ordeal was so unnecessarily stressful and annoying. My two older boys' cage has a huge super pet bottle that they came with. It has worked for the whole year that I have had them, always been 100% fine. Then I got the new baby chin, and I was forced to buy the Kaytee bottle for him because it was the one thing I forgot to get ahead of time. That bottle went from incessant dripping, to not letting out water. So I switched their bottles knowing that the older boys would just keep trying until water came out (I still checked all bottles constantly). Then around 1 day later, the Kaytee bottle was working fine in the big boys' cage, but the formerly reliable super pet bottle wasn't working in the babys cage! So, I ordered a new lixit bottle from drsfosterandsmith.com, there was a mix up with that so they sent me two, and while those bottles were shipping both of the old bottles magically started to work perfectly. So, I now have 4 working glass water bottles, two on each cage just in case there is another break down of the inferior brands, and I am ridiculously paranoid checking them like 4 times a day.


Good news is the lixit bottles have not dripped at all and always work. So anyone looking for a reliable bottle I would go with that brand, decently priced on the above mentioned website. On the site it came up in the search but it didn't really say lixit on the web page, it just said glass econo bottle or something to that effect, but it is the lixit brand, it says it on the packaging when it comes. If anyone wants it I can post a link

 

[my3esses]

I have one sitting here to go back too. I bought a super pet when we got our chin but its pretty small so when we were going to be away a few days I picked up a larger one but it was Kaytee brand. Didn't think it would be any different. Ended up not being able to use it because it leaks constantly.

I still need to get something a little larger - I change water often but if we are away for a few days I don't want to worry about her running out.

 

[Lanette001]

Sorry for posting in an old thread... but I wanted to comment. I had the same problem. I was using a plastic water bottle, it came with the starter cage. (Now I have an FN 182 and no more starter things.)

Anyway, I bought the kaytee glass bottle because it was the only glass bottle in stock at the store and I thought glass was better than plastic.

I got it home, installed it, looked proudly at it and was disappointed. It was constantly dripping. I emailed Kaytee and they said they would give me my money back, but I could not find my receipt. So, they mailed me a $10 coupon instead. They also sent me a prepaid envelope so I could ship the bottle to them so they could look at it. I used the $10 coupon on another bottle and this one works very well.

It was a successful encounter with Kaytee at least.

 

[e.murphy518]

I ordered glass lixit bottles because I have heard of their reliability, but decided to keep the kaytee bottle as well so that there are multiple bottles on each cage just in case. I discovered that if you fill it up ALL the way, like to the very rim of the bottle, it appears to work every time. Just a suggestion if anyone ends up having these problems again.

Congrats on getting a coupon from kaytee! At least they acknowledged their fault in the matter

 

[akane]

Ball valve bottles work on a vacuum so yes you need to fill them all the way and you should use water the same temp as where you are putting the bottle. They will leak some otherwise. Sometimes tapping the ball a few times will stop the leaking when you first fill them and put back on the cage. You can also buy various sizes of rubber washers at big hardware stores if you take the cap in and match it up. On the other hand if the bottle is not putting out enough water not filling it all the way and removing any rubber washers can let smaller animals drink out of an otherwise difficult bottle.

I might switch all of our chins to the lever valve top fill lixit bottles we bought for the outdoor rabbits which were all sold last fall. They rarely leak because they don't work on a vacuum. Failure of those bottles is usually because something got jammed in the valve or the nuts got loosened that sandwich the valve on. Both problems can be easily fixed. Plus you don't have to take them off the cage to fill them.

 

[e.murphy518]

I didn't realize at first that you had to fill them that way, there is a "maximum fill line" on the kaytee bottles that is much farther down the bottle. You would think they would know the science behind their product and label it correctly. Thanks for the info!

 

[lowdilowdi]

Hello,

A common mistake people make with water bottles is screwing the lid on too tight, with some bottles loosening it will make a huge difference.
I have a glass water bottle I got from the tiny pet store by my house, (it's got a ducky inside it to show how high the water level is) I have had the same problem you are describing here but I stopped screwing the lid on so tight and problem solved! I hope this helps.

Heidi

 

[chinchillachris]

My Kaytee bottle had been dripping for a while. Luckily I tried the suggestion of filling it up all the way to the top and now it's stopped! The reason I wasn't filling it to the top before, is printed on all Kaytee glass bottles, about two inches below the top is a big red line that has the words MAXIMUM FILL LINE above it. So people like me assume not to fill it past that line...but actually Kaytee dosn't seem to know that their product will leak when filled only to that line!

 

[akane]

If you have an only slightly leaky bottle that you wouldn't mind continuing to use you can set a brick, porous tile (chillers would probably work), or sterilized porous enough rock under it. A chunk of texas holey rock (a formation of limestone) from aquarium stores works well. The material will absorb some liquid and release it back in to the air without getting the bedding wet. Always did it with guinea pigs because they drink insane amounts of water and play with their bottles so there's always some spilling. Some got on hay they had pulled out of the hay rack and we failed to notice until too late. Lost a boar to toxic fungus. The vet tried to operate but his intestines were bloated and either necrotic or swollen. She couldn't do anything so it's probably best he didn't wake from the anesthesia.

 

[e.murphy518]

Chinchillachris, I was thinking about writing an email or searching for a phone number to call and mention that to them. It is kind of unbelievable that they would design a product and put it on the market with no idea how it works

Akane, that's a really good suggestion I never would have thought of! I might look for rocks to buy like that just in case mine start leaking again

 

[chinchillachris]

That sounds like a great idea e.murphy.518! I myself may also send one to them as well