Should have done this years ago..

[Ginevive]

I finally invsted in some glass/stainless steel water bottles for my rats. I have been buying about $20 in replacement plastic bottles a month it seems, from them chewing them. I filled them everyday and provided chewtoys, etc.. to no avail. These ones seem very nice; made by the Petland brand name, and they were only a few bucks more than the cheapo plastic junk.
I use tanks, so I could not place the bottles outside the tank.. except for one, where I use metal grilles as a lid.. they can't chew that sucker!

[TekWarren]

My wife just picked up a glass water bottle for her gerbil since it hangs inside. The only time I've had plastic bottles in my rodent tubs get chewed on is if the water runs all the way out, which is a rare occasion. I've made it pretty hard to get at the bottles though as they are surrounded by hardware cloth which also holds their food.

[frankykeno]

I must have odd non-chewer rats. I have all my glass maternity tanks with plastic water bottles inside and never a one chewed. They do occasionally chew a bit on the hard cap part (where the spigot comes out) but never enough to damage it badly. I do have the occasional big plastic tub chewed on a bit but since I switched to a smoother tub that seems to have stopped as well.

[Ginevive]

I wish that my rats were as well-behaved as yours But I like these glass tubes; they seem like maybe they'll be easier to sanitize at cleaning time too. But I am keeping the plastic ones for one of my females, who has never chewed hers.. maybe it's a genetic thing, and some of the offspring of the chewers, chew too!
I know that it wasn't a case of it being dry; there was a lot of water in the cage after they chewed the most recent bottle victim.

[frankykeno]

I'll have to look into these glass ones though Jen. I would think overtime even without chewing they would be more sanitary and last longer as eventually even without chewing plastic just wears out, gets yucky if you have hard water, that sort of thing.