How do medium sized breeders do it?

I know my bedding would just plug the drain hole when it got wet, I wouldn't see it helping.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

I know my bedding would just plug the drain hole when it got wet, I wouldn't see it helping.

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Then theres that

It will some, but it should drip out enough to keep a cage from totally flooding out, hopefully enough to just have a soaking wet colony instead of a drowned and dead one. I've been thinking about that part also. If it does stop it up too much, I'll try putting the hole on the side instead. If none of this works, I may start playing with the design of some lab racks that are built with the water nozzles on the outside of the bin so if the nozzles drip, it doesn't drip into the cage anyways.

I think you may be over-thinking a solution to handle the problem when it may be simpler to address fixing the problem. Valve leak for very few reasons 1-Dirt 2-Mineral Buildup 3- Diaphragm or O-Ring worn out.

These are pretty easy to handle for option 1 an in-line filter (will set you back about $5) option 2 is probably the most pricey fix you could buy RO or Distilled water or you could buy a home RO unit ($150-2k+ keep in mind these will need atleast annual filter replacement and biannual membrane replacement aka more $$) and with 3 the valves should last long enough that spending a few bucks buying some extra internal parts should keep you set for years.

Dont get me wrong I switched from using valves back to bottles because I decided I would rather waste 30 minutes a day filling bottles than worrying about leaks. If you though are dead set on wanting to use valves (honestly a more time efficient way of watering a colony) you may want to stop thinking about things like putting leaking valves outside of the tubs somehow and start thinking about preventing leaks in the first place.

I don't think you'll ever solve all the leaks, they're going to happen...ever seen rats build a nest up to the top of the cage under a water bottle causing it to leak? I've even seen a rat taking a piece of bedding and trying to jam it into a variflow valve...maybe I shouldn't say trying, it was a successful attempt. Why? Who knows. I do know I'm not the only person who has ever had those problems. O-rings or the little flanges in variflows get old and wear, it happens, I've got some that I've been using that are twenty years old now. The newest variflows I have I would have bought somewhere around 2000-2002 at the latest and I cleaned one out a few days ago that still had an original o-ring in it. I think that shows they can be great for a long time, but still, they are mechanical and can fail. I'm still curious with the new reptile basics valve how long they will last on average.

I don't think I'm over thinking anything though, we've got a good mouse trap, but why not continue to improve on it? (Even though there is a better one out there already...referring to the ones made with valves outside the box)

What you're talking about are ways to help cut down on the chances of valves leaking. I want to take it to a different place where even if the valves leak, the cages aren't in harm of flooding out. I'm not going back to filling 60-80 water bottles, right now I have lines running off of water jugs so if something does happen, there's a limited amount of water/cages that can be flooded. Once I have things in place, whichever direction I decide to go to do it, where cages flooding out competely is no longer possible, I'm tying back into a water line with a pressure regulator. Thats the end goal, rodents will be safe and I won't be filling bottles or jugs either one.