Water bottle problems

I need some ideas to help solve my water bottle problems. I keep having the bedding get up too high by the water bottle and so it leaks the water out. It's like this in both the 10 gallon glass tanks and the big tubs for grow outs. I am using a mixture of Equine Fresh and aspen. I do not put very much in, just enough to cover the bottom. But they seem to either push it all over to the bottle or use that area as the bathroom area. I've even tried moving the water bottle on the 10 gallon tanks to the other side and they do the same thing.

I like the Equine fresh as it soaks up the wetness, but I'm thinking maybe that's the problem. It soaks it up then expands.

Also I'm afraid to make the bottle any higher as then the babies wouldn't be able to drink from it. How high off the ground should the sipper be? And if your "ground" keeps getting higher what do you do? lol

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks so much!

I had the same problem...what i did was just tilt the bottle sideways so instead of hanging straight down, it now hangs at a 45 degree angle....kind of like


| | <---original position

/ / <--new position

lol hope that helps.

Do you have a picture? sounds like you are using the wrong size bottle. the top of the bottle should be just short of touching the tob, and the nozzle of the bottle should be like 2 inches off the ground.

My issue was too small a tank...I have 2 8 gal tanks for growing out until I start producing serious numbers.

why not raise the water bottle and put a hunk of wood under it so the babies can still reach it, just make sure its big enough that the rats can't move it around. they'll still chew on it so your gonna need to sanitise it when you clean out cages.

absolute worst case scenario...put the bottle on the very top and create a platform using a box or wood. No worries, they can climb as soon as their eyes open up.

I have the best fix for the water battle problem with ASF in a 10 gallon tank
tomorrow is cleaning day so i will get pic's of the BEST SET UP i think
i will get some step by step pic to

Jamie

Thanks for all the advice. I'll try out some different stuff too see what works best.

As for the bottle size in the 10 gallon tanks, they are 12oz glass bottles. The tubs have 32 oz plastic (outside of tub with just sipper in tub).

I'll try raising them up as I think maybe I've had them too low thinking the babies couldn't reach. Probably why the adults look funny trying to drink out of them as well. lol

Thanks again all for the advice and I'd love to see some pictures bulldog. :)

well i was using the water bottles for a bit but the lil buggers keep eating them so i Came up with this
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52080.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52081.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52073.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52070.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52075.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52074.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52076.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...R/SSA52077.jpg

Thank you for posting the pictures. Only if I had the skills. :D

I do think by just looking at the pictures your nozzles are positioned higher than I've been doing it. So that in itself is most likely my problem. lol

I've already raised the bottles on the 10 gallon tanks as the holder can just be bent in a different place. I'll have to try to figure out something different for the tubs as I'd have to make new holes and find a way to block the old ones. Or just buy new tubs. lol

Thanks again!

only problem with that scenario is that hoppers can fit through 1/2" mesh with little effort. So if there are any gaps around those waterers.....they better be very small.

another option:

http://www.egerbil.com/waterbottles.html