Water bottle problem

[ThyTempest]

I have been having a lot of issues with my water bottles for my rat/mouse bins. We are currently using 3 of the DIY bins from Frankykeno, and apart from our crappy bottles, they seem to work well. We are also using an old hamster cage of ours, with its own built in water bottle which works wonderfully.

My issue is that sometimes the water works fine, sometimes it is completely dry. It seems like the ball gets stuck up too far and stops the water flow, and it is too far up for the mice to fix it.

2 of the bottles def. work better than the other ( from tractor supply, the more faulty one is form Pet supplies plus). The two from TSC work just fine if I can keep them perfectly vertical, or lay the bottle kind of at a diagonal with the stem of the sipper pointed downward, but I cant get that position right on its own for the bins. The other bottle just seems to suck as I have already returned one, but without the receipt I was only able to exchange for another, big surprise, crappy water bottle.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. If I can make enough money, I am considering building a small rack, in which case I may spring the extra dough to put together a simple gravity water system with some valves. This is really frustrating me, and I am starting to wonder if the few mice we have lost even after pinky stage were because of lack of water rather than simply being sickly.

[littleindiangirl]

umm... buy a better water bottle? I've got like 3 different kinds and they all work perfect. I have mostly the super pets water bottles. Or they call them flat back? so yea

[ThyTempest]

Super pets is the one that is being a pain in the ass.....

[Somed00d]

I have no problems with my super pet glass bottle.

When it is empty does the ball move freely?

[ThyTempest]

As far as I can tell, there is no difference between full and empty.

[littleindiangirl]

How tight are you putting it on? I dunno.. my bottles work fine, and I must have a dozen of them.

[ThyTempest]

I have tried putting it on the tub so many different ways. Apparently, when I bought the first one it didnt come with the spring clip, and so, when I went to exchange it, they just switched my bottle with one from another package, so I have been left trying to rig it myself. I have 2 stiff u-loops from the other bottles, but they dont work very well and make it hard to take the bottle off to refill. I have been using zip ties to fasten it to the mesh. Now I have a peice of wood wedged at the bottom of the bottle with the zip tie more towards the top to keep it vertical, and TSC bottles work well doing this. I have tried countless things with the super pets bottle and still it doesnt work. I just went to check on the tubs a few minutes ago and again, bone dry from the blue super pet bottle. I gave it a gentle squeeze and watered the mice by hand for a good 10 minutes, all of which were very thirsty. We have hand watered a few times today and they always swarm to the bottle.

[littleindiangirl]

Are you using this one?

I have about a dozen of these bottles and they work great. If the clips don't hold it, I just wrap a rubberband around the clips a few times and it holds it up perfectly.

[ThyTempest]

No, I am using the same one as in Keno's DIY Rat Bin sticky.

[littleindiangirl]

No, I am using the same one as in Keno's DIY Rat Bin sticky.

Oh. Well I recommend it then!