If you do get the automatic watering stuff, NEVER have a loose or wild rat/mouse near your rack! I gave up on the auto waterers when a wild mouse kept chewing the lines! I lost a couple of colonies of rats because he would chew the lines and flood the tubs! Best case would be chewing the lines and flooding the floor! 5 gallons doesn't seem like a lot until you have to clean it up a couple of times!