not *smart* enough...

[ADEE]

to drink from water bottles? i know these three girls have always drank from water bowls and the water level hasnt really changed in two days, i just cleaned everything out and the water level is still the same sooo

[frankykeno]

Make sure the ball at the end of the water bottle spigot is actually working. Tap it rapidly to see if water will flow out. Sometimes you get a bad bottle or they shove a bit of bedding in there and it either lets the bottle drain empty or plugs it up. Sometimes too the bottle is hanging at a bad angle so that when they dry to drink not much comes out. Do make sure they are drinking as dehydration in the summer heat can hit rats very quickly.

[ADEE]

well it has leaked for me pretty well, i have a heavy bowl under it to catch the water so they cant move it and it can catch any dripping water. the bowl has been bone dry so either its evaporating or they are drinking it there.. ill have to try the ball it self and see what happens.

they are inside so the summer heat shouldnt bother them too much in the airconditioning

[ADEE]

how much water should it be letting out? it may not be putting out enough? i get a nice size drop after messing with it for a few seconds

[GirDance]

I had rats too unintelligent to use the water bowl... They used to drive me crazy with the bottles because they were very loud whenever they drank from them...

If they won't drink from it, try rubbing a *very* thin layer of smooth peanut butter on the very end where the ball is (if you put too much it will jam the ball, or could make them ill)... They may just not know there is water in there yet, and that will force them to figure it out.

[Snikt228]

I did this with my hedgehog. Took him a few days to figure it out.

Whenever he would come near the bottle I would squeeze the plastic bottle from outside the cage which forced the bottle to leak slightly until it started dripping on him. He eventually figured it out that way.