How much Vanilla?

[littleindiangirl]

I have seen several people putting vanilla extract into their rat bottles, and I have seen some that look dark as soda.

I don't know if this is general knowledge besides people that bake often, but if that water is dark, it's too much vanilla!

Go ahead and take a sip of that water when you offer it to the rats. It's bitter and very strong.

All you need is a few drops to flavor their water. No more than 1 teaspoon per 1 liter in my opinion.

The water really shouldn't changed to a dark color, and at most be a light tea color. Any darker... and I wouldn't want to drink it either.

[Seneschal]

I only put a few drops in...just enough that, when mixed, and I hold my nose over the open bottle, I can faintly smell it; it's almost never even a light tea color, though.

But this IS a good thread...>.> vanilla extract is EXPENSIVE. It's good for the ratties for the owners to know how much is too much---and good for the owners' pocketbooks!

[Hotshot]

I dont make itdark at ALL I use very lil..

[BallNation]

No need for vanilla sprinkle baking soda under your bedding.

[twh]

i've been using IMITATION vanilla for several years at the rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon of water,this works well and the water is clear looking.

i also add 2 teaspoons of bleach per 5 gallons of water and this keeps the bottes a lot cleaner.

a poster on another forum wrote that he was using real vanilla and when he recently acquired some ASFR's they would barely drink it.he was going to switch to imitation and report back but hasen't done so yet.

i have mice ,rats and ASFR's and they all drink the water that i mix without hesitation.hope that helps!

[NateDogg13]

Is there a need for vanilla? Ive never really heard of this until recently but then again Ive never really been into any rodents other than a food sourceand one that Im keeping as a pet?

[littleindiangirl]

I dont use vanilla, but there are people that claim the urine smells so bad, they need it to cut it down. My bedding takes care of most of the smell, plus I dont want the gunk, my lines dont really come apart.

I should clarify on the tea description, LOL. I had an image of diluted white tea in my head, but I didnt write it. Best for the water to still be clear like TWH and others pointed out.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

i also add 2 teaspoons of bleach per 5 gallons of water and this keeps the bottes a lot cleaner.

hold on a second. You are putting BLEACH in the water that you are giving to your rats???? To keep the bottles clean???? Your kidding right?

[twh]

no i'm not kidding,bleach is a common agent to kill bacteria in water.a well known fact.

[Beardedragon]

Canava- Diluted bleach is perfectly fine for rats, if you have some sort of water system to go along with your rack it helps keep clogging down.

I use a cap full of Vanilla ( which is about a teaspoon if that) per water bottle. When i used it for my 9 mice it didn't have any smell at all coming from their tank, but i didn't use it for my two moms with their pinks( As a just in case thing) and all the smell was coming from their tank.