Sudden water bottle avoidance.

[Maddii.Maddii]

My 3 boys have suddenly started avoiding their water bottles!

I've had 2 355ml Living World glass water bottles (photo attached) in their cage for almost 2 months now with no issues. I cleaned them out 2 days ago throughly with only water, Qtips and rice (to clean out the inside) and I noticed the next morning they hadn't touched the water. Usually half of one or both of the bottles is gone by the morning for me to rinse them and refill them again.

After seeing they hadn't been drinking I placed a water bowl in their cage and they were drinking out of it but still avoiding the bottles!

I've rinsed them about 3 times each last night, but today still none of them are touching them. They all generally drink while eating pellets, but without the water bowl, they sniff the water bottle and run away.

I've also attached photos of their outdoor (balcony) and indoor current setups. They spend about 70% of the time indoors and this indoor setup is only while we're currently building a custom home for them.

I have no idea what could be causing this, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[5StarPigs]

Maybe there could be bacteria growing in the bottles or nozzles that you are simply not seeing. I would reccomend buying a bottle brush, (these can be found at most pet stores or online shops) and while refilling your bottles daily scrub the bottle part with the bigger brush part and the nozzle with the smaller brush part. While scrubbing with the bottle brush please dont use any soaps to clean, just some water. Or it could also be that the bottles arent working properly or are old, you could go out and buy more living world bottles to replace the other ones.

 

[Maddii.Maddii]

I'll give that a try! Thank you.

 

[5StarPigs]

Your welcome, also you might want to read my reply again as i have edited it and added more

I'll give that a try! Thank you.

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Have you checked the balls inside the bottles to see if they’ve jammed? I had that twice with the living world bottles (I think grime must build up in there and stops them moving) so the pigs stopped trying to drink from it because they couldn’t get anything out. I’d think it’s unlikely to be the case as it’s all 3 but though I’d mention it as it’s happened to us!

 

[Maddii.Maddii]

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked and they're working totally fine
Since I throughly cleaned it with Qtips the nozzles haven't been leaking, but when I tap them they still release plenty water. It's almost like the piggies prefer a dirty bottle haha!