Water Bottles Constantly Dripping, Help!

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katali

katali

Junior Guinea Pig
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Like the title says, my piggies water bottles seem to constantly leak, with makes their hutch wet. What might be the problem, or how else can I provide water please?
 
No, I currently have the basic plastic ones. I've used them before and don't remember having a problem, so I just went with them again. Are those ones better?
 
I really like these. I found the other kind kept dripping and the wire which connected them was useless!
 
Oh god this subject is the bane of my life lol I swear those bottles are one of the worst things ever created. Going to clean a cage a week later to find that the newspaper underneath is totally soaked and damp. Having to refill a bottle 3x a day wondering if your piggy really is drinking that much, only to realise the damn ball bearing is not doing it's job. Finding fungus growing ok the sides of the wooden houses due to damp conditions caused by these stupid bottles...

I have bought new ones now (the same hamster brand) and hopefully they will be good ones! I tried the 'no drip' ones they have to press but they still did because the rubber washer does not sit back in it's place properly. I have largely given up & accepted this condition of having piggies.
 
piggyfan said:
Have you tried these bottles?
Click to expand...

We don't have quite that brand but similar http://www.mammothpetsupplies.com.au/buy/sam-flip-n-fill-bottles/373 If I were in the UK I would buy the brand @piggyfan showed. These screw on water bottles are so much easier to attach and remove, you can fill up the bottle at top without removing from cage, they clean so much easier as more room to get inside and you can even put them in the top rack of the dishwasher to really sterilise, and in the 4 years I've been using them only one has ever leaked (which the shop replaced for me).
 
It can depend on how full your bottle is, what angle it is at. The little bit of wire the are supplied with is useless. Try a long tie wrap and adjust until you get the angle right and it stops, you may find it is leaning slightly, but doesn't drip. Alternatively, buy the more expensive version. Glass ones are better, but not so good if you drop them!
 
I also had this problem. I bought the one pictured above but found it still dripped! So I bought a glass living world or kaytee bottle with two balls in the mouth bit instead of one and have to say it hardly ever drips!
 
Lilly said:
We don't have quite that brand but similar http://www.mammothpetsupplies.com.au/buy/sam-flip-n-fill-bottles/373 If I were in the UK I would buy the brand @piggyfan showed. These screw on water bottles are so much easier to attach and remove, you can fill up the bottle at top without removing from cage, they clean so much easier as more room to get inside and you can even put them in the top rack of the dishwasher to really sterilise, and in the 4 years I've been using them only one has ever leaked (which the shop replaced for me).
Click to expand...

Actually, I bought 2 of these exact ones from my farm shop and they still leak! I had to return one but not the other as I lost the packaging. What happens with these is that the little white rubber washer that is in the spout, is pushed back when the animal is pressing to drink but does not go back properly to seal it again so ends up leaking. I tried to pull the spring in the spout to make more resistance but then it created much greater resistance for the piggy to push and I felt they would never be able to use it. There is either this problem or the other problem is where the spout attaches to the body and the white rubber washer between them is not large enough to create enough resistance to make a seal and you can get very heavy leaks from there. In the end I just gave up as it leaked more than the ball barring ones and went back to them.

BTW, the new ones I bought (Nobby/Classic/Crystal De-Luxe Brand), 1 is still leaking for sure as the newspaper is soaked already but I am really not sure what the problem is, whether it's the angle or the crappy wire to hold it causing too much pressure on the bottle so it never seals properly. The other is ok but I am able to (barely) have the spout over the piggies house so any leaks will just go on the house and not the bottom of the cage. As the spout is so small, it's difficult to even do this but it seems ok for the moment. I recommend never to buy these as (someone mentioned before) the angle they position the spout at is rubbish and does not really enter the cage much as it is too short. I have had nothing but problems with these and I have owned the 140/320 & 600ml ones.

I have a grey translucent one I inherited from someone I bought a cage from which is not bottle shaped but more rectangular with a rubber ducky in it to see the water level. I think it's Savic and this one is excellent and does not leak at all. I've never seen it on sale anywhere unfortunately.

I will post pictures of them later.
 
A few weeks ago, I read in a guinea pig care book that you should fill the bottles completely so that a vacuum is formed as they drink the water from it. I've tried that & it does seem, to make a big difference.
 
PiggyOinkOink said:
Actually, I bought 2 of these exact ones from my farm shop and they still leak! I had to return one but not the other as I lost the packaging. What happens with these is that the little white rubber washer that is in the spout, is pushed back when the animal is pressing to drink but does not go back properly to seal it again so ends up leaking. I tried to pull the spring in the spout to make more resistance but then it created much greater resistance for the piggy to push and I felt they would never be able to use it. There is either this problem or the other problem is where the spout attaches to the body and the white rubber washer between them is not large enough to create enough resistance to make a seal and you can get very heavy leaks from there. In the end I just gave up as it leaked more than the ball barring ones and went back to them.

BTW, the new ones I bought (Nobby/Classic/Crystal De-Luxe Brand), 1 is still leaking for sure as the newspaper is soaked already but I am really not sure what the problem is, whether it's the angle or the crappy wire to hold it causing too much pressure on the bottle so it never seals properly. The other is ok but I am able to (barely) have the spout over the piggies house so any leaks will just go on the house and not the bottom of the cage. As the spout is so small, it's difficult to even do this but it seems ok for the moment. I recommend never to buy these as (someone mentioned before) the angle they position the spout at is rubbish and does not really enter the cage much as it is too short. I have had nothing but problems with these and I have owned the 140/320 & 600ml ones.

I have a grey translucent one I inherited from someone I bought a cage from which is not bottle shaped but more rectangular with a rubber ducky in it to see the water level. I think it's Savic and this one is excellent and does not leak at all. I've never seen it on sale anywhere unfortunately.

I will post pictures of them later.
Click to expand...

Oh dear, you are having no luck with water bottles! It's too bad you can't find the "rubber ducky" ones again. The brilliant ones I use here in OZ I initially found in several pet supply shops. Then they disappeared but I was able to find them online and stocked up.I wonder if you can find these somewhere over there because OZ actually imports them from some Scandinavian country I believe.
 
Stewybus said:
A few weeks ago, I read in a guinea pig care book that you should fill the bottles completely so that a vacuum is formed as they drink the water from it. I've tried that & it does seem, to make a big difference.
Click to expand...

My book said that too - I did this with mine and found that after filling the bottles totally to the top one evening, as usual, the next morning they were still full and the piggies were going nuts trying to get the water to flow out of them - I had to release some water to get the flow moving again - really is bonkers that we can put people in space but the humble water bottle is still no further on - maybe NASA should make this their next mission? :doh:

Maybe a wee tray under the bottle would be best, then it can be emptied often and the piggies would probably enjoy licking up the spillage too.
 
I too am fed up of drippy bottles! I have the standard budget ones and they only seem to last so long before they drip a lot.I've tried the glass ones, can't remember the brand name but they are the ones with the little floating carrot in - they looked fabulous but the water bucketed out of them no matter what I tried - I read Piggyfan's comment and ordered 2 of the ferplast ones - the piggles will be testing them out later when they come in from the garden :) If this doesn't solve it then I'll follow the dish under the bottles tip!
 
The kaytee glass water bottle doesn't seem to drip at all & because of the 2 attachments doesn't slide around. Highly recommended x
 
Just a follow up report on my Sippy bottle trial - Pigwig and his wifey pigs now refuse to drink out of their other old bottle! Haha they queue up to use the sippy bottle instead - there is a bit of wetness under the bottle but i haven't noticed it dripping so I'm very glad i bought it :)
 
Veganlove said:
I too am fed up of drippy bottles! I have the standard budget ones and they only seem to last so long before they drip a lot.I've tried the glass ones, can't remember the brand name but they are the ones with the little floating carrot in - they looked fabulous but the water bucketed out of them no matter what I tried - I read Piggyfan's comment and ordered 2 of the ferplast ones - the piggles will be testing them out later when they come in from the garden :) If this doesn't solve it then I'll follow the dish under the bottles tip!
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How are the Ferplast sippy ones going? Mine (the same hamster ones I was complaining about) seem to have mostly reduced their drip so I am thinking whether this is due to the colder weather perhaps. The other one that didn't drip as much has dripped a lot last week that the cage started smelling of pee after about 2 days so I am eventually going to replace them all. I would recommend people not to save their pennies on the cheap ones as in the end you will end up spending more buying others (like me and many others on here) when you could have just bought one that worked properly in the 1st place!

**Oops I didn't appear to see your update on the Sippy bottles above this post! Ah, so then I will order them when I get some time. My piggies are very spoilt, I must spend at least £50pm on them and their bits and pieces lol
 
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