Water Bottle Chewing

[rosie_b]

 I’m not sure why she does it but it drives me insane. My bunny has a watter bottle – one of those bottles that hang on the side of the cage with the stainless steel nozzle and the stainless steel balls to control leaking. Instead of licking the nozzle to release water (which all my previous rabbits seemed to know how to do automatically), she bites the tip of the nozzle.. and she bites it hard. Sometimes she even shakes the thing when it’s in her mouth and it causes the whole cage to rattle. I’m scared that her biting it is causing harm to her teeth, too.

Is there anything I can do to stop this behaviour? I’m completely stumped. Rosie is kept in my room (we have a dog that doesn’t get along with other animals and no other space in the house for her) and when she hops in her cage in the middle of the night to take a drink it drives me absolutely bonkers. I’ve tried to get her to drink from a dish instead but she won’t go anywhere near it. The bottle is the only way she will drink. I’m desperate!

[Stickerbunny]

She may be biting it because it doesn’t let the water out fast enough if she just licks it. Uhm. If she won’t drink from a bowl, not sure what you can do to stop it… you don’t want to use anti-chew techniques since then she won’t go for water at all. :s

[manic_muncher]

I agree, it sounds like the water isn’t coming out fast enough for her. Is the tube one of those skinnier ones, like you would see on “small critter” bottles or one of the larger sized ones, like for puppies? If it’s the smaller size, I’d try getting a bigger nozzle.

[Beka27]

Does she have toys in her cage also? It might also be a “boredom” behavior.

My first thought is to give her a bowl (this is a more natural way for them to drink), but you say she won’t drink out of it. How long did she have access to the bowl? Do you still put it in with her? If she only had it for a day or two, I would go ahead and put it back in. It might take her days/weeks to realize that it’s there as a drinking option. Rabbits sometime take awhile to come around to new things. To bring her attention to the bowl, you might try sticking a few stalks of parsley in there, or another veggie she really loves (when she doesn’t have other “dry” veggies to choose from).

My Max was a LOUD water bottle drinker. It was just his style. If Meadow used the bottle, she took silent, delicate, little sips. Max, on the other hand… you could hear him drinking from across the house! I always had a bowl AND water bottle in their pen. Max preferred the bottle, Meadow prefers a bowl. Even now with Max gone, I still have both in there… the bottle is a back-up.

Aside from possibly getting a bigger bottle (which might or might not work because she’ll still be able to clank it on the cage!), I’m not sure what else to suggest besides continuing to transition her to a bowl… or just learning to deal with it.

 

 

 

EDITED:  Another thing that just came to mind… make sure the bottle is positioned HIGH enough.  They should have to stand up against the bars (or sit very upright) to drink.  If they have to crouch down and turn their head to the side to get to the nozzle, it’s too low.

 

I googled some water bottle pics… This bottle is at the right height for this rabbit, although a little bit higher would be fine.  The rabbit would just have to stand up against the bars.

This water bottle, based on the size of the rabbits, is way too low to drink comfortably.

 

 

(These pics were on the first page when I googled “rabbit water bottle position” images.)

 

[rosie_b]

Thank you all for your replies.

Rosie has numerous toys in her cage and all around our room and she does play with them so I highly doubt she’s bored. She has had access to a bowl and the bottle since she came home with me on the ninth of August. I will try putting some veggies in there to bring her attention to it. Hopefully that works.

The bottle is positioned fairly high in the cage. At least as high as I can position it. She continues to bite and pull on it.

As for the size of the nozzle, it’s not necessarily large enough for a puppy but definitely not too small. She is in fact a small rabbit, but her bottle is rather medium sized.

[manic_muncher]

Thanks for that, Beka!  -moves water bottle- 

[Beka27]

OH MY GOODNESS! I just realized the second bunny in the NIC condo picture I posted ISN’T A BUNNY!!!!! I didn’t pay too much attention! LMAO!!!

[Beka27]

Can you take a picture of her in the cage and her in relation to the water bottle so we can see the size and height?

If you need to move it higher, you can also position most water bottles outside the cage with just the tip sticking through. That would let you have the bottle higher.

[Beka27]

 Sorry for the multiple posts…

I kept looking around online and I remembered the “Lixit” brand bottle.  Some of them have a more substantial mount and you attach outside of the cage… Here’s a picture.

So that might be another option to look into…

[rosie_b]

Of course – I will update with photos when I get back home tomorrow. Mom is bunny-sitting.. hopefully this turns out okay!

[Author]

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