Cleaning Water Bottles

[JackRabbit]

I’m trying to figure out if I’m doing too much, too little, or just right with bunny things like cleaning water bottles, salad prep, etc. so I thought I’d look to the experts (BBers!) for help.   For those of you with bunnies who use water bottles:

1.  How often do you wash/sterilize the bottles and how often do you just rinse them out really well?

2.  What do you use to wash or sterilize them (dish soap, vinegar, etc)?

Thanks!

[LongEaredLions]

I don’t use water bottles for my bunnies, but for my guinea pigs I:
-Empty, rinse, and refil bottle every day
-Once a week I use vinegar, dish soap, a bottle brush, and rice(really works) to clean the bottle
-Once a month, I run them through the dishwasher
-Every three months, I clean with bleach.

[bunnygirl]

Oooh you can use warm water, water and vinegar and a bottle brush OR an old toothbrush. Please make sure it’s an old one though

Have you always used bleach LEL? I’d be frightened of leaving residue behind…am I paranoid? :/

[BlueMoods]

I bleach only if there was a sick rabbit in the cage, otherwise vinegar and hot water do a good enough job but, if bleach makes you feel better, it’s fine as long ans you rinse it very well. Even if a trace of residue were left, it would be less chlorine than is in most city water supplies and, wouldn’t hurt a rabbit.

[LopNessMonster]

What BlueMoods said. While you certainly wouldn’t want to take a swig of bleach, you can actually use 1/4 teaspoon in a gallon of water to sanitize it in an emergency and make it safe for drinking so as long as you rinse everything well I think any residue should be fine (if there even is any, household bleach is fairly dilute to begin with)

[LongEaredLions]

I use a 9 part water, 1 part bleach solution to let the bottles sit in. Then I soak them in clear water for several hours before rinsing vigorusly and laying out in the sun to dry. The majority of harmful chemicals in bleach evaporate, so leaving them out in the sun to dry is good to kill more germs and any residue. It should smell clean, but not like bleach.

[JackRabbit]

I normally use original Dawn dish soap and hot water along with a bottle brush, but added the white vinegar last night (hmmm, white vinegar significantly reduces Dawn suds).  Can I just use vinegar, hot water, and bottle brush or should I keep the Dawn in the mix?

Also, what about cleaning the spout (I use glass bottles with metal spout — SuperPet and Kaytee brand bottles)?  I’d love to just throw everything in the dishwasher but don’t know how clean that will get the spouts (right now I use pipe cleaners or a small bruch to clean those at the same time as the bottles).

I’m sure I’ve been a bad bunny mom, but I’ve been rinsing the bottles every evening (rinse each 5-7 times) but only washing every other weekend.  If anybunny had been sick I would have done more often.  Is this definitely not often enough?

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