My bunnies aren’t using water bottles…

[elle.em.gee]

Hi! I have two new young adult dwarf mix bunnies. I adore them! I’m worried though… they don’t seem to "get" how to use their water bottles… I have two in their pen but they’re not drinking from them. When I put a crock in there they drink thirstily! I’ve tried putting honey on the tips but that didn’t work. They make a mess of the crock so I really want to get them on the bottle…

Has anyone ever heard of this? It can’t be that their little tongues aren’t strong enough, right? I mean, hamsters use these things…

 

112523948071.jpg
112523955854.jpg

[Scarlet_Rose]

Cute pictures! Hmm, they may not be used to them, have you tapped it with your finger while they watch and see the water come out? I am a fan of crocks myself as rabbits tend to drink more out of them. It could be that they have never seen such a things before either and it takes some getting used to. How big are the ones that you have? I can’t believe they weren’t interested with a bit of honey though. Hmm.

[ScooterandAnnette]

Our youngest took quite a while to figure out how to use the water bottle. It was like she’d try but just couldnlt get anything out of it – I’m not sure if she expected it to just magically spout water or what. We kept a bowl of water in her cage for her and she was fine with that until she got the hang of the bottle.

[Lion-O's Mamma]

When I first got Lion-O he couldn’t figure out his water bottle either. (Seems this is fairly common?) I put a bowl of water on the floor and held his water bottle above it and stuck my figers in the bowl. Then when he’d sniff my fingers I would lift them to the water bottle and make the water come out. The first couple of times he licked the water bottle and made water come out it scared the heck out of him and he ran across the room. LOL Poor guy! Anyway, he eventually got the hang of it, though I still catch him stuffing his head into glasses to drink whatever’s in them if I sit on the couch and leave my glass on the floor. LOL He almost got himself stuck one day….

P.S. CUTE BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sarita]

Cute buns.  I only use water crocks or bowls – they really are more natural for the rabbit to use.  I suggest to use them as that as what the buns prefer.  I would see if you can find one of the crocks that attach to the pen or cage.

Like this:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm

Get this larger size though – these are really great!  It might help eliminate the messiness factor and still allow the rabbits to use the bowls like they prefer.

[babybunsmum]

sweet!  sarita, i’ve never come across crocks like that in my travels.  Baby has a water bottle simply because she perches & pees in any crocks placed in her cage regardless of whats in them.  these would take care of that problem for sure. 

verrry cute buns!!!

[elle.em.gee]

Thanks for the advice everybody!

I did try showing them w/my fingers. And with the honey, they just licked it off w/o managing to move the ball enough to get water!! Are my bunnies weird? They have very bitty tongues, these are about 3 – 3.5 lb buns. Teensy!

I am def going to try one of these big, attaching crocks – thanks for the link!

[MooBunnay]

I would also recommend the larger crocks, I find them pretty easy to use and my bunnies seem to prefer them.  I’ve also found that there are these petmate water dishes like shown in the link below that some of my bunnies use – though one pair of my bunnies decided to chew on the plastic instead!  Make sure to get hard plastic items because if its the softer plastic, the buns might eat it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_hg/002-8396003-0860856?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=petmate+water

[Author]

Messages