Frozen Water Bottles

[The Haven Rabbitry]

Hello All,

I am in VA, where is it FREEZING right now! My bunnies are happy but my water bottles keep freezing. Any good suggestions? I do not want to use an automatic watering system (I like to see how much each of my rabbits are drinking). The only problem is the bottles keep freezing up.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[SNM]

Are you filling the bottles up with warm water?? this will delay the freezing of the water

 

[mekkispets]

I have an extra bottle for each hutch I keep changing them over and thawing and refilling.Time consuming but I really dont think anything else works Ive tried socks etc but it didnt work.

 

[kwilds]

Bowls.

I live in Canada where it drops below freezing in November and doesn't thaw again until March! I use bottles through the warm months but as soon as they start freezing I switch to bowls. I have a bunch of little dog bowls with the wide bottoms so they can't tip them easily.

If the bottle freeze they can break and start leaking.

Karin

 

[wooly_queen]

I live in northern, Michigan...I never use water bottles... they drive me crazy. They freeze in the winter and sometimes they crack open.

I use metal bowls... I can hit them against the metal stand that the cages are on and break up the ice. Thawing the water bottles to me just took way to long to do. I don't know how many rabbits you have, but it really stunk when I had to do it for about 10 of them years and years ago and I couldn't imagine doing it for the 30 that I have right now. lol

 

[TCRabbitry]

Filling them with warm water will take them longer to freeze... Also, adding apple cider vinegar to the water will make it less likely to freeze as well....

Because the vinegar has a different chemical make up than water, it takes longer to freeze....

 

[The Haven Rabbitry]

Thanks everyone! I do put warm water in them, but by the time I get home from work, they are frozen anyways. I will try the bowls and see if that works. Has anyone had problems with the rabbits not being able to drink from the bowls since they've always used water bottles??

Appreciate the feedback. I currently have 5 rabbits.

 

[Suz]

I got a heated water bowl from Amazon.com. Best money I've spent so far on Muppet. I also bang the ice out of her regular crock in the mornings and fill it with lukewarm water. I do this because she didn't want to use the new heated bowl at first, so she would just lick the ice in the crock. But she eventually gave in. That's probably what you'll have to go through switching from bottles to bowls too. If water is available and they are thirsty enough, they will drink.

 

[SNM]

Heated water botter/bowls sounds like the best solution for you. bunnyrabbit.com has some but they cost a pretty penny unless you get a good deal

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

Fill the bottles up half way at night, and in the morning fill them up the rest of the way with hot water.

 

[mistyjr]

I have switched to bowls/ crocks now! And alot of breeders that I know also use bowls/crocks. It's easier to use and the rabbit can water better then a bottles.

 

[Nela]

I'm using both. Lol. I'd rather they have more than not enough. The bowls do work better though for the immediate butmy bunnies like their bottles.

 

[maxysmummy]

i saw some heated water bottles on a rabbit website, i think it was called rabbit mart?

from the small picture it looked like you just plug them in and they keep the water warm so it doesnt freeze.

 

[woahlookitsme]

As far as switching from bottles to bowls i haven't found a problem. The problem is switching from bowls to bottles. It can be hard for a bunny to figure out so if they start to get used to the bowls never switch immediately to bottles again. Always give them an option and see who uses what.

 

[Blaze_Amita]

I use both all winter. Last winter They had bottles one day, and bowls the next. the bottles were never more than 2/3 full so they didn't split and I could literally wash the bowls out every other day with hot water and soap.
This year I've gone to taking down the bottles every night and letting them thaw out in my bathtub(only place large enough for 30+ water bottles) topping them back off in the morning with hot water so it's warm when it goes outside. I hang the bottles while my horses' grain soaks(bring out hot water for that too) and then as the horses are eating I feed and check over all the bunnies usually the horses have wandered off from the barn after eating and I get back to them later. I know by the time I get home from work, if they aren't frozen, they aren't going to freeze. I get out of work anywhere from 2 to 4 am, home half hour later.

 

[The Haven Rabbitry]

I have been using heat lamps on them and they have been staying unfrozen. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Tasha93x]

I've had the same problem the past few weeks, it's such a pain!
However I'm basically going out every hour or so and refilling with warm water as this seems to delay freezing. I'm also going to purchase 3 more spare bottles this weekend so I can bring 3 fresh ones out to my rabbits and take the frozen ones away to defreeze them!
Oh and I also give the bunnies a small bowl of water as somehow they seem to take longer to freeze.

 

[The Haven Rabbitry]

Unfortunately I am not home all day. The heat lamps seem to be taking care of the problem. Keeps the water from freezing.

 

[pintoluver112104]

I use heated water bottles all winter. I got them from my local Agway in Connecticut and I think they cost $15 a piece. It's a little expensive but at least my bunnies have water

 

[canadagirl]

Alright....I have like 30 some rabbits outside in 14 different cages. My weather here is far below freezing from november to march. Water bottles do not work. The end freezes too fast and the rabbits do not get enough water. Plus when they have gone hours without water (between when they freeze and when they get thawed again) I think its mean to make them fight with a bottle.

I have ceramic dishes I got from the dollar type store (dollaramma). I have big ones for cage with multiple rabbits and smaller ones for single rabbits. i have about 30 dishes. I also have a five gallon pail. Lets say you start with clean dishes. Go out and fill them half way. Then 12 hours later fill them the rest of the way. Then 12 hours later switch the dishes for the new clean set and put the frozen ones that are now filled with ice in bucket and bring in the house. Over the next 12 hours those will thaw. You can wash them and get them ready to go back out while you fill the other ones the rest of the way. I have almost three sets of dishes. I keep a bunch of clean ones outside on cages so incase a rabbit messes one up I can replace it right away. It was about $40 for the thirty dishes. Depending on size they were priced for 50 cents to $2. And at that price I don't care if the odd one gets broken. In two months only two dishes got broken so far. It works great and every two days my rabbits have clean sanitized dishes.


Also with the dishes the rabbits can lick the ice between fills which gives them at least something. Its worked awesome so far and all my rabbits are in great shape.