water drunk affected by crock size?

LakeCondo · Jan 2, 2012

I think the amount of water Honey drinks every day is affected by the size of the crock the water is in. Before I went to the shelter I wasn't exactly sure what size crocks I needed for various things, so I bought some in 3 sizes. The smallest holds about half the amount of the middle one & the largest holds twice that of the middle.

I started out using the middle sized ones for water. She usually drank about 35-40% of the water in it, so I decided to use one of the small crocks instead. I stopped doing this in a couple days, when I realized she was drinking less than before. Since then I've been using the largest bowl & she's drinking more than she ever has before. Nothing else has changed in her diet etc.

I'm wondering how typical this might be. Maybe there's a Miss Manners for Bunnies that teaches to always leave some water in the bowl.

:?

Samara · Jan 2, 2012

I'd be interested in hearing what others think about this... I've had a similar experience with my ferrets.

Maybe it's some sort of self-preservation move where they want to make sure they don't run out?

I wonder, albeit small, what percentage is evaporation based on room temperature?When this started happening with my ferrets, I fiddled with the thermostat to see if they were just simply hotter than usual. As for taking their temperatures manually, well, have you ever tried to rectally poke a wiggling bag of water? It's effing hard. I save that for emergencies.

:faint:

eclairemom · Jan 2, 2012

I have no idea cause we have a water bottle, but as I was skimming the thread titles my eyes were playing tricks on me. My mind did not register crock.:? so I had to read it again, and I thought OH I really need to skim less and read more.

Samara · Jan 2, 2012

eclairemom wrote:

I have no idea cause we have a water bottle, but as I was skimming the thread titles my eyes were playing tricks on me. My mind did not register crock.:? so I had to read it again, and I thought OH I really need to skim less and read more.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

LakeCondo · Jan 3, 2012

And here I thought the word "drunk" might cause a double take, not "crock". lol

MiniLopHop · Jan 3, 2012

I think my kids, particularly Becky, only like to stick their heads in the crock so far. I have two smaller sized water crocks out for Becky and Gary compared to one very large one for Houdini and Cinderella. The large one is too big to see much dip in the water level from day to day. I know they are drinking though because I see them at it. With the two smaller sized ones, they go down in parallel rather than one then the other.

I wonder if it is because they tend to like to stand with front paws on the rim and then drop their heads, so they have to go farther down than would be obvious. If they stood with their paws on the ground it wouldn't be as far, but perhaps it is the "ever alert" concept coming into play? They just don't seem to want to go too deep into the crock, so wider and shorter seems better than deeper even if it is the same volume.

LakeCondo · Jan 3, 2012

Honey always drinks with her paws on the ground & has no trouble getting a little treat if I put it at the bottom of the same-sized crock, so being able to drink more isn't an issue. What she likes to do with the rim is put her nose on it sometimes when she naps.