Watering Your Bunnies

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Ok, a lot of books say that you should give your rabbit new fresh water daily, but how many of you actually do? I give my bunnies clean fresh water daily for those who have crocks, but those who have full water bottles, I just leave until the bottle is half or so empty and then I fill it with fresh water. Is this ok? Or should we be giving all bunnies fresh clean water daily?

So, what do you bunny owners/ breeders do? Do you leave water in their bottles if their more than halfway full/all the way full or do you give them fresh water?


Emily

 

[trailsend]

Most of my rabbits drink almost all their water daily, but if it's still half full the next day, I always fillit up again.

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

If my bunnies have a crock it is dumped daily and refilled. If they

have bottles I wait for it to get low and dump and refill.

Roger

 

[Becca]

Well Nibbles has a bottle and he usually drinks loads so if it has a little bit at the bottom i tip it out and top up but if it is like half full i just top it up.
Same with Dippy and Fluffball they are only small so they hardly drink anything they have a bottle and a crock i change the crock everyday in case fluffball weed in ir by accident (shes not litter trained yet) and there water bottle theyb drink about a centimetre so i just top it up in the morning and the next day i empty it and top it up. if you get what i am saying LOL

 

[BlueGiants]

During the winter, when my rabbits have crocks, I dump and refill two or three times a day.

During the summer, my rabbits have an "on demand" watering system. Each section ofcages (4 cages for Flemish, 6-8 for Mini Rex) has it's own covered 5 gallon bucket that feeds the individual cages. Each cage has a "drinkingnozzle" that shuts off when they stop drinking (like a water bottle). The buckets get filled every night. They get taken down, bleached and cleaned once a week. (By the way, I use orange or red buckets, because I was told red light discourages the growth of green algea.)

 

[Becca]

WOW That must be such a cool way to drink!!!!!
Suppose it's the easiest way if you have a lot of buns!

 

[bunnybunbunb]

I use a lot of water bowls and they almost always have drank all their water by the next morningbut if they have bottles I fill as needed. They normaly drink it all gone by the day after the next. I have tiny Lionheads so they normaly don't drink near half a bottle so I fill their bottles half way each time they need water.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Okay thanks guys. I thought I was the only one who never empted water bottles each day even when they're full...i mean talk about a waste of water and the water is still clean/fresh.

Yeah in the winter time if the bottles freeze, they get crocks which are changed 2x daily because they freeze, etc.

Crocks are always changed daily unless their clean (like sometimes Bruce has a full dish and his toy is just taking a bath, so I take the toy out and just leave the dish; other times he has pooh/hay and I empty the dish out if there's pooh, but otherwise i just take out the hay and fill it to the top.

But mostly Lily and Lea put food in there (yeah, Lily dumps Kalea's boat-food dish full of food into the water...) or shavings so it's cleaned and refilled 2x a day.

Emily

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Both of my cages have a crock for water. It is on a shelf so hay and litter can't get in. I give fresh water once or twice a day for Korr and Sophie depending on how much they drink. Usually I fill in the morning and before I go to bed. More often in the summer. For Penelope, I full the dish every other day unless it is empty. She doesn't drink as much and the water doesn't get too dirty. I clean out the bowls a couple times a week when I clean the rest of the cage.

 

[Becca]

It was so funny today there was a peice of food in the crock and it had soaked up loads of water and expanded i wondered what it was it was this massive orange thing that used to be about half a centimetre was now like 5 centimetres

 

[BlueGiants]

The other day, Casino, one of the Junior Flemish (4 months old) picked up her food dish and dumped the whole thing in her water dish! What a mess! The pellets all swelled up to a thick mash. The water overflowed and the hay got mixed in. It stuck to everything! What mess to clean up! I can't wait til I can run the water system again! Just have to wait til it won't freeze.... Please hurry up SPRING!!!

 

[bunnybunbunb]

Yesterday it was 75 degrees out! been very warm for a few days! NOOO, that means it will be getting WAY to hot soon! I hate summer.

 

[Mikoli]

Well. I just fill Ollie's water bottle whenever he needs it. I had been a bit concerned lately, because we've just had a bout of warm weather, and his water bottle was full whenever I went to check it. I was worried he was getting dehydrated. Of course, my mother was forgetting to tell me that she was refilling it twice a day.

:?


Yesterday it was 40 degrees celsius, or 104 farenheight. :shock: I think Ollie drank about three bottles worth of water.

 

[maisy126]

I wait till they have about 1/3 water left in their bottles, if using crocks I fill/dump it out/updaily.

 

[PixieStixxxx]

Water bowls I fill with fresh water twice a day. Water bottles, I wait until it gets half way.

 

[XxMontanaxX]

When Macey and Keiran were living seperatley, they would only drink like half of the bottle, so I would fill it up every other day. Now that they are living together, I fill it up everyday because its almost gone by the time I feed them in the evenings.

 

[Hazel]

I use something like that. What I do is I fill it up and then dump the crock part out every day so it fills with fresh water from the top. I'll also put ice into it occassionally. The buns seem to like it.

I clean it once every 3-4 days normally.

The reason I like this is because my buns drink too much for the crock bowl. Then I come home from school and the crock is completely dried and I feel awful

This has been a godsend, my buns LOVE it. And it has stuff that is supposed to make it anti-bacterial and I clean it out with vinegar and dawn, so it has worked extremely well, no problems at all. Supposedly some people were talking about hair in the water, but it's so insignificant an amount and with the amount they get from grooming, I've been assured it makes no difference and causes no problems.

 

[lilangelhotots]

That is a really neat system Hazel! Like most, I use the standard water bottles with the metal ball. It's okay, I just have problems with it leaking from time to time.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Holy cow, Rachel! Thati s REALLY warm weather! I don't think I could deal with 104 degrees F here! no way. My bunnies would probably be soo hot, and I'd be so worried about them.

thanks everyone. In the summer time I fill their bottles with cold fresh water whenever it is needed, which I usually check on them about 10x a day in the hot weather andI give them ice cold water when their's is warm.

Also, in the summer time if it's really warm out, the doors are open, the windows are open, fans are going, and I will bring out a little kiddy pool and fill it about 3 to 5 inches with cold water, not too cold, and let the bunnies hop around in it. Some of them like it, some don't. I just usually mist them also, I have this mist bottle filled with ice and cold water and I mist their ears and bodies to keep them cool.

I wish I had clip-on cage misting fans...I am thinking about ordering some from KW Cages.

Emily

 

[mouse_chalk]

Both pairs of buns have bowls, and I change the water twice, sometimes 3 times daily...

Mouse and Chalk are quite tidy with theirs as it's on a shelf but Barney and Snowy refuse to have their 'dining' area any further than right next to the litter tray so hay/bits of litter inevitbly end up in it.... They're also 'splashers' too- earlier I was lying half in their cage petting Barney when he inexplicably dipped his front paws into the water bowl then shook them all over my face repeatedly like he was wondering why on earth I'd tried to give him a paw-bath!!

They all started out with water bottles, but I found that they drank much more with the bowls instead. The bottles were always changed once a day though...