Bottles Vs Dishes

[Thumps]

Whats the general favourite for water?
Jessica seems to have a problem with drinking from bottles so has had a dish for the last few weeks but as Caspers bed is on top of hers all sorts of stuff lands in the dish. So tonight I went and bought one of the ferplast one's which are quite different to the normal bottles. Boy does my pocket know it £5.49 for a 600 ml bottle!!!!! :shock: Anyway it can be filled by taking the top of and pouring the water in without taking the bottle off the cage/bed/hutch and its not a ball valve but a straight bit which sticks out and is easier to get a decent amount of water from. At the end of the day though bottles aren't the most natural way for them to drink is it?

[Peppermint]

The drawback with Ferplast is that if they fall out of their "cradle" they can easily crack and then they're useless.

On the plus side, they're ideal for indoor use as you can use the suction cups against loads of surfaces.

I don't catch our buns drinking much. Benny drinks for quite a bit (all at once) around once a week, but I've never seen Peppermint drink.

They get fresh veg twice a day, but would still like to see them drink more. I've thought about a bowl, but they see it as sport to knock over.

[shushubat]

I know what you mean about them thinking it is a game to knock over the bowl. No kidding, ha!

I have read that in the wild, rabbits rarely drink water from streams or puddles. They actually get most of their water from the plants they eat. Also, they drink the condensation that forms on grass early in the morning.

[MandyM]

We've got both, a bowl and two bottles as well, just to make sure :lol:

I must admit they do seem to prefer the bowl, only trouble is with them both being lops their icckle ears get wet :)

I got the bowl when I noticed Benji wasn't drinking much and to be honest since we've had Bluebell we don't have that problem anymore, what she has he has, worse than kids :lol:

[anon101]

[quote="Peppermint"]The drawback with Ferplast is that if they fall out of their "cradle" they can easily crack and then they're useless.
quote]

I would go for a water bottle evrytime.

I use Ferplast's and I think there the best thing since sliced bread! :)

They dont drip, I've never had a cracked one yet (touch wood) and they fit nicely onto the cage and dont move about.

Both my bun's drink from them with no prob's.

Bottle's keep the water clean and stop soiled bedding/wet Rabbit's.

They also save water.

Obviously if you have a bun that wont drink out of a bottle its a different story. Some people have used bird water feeder's in bun's cage's, as they dont tip over because there attached to the side of the cage.

Louise

[Diddeen]

I use a bottle in my rabbit's cage and he drinks fine from it. I also have a bowl in the kitchen so he can access water when he is running around the flat. he drinks from that too..
I dont use a bowl in his cage as one hop over it and there would be hay or poo or fluff landing in his water.
I have heard of ezi-filla bottles used too which are similar to ferplast ones.
Chris

[anon101]

We do use bowls of water for the Cat's in the flat.

When the bun's are free range in the day they use these.

Talking of the Cat's or eldest Cat started eating the Rabbit's dried mix last night! :lol: It's the Allen and Page Pellet's. She looked VERy annoyed when we stopped her! :lol:

Louise

[Kara]

Hello

can the ferplast ones be broughton line anywhere?

Thanks
Kara :D

[Thumps]

Well Jessica must like her new ferplast bottle they had drunk quite a bit through the night and they are nice and easy to top up! The problem with the dish for her was that Casper lives in the 'flat' above them and bits of hay and poop etc sometimes fall through and regardless where i put the dish there would be something in it by the time I got home and Jessica or Monty won't drink from a dirty dish. So quite often when I got home they were both desparate for a drink. Now I just need to find an extra large bottle for Coco and Jasper as Coco insists on sitting at one side of the bowl and then leaning over and drinking from the far side and his chin gets all wet and I don't want a problem with bacteria as he won't let me anywhere near his chin if I had to put on cream or anything it would be a nightmare.
Off to look for the ezi filla now, they do bigger sizes I believe.
Angela

[Kara]

The bottles sound good, I will keep an eye out for them!

[Thumps]

If anyone is wondering what the heck Im going on about here's what the ferplast bottle http://www.redmap.co.uk/ferretsabout/acatalog/ferplast_Sippy_Water_Bottles.html
These are perfect for me as the yellow screw bit fits perfectly on the homemade cages I have.

Angela

[Lynn]

Hi there - Rob didn't drink much from a bottle before, so I tried the bowl, and he drinks from this much better (I am convinced he thinks he is a cat!!). I had to get a heavy ceramic bowl, as he kept tipping over the first one I tried.

Mandy, Rob has ear trouble too, being a lop. Sooooooo funny, if I put his food bowl too near to the water bowl, his ear gets wet and he turns round with an indignant look as if to say 'how on earth did that happen again'.

[Tamsin]

Bowl are obviously more natural but not always very practical. If the bun is in a cage/hutch with litter they soon get dirty and buns seem to delight in throwing them around.

Our first buns smashed half a dozen ceramic food bowls before we switched to plastic!

Tam

[Heather]

Definately bottles.

[doorkeeper]

Hi,
My house rabbits have a bowl as they don't have a cage to attach a bottle to. They also like drinking out of the bird bath and other collections of water when they are in the garden.

The others all have bottles. There are certain rabbits that drain a bottle every day, and others who drink far less.

An adorable thing I have noticed is that when one rabbit is drinking from a bottle, their companion will often put their head underneath to get rubbed by the motion involved. They do this when the other rabbit is grooming too. They are such hedonists!! From this aspect I'm sure they prefer bottles.

[Diddeen]

Here is a link to the Ezi-filla bottles
http://www.johnhopewell.co.uk/ezi-filla.html

The ferplast, sippy bottles are on sale in Pets At Home. I used to have one for my hamster.

Chris

[Peppermint]

Hi,
My house rabbits have a bowl as they don't have a cage to attach a bottle to.

The ferplast bottle have two methods of attachment. The previous link shows a screw mechanism to put through a cage.

It is also applied with four suction cups, so that it can be stuck onto a door, or cupboard etc (it's quite study when attached), so this could be a good option if you need to stop using the bowl.

[Lizzie]

Aha! Nobody has a bun like my Merlin then? Takes every opportunity to knock the Ferplast bottle out of its bracket by being very rough with it!!!! Also managed to get the ball-bearing out at one stage!!!! He has now broken a total of 3 bottles because when they fall, although it is on to carpet, the spouts have sheered off!!! :lol: I have now given him one of the other ones - can't remember their names offhand - attached with the old-fashioned wire. I'm gonna send that boy back to Emma at Furry Friends, he's a liability!!! :wink:

[bristolmary]

We use bottles for both our cages and sometimes when they are out they get a bowl to go to, but they both think its fun to stand in it etc.

Sweep had never had a bowl in her cage except for food and she had to stay at the vets for a couple of nights, the vet rang me laughing her head off (she is a mate) to tell me that they'd put a bowl of water in Sweeps cage and the poor thing thinking it was food had stuck her head straight in it and nearly drowned herself!!!

She wasn't impressed with the bowl at all, but the vets changed it to a bottle for her straight away.

[beck]

I've been planning to get blueberry a bowl for her water as she doesn't seem to be able to get water out very fast from her bottle. It has been interesting to read everyones different view points. I had been thinking how easily a bowl would get food/bedding in it, so I might get one of those ferplast bottles and give them a go.

[Thumps]

Thanks Chris that link is brilliant! Will have to invest in some of the ezi hoppers too for the readigrass as they eat so much of the stuff one bowl isn't big enough and they finish it twice in one day.
Lizzie, invest in some cable ties, everything for the bunnies is cable tied on. Their beds are panels which are cable tied together, some of the dishes are cable tied on (as somebunnies likes to tip it over) got some gravity bin feeders last night couldn't figure out how to fix it on so cabled tied it :lol: oh yes hay racks are cable tied on as well. Must invest in cable tie shares.
Also found a site which sells dishes that lock on in the same way the ferplast bottles do, will dig it out if anyone wants??

Angela

[doorkeeper]

I've been planning to get blueberry a bowl for her water as she doesn't seem to be able to get water out very fast from her bottle. It has been interesting to read everyones different view points. I had been thinking how easily a bowl would get food/bedding in it, so I might get one of those ferplast bottles and give them a go.

My rabbits bowl doesn't get fouled because I keep it on the other side of the room from their dog basket full of hay. Of course I can only do this because they are never shut in, but if your rabbit gets lots of exercise you could have a bowl for when they are out and about and a bottle for when they are in their cage. Best of both worlds:)