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Post by terrym on Apr 24, 2024 13:13:42 GMT -8
Hi all,
My first pair of gerbils are inbound and I'm finding myself stressing a bit about the water bottle situation. Some questions for you:
- Given that I'm seeing a lot of reports of bottles either leaking or not working (and in some cases, gerbils dying as a result), does anyone have specific bottles they recommend which are available in the US?
- I have a 55g tank that is 21 inches high. It seems water bottles that hang from the top are intended for shorter tanks/cages. How would you recommend mounting a bottle in this case? I'm not planning on having a topper.
Thank you!
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Post by tanzanyte on Apr 25, 2024 5:00:42 GMT -8
Welcome to the forum terrym and congratulations on beginning your gerbil journey! The water bottle debate is a difficult one and as I don't live in the US I don't know if you have the Classic crystal brand in either plastic or glass? They've never let me down before whereas other brands have. However out of the 9 gerbils I've kept, 1 decided she would repeatedly chew the red lids so I purchased a pottery cactus style holder that I put on a wooden ledge in the enclosure. I also have a second bottle that I've attached with heavy duty sticky velcro brand (circles or strips) to the glass side of the enclosure. It has lasted 2 years so far of daily pulling the bottle off every day and is still well adhered to the glass and bottle. Having 2 bottles causes a lot less stress as it's unlikely that both will fail and it's not really any hassle to change them both at the same time each day. Glass bottles are good if you do have a vociferous chewer. Bottle stands
Hopefully someone with some experience on bottle types from the US will be able to offer better advice on that score for you. |
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Post by terrym on Apr 26, 2024 3:17:08 GMT -8
Thank you tanzanyte! I very much appreciate the insight. Two bottles is a great idea - makes me feel better already. I did find one of the Classic Crystal ones on Amazon, so I'll get that ordered. 🙏
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Post by conniew on Apr 26, 2024 9:11:43 GMT -8
Welcome to the forum terrym and congratulations on beginning your gerbil journey! The water bottle debate is a difficult one and as I don't live in the US I don't know if you have the Classic crystal brand in either plastic or glass? They've never let me down before whereas other brands have. However out of the 9 gerbils I've kept, 1 decided she would repeatedly chew the red lids so I purchased a pottery cactus style holder that I put on a wooden ledge in the enclosure. I also have a second bottle that I've attached with heavy duty sticky velcro brand (circles or strips) to the glass side of the enclosure. It has lasted 2 years so far of daily pulling the bottle off every day and is still well adhered to the glass and bottle. Having 2 bottles causes a lot less stress as it's unlikely that both will fail and it's not really any hassle to change them both at the same time each day. Glass bottles are good if you do have a vociferous chewer. Bottle stands
Hopefully someone with some experience on bottle types from the US will be able to offer better advice on that score for you. Congrats on your new gerbils! I am relatively new to keeping gerbils too but I can share what I have learned. Your tank sounds great and with no topper I have heard you can velcro a water bottle to the inside of a tank. That, I assume, would mean gluing velcro to the back of the water bottle and to a place on the tank where you want the water bottle located. The water bottle issue is why I did make a topper for my 40 gallon breeder tank. That provides a place for the wheel and sand bath too. But you have a larger tank than I do so you should be fine with no topper. The water bottle I settled on after trying a couple different brands was a Lixit water bottle. They don't leak like the others do when you follow the directions of filling the water to the brim and turning the bottle spout side down and giving a little squeeze to drip some water out. That in my experience creates the needed vacuum so it doesn't leak. That is why I went with a plastic bottle and not a glass one. Also a plastic bottle won't be so heavy for the velcro. You could also have gerbils who chew the plastic edge of the water bottle lid. In that case putting the bottle in a chew proof holder on a platform inside the cage is another option. The tallest platforms I have seen for sale are around 6 inches tall which isn't really tall enough. You could get a safe wood board and glue dowels to make the platform as high as you need for a place for the water bottle. You may have to watch to be sure they don't shove bedding under the water bottle so the water wicks out into the bedding. Sometimes we have to get creative for our little critters. Elmers wood glue is a safe glue to use. I am in the US and I got my bottles on Amazon. I have gerbils and a hamster and both my water bottles are Lixit brand. They are working great for me. The one for my hamster is in a ceramic bottle holder on top of his multi chamber house. My gerbils bottle is outside the wire topper so they can't chew it. I originally had a ceramic bottle holder for the gerbils but it had an opening in the back of it and they got in there and chewed the lid so it leaked. That is why I went with a wire topper for the gerbils. If you go with a chew proof bottle holder try to get one with no openings in the back so they cannot get to the bottle from underneath. Hope this helps. |
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Post by terrym on Apr 27, 2024 2:02:41 GMT -8
Thank you Connie! Very helpful to hear your experience on this. I look forward to experimenting with these ideas and working through this  |
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Post by tanzanyte on Apr 28, 2024 3:26:52 GMT -8
I forgot to say that I always tap the end of the bottles after I’ve filled them to make sure that water is flowing. It helps alleviate my anxiety about them not being able to get water out.
I also live in a hard water area and use a wire scourer around the rim to deep clean the bottles and make sure the limescale is removed so that it doesn’t cause any issues.
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