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Post by sweetie on Aug 15, 2004 17:49:25 GMT -8
Have any of you experienced a drainage of the water bottle over night? I woke up this morning and the bedding in the boys cage was soaked. I did the weekly cleaning Friday and it was fine Saturday then Sunday when I went to let them out, the water bottle was empty. I can't figure out if it's a faulty water bottle or the boys pushing the bedding there by pushing the ball in the spout up. I have not had a problem with the bottle before,
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Post by queenofthenile on Aug 15, 2004 18:25:16 GMT -8
Oh yes!! Mine like to do this several days in a row to test my patience. It usually isn't drained by bedding pushed up against it, but rather because some little devil has gnawed the entire top off . I keep my water bottles fairly far off the ground (3-4 inches). The gerbs can still reach it really easily.
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Post by sweetie on Aug 15, 2004 18:47:10 GMT -8
Do you mean they chew off the bottom part of the bottle which contains the screw part and the spout? That gets expensive changing all the litter/ bedding. They truly are litte devils. So you have not experienced a faulty water bottle? It is usually the devious behavior of the little buggers?
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Post by queenofthenile on Aug 15, 2004 19:02:51 GMT -8
Actually they chew both the screw end and the top. Any puncture in the bottle will cause it to drain. I think it has something to do with the air pressure? One week, my gerbils went through 5 water bottles until I fixed their little red wagons . Here's a picture of what I've had to do: Yep, that's a soup can . Actually for one tank of gerbils I've had to cover the top of the bottle as well! For a small bottle you can use the small cans of tomato paste.
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Post by sweetie on Aug 15, 2004 19:22:36 GMT -8
Martha Stewart step aside.....Queenie's coming through!! ;D You should be queenofthecraftyones!!!! How inventive. Jim says you should patten it! Amazing. Mine is through the wires so they only have access to the spout. Not that that matters since they still managed to drain the bottle in one night!! Did you actually just take the picture and post it now? It took me 4 days after I knew how to do it to get it on here. I actually took a picture of Blackie eating a blueberry and I have yet to find the time or patience to get it on photobucket, figure out how to shrink it so I don't have another catastrophy like my fist HUMONGOUS pictures of the other family members. Jim wants to know what kind of soup it was and if it tasted good??? LOL
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Post by queenofthenile on Aug 15, 2004 19:34:26 GMT -8
Ha ha ;D. Actually, I took that picture to show J several months ago. It was already on my photobucket account.
It's actually best to resize your pics *before* you upload them to photobucket. Do you have Corel photohouse (I have 2.1)? If so you can go under 'Prepare image' -> 'Transform image' ->'Image properties'. There you can resize the image smaller - I prefer 4" X 6".
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Post by sweetie on Aug 16, 2004 6:32:52 GMT -8
Thanks. I have kodak easy share. I have had it since Feb but am just now getting to navigate and figure it out. But I will try.
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Post by blackie on Aug 18, 2004 7:18:06 GMT -8
My problem is that now I've got a waterbottle enclosed in a can with a lid on it that they won't bother to remove, one of the two gerbils in this tank uses the lid as a perfect platform. He jumps up on the lid and sits there. I used to have a small wooden house in there which they loved ,but I had to remove it when it became their "toilet area" and it started to stink. Now gerbil uses the can to stand and chew on the wire mesh lid. So I have to replace the lid with one that has smaller holes. I've read that you can also make a bottle guard out of wire mesh but you'd have to file down the sharp ends and hang it pretty high. You can get commercial bottle guards from Oasis. I don't think the'yre available in Europe. Definitely not in Scandinavia. But if they don't cover the whole bottle they won't work.
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Post by sweetie on Aug 18, 2004 11:41:46 GMT -8
Thanks for the info. I have replaced it with a separate one already and no problems yet. When I get my tanks, I will probably need it then . I will keep it in mind. Speaking of mind, your gerbils sounds like he/she has one of his/her own if they are going to use the lid as a perch!! How cute. Nice of you to make a perch for them ;D Certainly not the intended use but still a use none the less!!
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Post by sandy2 on Aug 18, 2004 15:49:46 GMT -8
They also will grab the nozzle with their teeth and pull on it, chew on it, get under the water bottle and shake all the water out, mark the water nozzle with their scent gland, and, last but not least, drink from it. I use the cheap glass tubes that are $2 each. I hang them from a corner of the tank and I tape them with electric tape so they will not shatter. Yeah, the gerbils chew through the tape, chew the rubber stoppers, but it takes them a while and they are pretty cheap. Any other solutions out there? Maybe I should try the tomato paste cans...
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Post by RyanF on Aug 19, 2004 6:37:23 GMT -8
Thankfully, my gerbils don't really care about their water bottle...Yet...lol, My water bottle doesn't have a ball inside. It is regulated by the shape of the opening, so the only way water gets out is if they suck on it.
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Post by sweetie on Aug 19, 2004 11:12:17 GMT -8
Cool!! Do you have a picture? Where did you get it? IS your bottle on the inside or the outside of the cage?
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Post by RyanF on Aug 19, 2004 16:03:04 GMT -8
It is a Crittertrail bottle. Inside the cage. I will get some pics soon. I have seen them for sale at pet stores. ;D
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Post by j on Aug 23, 2004 13:04:45 GMT -8
Mine kick the bedding up to it trying to bury it.
That's why the straw part of the water bottle comes out of the top of the tank now. They can't chew it and they can't kick bedding at it. I just have to check the tank everyday to make sure they can still reach it..sometimes they dig a hole under it and then can't get to it.
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Post by RyanF on Aug 23, 2004 16:16:04 GMT -8
Here is a pic of mine. I checked the internet and found it. Only a few dollars.
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