Solutions To Leaky Water Bottle Problems

[TexCavy]

I am duplicating this thread that I already did on another forum, But I can do that with my own thread if I'm not spamming right?
I'm too tired to edit it for betterness. LOL, Too tired to even speak correct english after a night of no sleep, but here are the posts.

I've been in this battle for two years trying to deal with leaky water bottles. I have bought several different brands in attempts to find the one brand that doesnt leak but now believe there is no such thing.

I've thought about the newer solutions for a long time. I experimented with a drainage spout and it worked. But I like my current solution best so far.

I hope everybody with this problem gets to see this thread so they can decide if they want to try one of these solutions.

I'll start with an old solution. One I have used for Simon's water bottle for over a year. Many people already know of and use this method to catch any drips that fall. Simon's water bottle rarely drips, so this works well for him. (pic is from his old cage before the C & C)
The brick under the bottle solution:

[TexCavy]

Next I will show you the drainage spout.

A view from a ways back to show how the drip cup sits on a shelf outside the cage.

[TexCavy]

As you can see the shelf was made from choroplast and sits under the edge of the cage. Here is a closer view showing how the water drips from the spout into the cup.

[TexCavy]

And this picture shows how it drips from the water bottle into the spout.

The spout doesnt get in the way of the pigs drinking, though they eyed it suspiciously their first time up to it. I'll tell more below about what it is made of and how I installed it.

[TexCavy]

This pic shows the spout uninstalled for you to see. There is a notch on it where the wire holds it in place when it is in the hole that I made through the choroplast.

It is made from an old toddler medicine dosing spoon that was my sons when he was little. I cut the bottom off and it made a nice drain spout. Then I cut the notch so it would hold in place with the wire. The wire has to be fitted and snug. You slip the spout through the hole from the inside and slide the wire over it into the notch.

For reference, here is a link to a picture of the type of medicine spoon I used: http://www.westons.com/acatalog/liq238h.jpg

[TexCavy]

Here is a picture of the little shelf made from choroplast that I set the drip cup on.

[TexCavy]

The drip cup must be emptied daily when the water bottle is freshened. The spout must be cleaned as needed and of course the drip cup too.

It didnt get chewed as bad as I expected. A few teeth marks in the three weeks I used it. But it can get clogged from bedding getting into it. Who knows how. And the water bottle can also get shifted to the side so it drips on the bedding instead of the spout.

SO... that is why I tried my next solution. The one I currently like best.

[TexCavy]

Check it out... Its a cup wired to the side of the choroplast to catch drips. Sienna likes to put her paws on the cup's rim when she drinks. The pig's water bottle spout is 7 inces from the floor of the cage. Right above the fifth wire from the bottom of the grid piece. The cup is 4 inches high and made of hard plastic. The wire around the cup goes through the coroplast and is hooked to cros wires on the grid piece.

[TexCavy]

Here is a picture of the cup out of the wire and of how the wire is shaped and goes through the choroplast.

[TexCavy]

Here is another one in a different cage. This cup is thick solid glass, but I will check the rim every day when I empty it (and some times in between) to make sure it isnt being chewed on. If it is I will need to remove it till I can replace it with a plastic one. But this glass is as hard as the ceramic food bowls, so hopefully wont be a problem.

[TexCavy]

And this shows how the wire that holds the cup in place is fastened around the grid piece wires. This one is fastened on the vertical wires but my first one is on the horizontal ones, so it works either way.

[TexCavy]

That's all of my photos. I hope this thread can help anyone needing an idea to solve the problem of leaky bottles.

I used to just scoop up the wet bedding as needed. But this meant the pigs might be having to stand in the wet bedding to drink, until I get home from wherever to do the scooping. Also, The wet spot encouraged them to urinate there and made things worse. Now the cage stays much drier and emptying the drip cup is really easy.

It doesnt use up so much bedding either, as daily scooping there did. And, although bedding and sometimes poos get knocked into it, it is too small for the pigs to reach in and drink the soiled water, and can be cleaned as often as necessary.

Feel free to list other solutions here as well though. Maybe this thread can be used a reference for people who are looking for solutions to this problem, and they need all the choices we can think of so they can make their own choice of how to deal with it.

[BrendaLynn]

That is awesome Tex! It looks like the best solution I've come across. If I ever get a camera again I'll post pics of my bowl I put under the bottles.

[TexCavy]

Oh I just realized I should note that the top of the cup is 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Anything bigger would probably interfere with their ability to drink easily.

I thought about a bowl, but I wanted something that would keep the pigs completely dry and not encourage them to stand in wetness to drink. And something they couldnt access the spilled water at all. How big is your bowl? Go ahead and post a pic here.

[Calypso]

Wow! Great ideas, TC! Thanks for putting up all the clear explanations and pictures.

I use Lixit bottles and although they are not perfect, they do seem to leak less than any other that I have tried.