Bottle vs bowl

[Lilfluff ferocity]

Hello like I titled I was wondering about using a bowl(attached off ground and small-ie smallbird bowl, so they don't get wet) instead since it was discovered not so long ago that bottles lead to most rodents( rabbits, rats, hamsters, ect) being dehydrated, choking on the ball and being mostly plastic for most of them. Thoughts?

 

[Amethyst]

So long as you make sure the water bottle is working you shouldn't have an issue with them getting dehydrated, if you are going to be gone most of the day or over night two bottles is not a bad idea just in case one doesn't work for some reason. I'm not sure how they can chock on the ball it's inside the metal tube. For chins it's advised to go with glass bottles not plastic, the bottles I have do have a plastic cap but with a metal cover over it so the only things accessible are the metal tube, the metal cap, and the glass bottle.


I know some people use bowls without issue but personally I would not advise using a bowl. I don't know how others deal with it but chins poop a lot and it goes everywhere and they throw hay everywhere, so you would probably have to keep changing the water many times a day to make sure they have clean water. Another issue that can happen is they are more likely to inhale water trying to drink from a bowl, their nose and mouth are almost lined up so if they lean too far they can end up breathing in water. I know for a fact that it can happen because it happened to a chin for someone I knew (in real life not online), the chin ended up with pneumonia from inhaling water from a bowl and died. In the wild they are in a much drier climate so the majority of water they get comes from licking drops of dew off plants, they don't naturally drink out of puddles of water or streams like most other rodents.

 

[Chinchillaville13]

I'd suggest a bottle. Most bottles I've seen are made of plastic. However, they have a metal tube. The bottle itself is on the outside of the cage as the tube goes inside the bars. This is what I have and it works great.

 

[JamaisVu]

I use a glass bottle, no issues.

I wouldn't recommend a bowl for most chins because of the potential for water spills and the chin getting wet. From how well my chin moves her food bowl (which you'd think would be too heavy for her to move, but you'd be wrong) I can only imagine the mess a water bowl would be.

 

[Shadow1120]

I bought the 8oz glass Lixit water bottle and it's great, never leaks!!!