Water bottle or a Dish for my rats cage?

Question

Right now they drink out of a bottle which is fine but its hard to get to the inside and clean at the end of the week so I was wondering if I could get a water dish that hooks onto the side of the cage. Would that be ok?

Answer 1

You can find bottle brushes pretty easily. :) If you have trouble finding them at a pet store, look in the baby section.

I've only ever used bowls as a temporary thing when I had a bottle break before I could get to the store.  If you use something heavy like ceramic and don't have filler in your cage (Like, you use fleece or fabric) it works fine temporarily, but you have to check it a lot.  Personally, it's just easier to use the bottle.

Answer 2

grab some rock salt and put it in the water bottle, a little water and give it a good shake. The salt disinfects as well as scrubs the sides for you. Make sure you rinse the bottle really well afterwards so there is no salt left. You can also buy bottle brushes at the supermarket.

Water bowls tend to get spilled and fowl quickly with rodents.

Answer 3

I use both. I don't like how hard it is to clean the water bottle either, but only because I worry about whether the sipper part gets clean enough or not. I put a tupperware filled with water (with the water in it, it's heavy and it won't tip over) in their cage and they LOVE balancing on the edge of it, scooping the water up, and drinking it out of their hands. It's adorable! If you do this though, you need to make sure you change the water every day, if not twice a day since they may decide to play in it and stuff may fall into the water such as bedding and food. I know a lot of people say rats don't like water, but my rats really enjoy playing in running faucet water, crawling on me in the bathtub and playing in pans of water (searching for peas, green beans, etc.). I keep the water bottle in there to....just in case! :)

Answer 4

water bottle cause i tryed a dish and they stand on the side of it and spill it so i would deffinitly say a water bottle

and all you hav eto do is is pooor out thr water put soap in itand a littlebit of water and close it and SHAKE IT and than rinse it to clean it

Answer 5

You'll regret a bowl cause those guys will make a mess with it.  They'll spill it and play in it and it won't be clean for very long.  You'll have to replace the bedding daily and the water won't stay sanitary to drink out of.  You could just buy a different water bottle.  We use a baby bottle brush to clean out the water bottles at work.  (Hot water and Dawn dishsoap is safe to use.)