Water bottle vs. water bowl

[Valo's Moirana]

we have 2 water dishes in the cages - one close to the food bowl and the other one further away so they always have access to clean water. i tried the water bottle with valo before and wasn't successful... also, i've come across people telling stories about how the ball gets stuck and no water comes out. guess there's good and not-so-good for both options

[sweetpeaches]

i just use the bowls and give them fresh water in the morning, afternoon and evening...don't have a problem with pooping..but my caique likes to dunk in it once in awhile!

[rockybird]

Just whatever you do, make sure that they have water BOWLS available when they are first learning to use the water bottle. I have heard of more than one pet dying from dehydration because the bird had never seen a water bottle and didnt know to drink from it.

I was vacationing in the Turks and Caicos in the Bahamas recently. I went into a pet store in the shops and saw about 10 parakeets scrunched into one of those tall narrow cylinder like cages. There was not enough room for the birds on the perch. They were completely out of food. All they had were empty hulls, but the pet store mistakenly thought they had plenty of food as the dish appeared full. And there was only one small seed cup for all those birds. They had a water bottle, which they obviously did not know how to drink from. They did not look good.

I talked to the nice woman running the store. She said they had gotten the birds in the morning before. We took out the water bottle and put in new dishes with water. They immediately started drinking. I filled two large cups with food and told her to change it twice daily, which was probably overkill, but I figured if she forgot one feeding a day, then they would still have the other feeding. I also hand caught two birds and moved them into another cage for more room (albeit it was a pathetically small cage). It really broke my heart to see those poor birds suffering. I dont think they would have lasted another day without food or water. :(

[greencinacheeks]

my birds are bottled trained, it's funny when they want a bath (every day), they tell me by try to take a bath in the water droplets that fall from the bottle. one of my conures started doing it now they do it. but once a day i give them eacha small dish of water and they take baths....


~N

[Nazir's]

I am thinking about moving over to the bottle too. Iris has never made a mess of his water bowl but that Clover, oh boy I tell ya. I think the solution might be the bottle for him.

[Lightwing]

If you do decide to go to a water bottle, look into the Edstrom water bottle. I just switched over from a regular water bottle due to leaking and food debris getting sucked back into the water bottle. The Edstrom bottle does not work on vacuum pressure, so the bottle does not leak and does not pull debris into the reservoir. You can google the words "edstrom water buddy" and you should be able to find multiple sites that sell it.

[huntress]

Farnum has aa stem water bottle that works well like the edstrom. Its not as well made but i use them with little problems and they are much cheaper. Hubby and I want to design a Stainless bottle with an Edstrom valve so the fids cannot chew it while climbing on the outside of the cage

[Lightwing]

Originally Posted by huntress

Hubby and I want to design a Stainless bottle with an Edstrom valve so the fids cannot chew it while climbing on the outside of the cage

Oooh, let me know if you start making these and are willing to sell one or two.

[Nazir's]

Okay, thank you Lightwing. I will look into that brand. How about the glass Lixit water bottles, are they not any good?

[pbinva]

Peeka has been raised on the bottle - I refill/clean it every other day or so and change out the bottles to new ones about 1x per month - the stopper fits in a Snapple bottle - so giving him new bottles is very easy! I tried giving him a bowl and he basically said no doing with that thing Mom!