Saving Water

[Shades]

Our pigs drink from a dish. Because it's quite big, they'll never ever empty it and most of the water gets thrown into the drowning plant pots. I've put a couple of small pebbles from the beach into the dish to reduce the water needed. Does anyone else have any tips?

 

[Shades]

Bump

 

[Tomsmum]

Smaller bowl?

 

[gizzy]

put more pebles in it ? though why do you want to reduce the amount of water needed? l would have thought haveing more to drink
would have been better, as the bladder ect need to be well flushed, to reduce the risk of bladder isues

 

[Shades]

With a smaller bowl, they're more likely to tip it over when they put their feet on the edge. Also they can both drink at the same time with the wide bowl.

Smaller bowl?

 

[Shades]

I'm not trying to reduce the amount of water needed; I'm trying to reduce the amount of water wasted. The pigs don't empty the bowl before it's spoiled by hay or other food. I'm throwing out lots of undrinkable water every day.
I've tried to get them to use a water bottle but not had much success. Maybe I need to move it to another area in the cage where they feel more secure when drinking.

put more pebles in it ? though why do you want to reduce the amount of water needed? l would have thought haveing more to drink
would have been better, as the bladder ect need to be well flushed, to reduce the risk of bladder isues

 

[Wiebke]

I'm not trying to reduce the amount of water needed; I'm trying to reduce the amount of water wasted. The pigs don't empty the bowl before it's spoiled by hay or other food. I'm throwing out lots of undrinkable water every day.
I've tried to get them to use a water bottle but not had much success. Maybe I need to move it to another area in the cage where they feel more secure when drinking.

Have you considered switching to water bottles? You may find that Sippy water bottles are best adapted for cages with slanted walls.
Bowls tend to get messy very quickly and some guinea pigs even like to use them as a water closet. They need to be emptied and cleaned out at least twice daily.

 

[Shades]

There is a water bottle but it's hardly used. Their habit is to drink together at the well Tell me about changing the water in the bowls! So much is wasted every day.

Have you considered switching to water bottles? You may find that Sippy water bottles are best adapted for cages with slanted walls.
Bowls tend to get messy very quickly and some guinea pigs even like to use them as a water closet. They need to be emptied and cleaned out at least twice daily.

 

[Wiebke]

There is a water bottle but it's hardly used. Their habit is to drink together at the well Tell me about changing the water in the bowls! So much is wasted every day.

See it as keeping them healthy, not as wasting water!

It can sometimes help to place the water dish underneath the bottle and to rub the bottle nozzle with some of their favourite veg or herb. You will also have to completely change the water in the bottle every day in order to keep bacteria and growth of algae down, so there is not safe way around "wasting water" - apart from enjoying your healthy piggies!

 

[Shades]

That's one way of looking at it but not when there are water restrictions because of drought. It pains me to give them a big bowl of fresh water and see it undrinkable after one minute when they're zooming around. I know they'll never drink the bowl dry in one day, so my thought was to offer less at one time, so when it's spoilt, there would be less waste. Refilling throughout the day is not a problem.

I like the idea of adding a taste to the nozzle. Don't worry about changing, they get new water every day in their bottle when I throw out the old.