stef.trg
Teenage Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2020
- Messages
- 648
- Reaction score
- 2,059
- Points
- 825
- Location
- Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria
Well, we're having a rather interesting issue in our girls' cage at the moment. And because it's nothing serious I thought I'd make a bit of a fun read out of it.
For the third day in a row, I came downstairs to an almost empty water bottle. Now at first I obviously thought "Blimey, someone's thirsty these days!" but lo and behold I realised that the missing water has never made into our piggies' bellies in the first place. No, it's on the fleece - which is soaked, as you can probably imagine.
My first thought on day one was: The bottle must be leaking! Now the prepared piggy owner I am, I had a brand-new water bottle at hand which was promptly installed in the girls cage. A few checks later and I was 100% certain that it does not leak. Perfect, problem solved! Or so I thought. Here comes the next morning. Water bottle almost empty, fleece wet. My face:
. Next thought: Maybe they sit underneath it! Let's move somewhere else where they definitely don't ever sit, ever. All proud of myself for solving the issue but also a little sad for throwing a (probably) perfectly fine water bottle out I left them to do their thing, thinking the mystery was solved. But let me tell you, my girls weren't quite finished with me yet. As I come down the stairs today I slowly make my way to the piggies, already scared of what awaits me. And, you already guessed it, the water bottle is nearly empty, the fleece wet. Pewter is looking at me in dismay because I haven't brought any food, Buttons is innocently nibbling on some hay. Both behaving like nothing is wrong. Like they haven't magically drained their water bottle for the third time in a row. Now here I am standing, baffled and speechless, wondering what I'm missing. I even picked the pigs up to check if they're wet - but no, it's still only the fleece that's wet. The piggies are completely dry.
So the remaining options are: One (or both) of those innocent looking piglets have figured out a fun way to drain the water bottle during the night or I am going mad. Both of which are very feasible options, by the way. Today, as a last effort before I will wave the white flag and beg them to tell me their secret, I have replaced the nozzle of the girls' bottle with one of the bottles in the boys' cage. This lead to some excited rumbling at the new nozzle on the male side and some outraged teeth chattering from Pewter - Buttons didn't care (as always). As of now, everyone's using their newly swapped nozzles like they should but I'm dubious.
As a last resort, I thought it might be worth asking you experienced piggy keepers if you have any further suggestions on what could be the problem here. Any help is greatly appreciated - by me and the constantly wet fleece. Thank you!
For the third day in a row, I came downstairs to an almost empty water bottle. Now at first I obviously thought "Blimey, someone's thirsty these days!" but lo and behold I realised that the missing water has never made into our piggies' bellies in the first place. No, it's on the fleece - which is soaked, as you can probably imagine.
My first thought on day one was: The bottle must be leaking! Now the prepared piggy owner I am, I had a brand-new water bottle at hand which was promptly installed in the girls cage. A few checks later and I was 100% certain that it does not leak. Perfect, problem solved! Or so I thought. Here comes the next morning. Water bottle almost empty, fleece wet. My face:
. Next thought: Maybe they sit underneath it! Let's move somewhere else where they definitely don't ever sit, ever. All proud of myself for solving the issue but also a little sad for throwing a (probably) perfectly fine water bottle out I left them to do their thing, thinking the mystery was solved. But let me tell you, my girls weren't quite finished with me yet. As I come down the stairs today I slowly make my way to the piggies, already scared of what awaits me. And, you already guessed it, the water bottle is nearly empty, the fleece wet. Pewter is looking at me in dismay because I haven't brought any food, Buttons is innocently nibbling on some hay. Both behaving like nothing is wrong. Like they haven't magically drained their water bottle for the third time in a row. Now here I am standing, baffled and speechless, wondering what I'm missing. I even picked the pigs up to check if they're wet - but no, it's still only the fleece that's wet. The piggies are completely dry.So the remaining options are: One (or both) of those innocent looking piglets have figured out a fun way to drain the water bottle during the night or I am going mad. Both of which are very feasible options, by the way. Today, as a last effort before I will wave the white flag and beg them to tell me their secret, I have replaced the nozzle of the girls' bottle with one of the bottles in the boys' cage. This lead to some excited rumbling at the new nozzle on the male side and some outraged teeth chattering from Pewter - Buttons didn't care (as always). As of now, everyone's using their newly swapped nozzles like they should but I'm dubious.
As a last resort, I thought it might be worth asking you experienced piggy keepers if you have any further suggestions on what could be the problem here. Any help is greatly appreciated - by me and the constantly wet fleece. Thank you!
