 |
Dear Marny,
Do you or does anyone have a trick for curing guinea pigs of playing with
their water bottles? I have a pig who empties his into his cage. I'm
worried about him during these hot summer months because he'll empty the
dam thing right away then have no water for several hours. Plus, his wet
cage draws flies who lay eggs in the damp shavings. I have to change his
cage nearly daily or I have little fly larva in the shavings. Ugh!
Margaret Wells
Dear Margaret,
To answer your question, in a word, no. I know that's not what you want
to hear. I know of no sure-fire trick for curing pigs with a predisposition
for playing with water bottles. However, there are some things that might
help the problem, but I have found that once this behavior starts, it
will always occur again if a water bottle is placed on the cage without
anything else to distract the pig. Your question does not describe they
type of bottle you are using but I assume it is the popular sipper tube
with the ball bearing inside. If guinea pigs behave themselves with
these types of waterers, these waterers are fine, however, guinea pigs
learn to suck from sipper tubes rather than lap like rats. They are
notorious for chewing on the tubes, n-fixing dry food and water in their
mouths and blowing the mess back into the sipper tube. This blocks the
tube, causing it to drip.
|
|
I also think that boredom comes into the picture. Many inquisitive cavies
need something to do and they get results when they play with the ball
bearing on the end of their waterer. Things you can try to eliminate
this problem are two fold. First is distraction, give the pig something
else to play with. Try giving something as simple as a toilet paper roll
tube or a small cardboard box. Give something the pig can investigate and
interact with something he can make move easily. The second possible help
is to eliminate the sipper tube waterer. There is now available a waterer
that has a drinking valve (see photo) instead of a sipper tube. The animal
bites or nudges the stem of the valve causing it to move to the side and
release a droplet of water. There are water bottles available with these
valves or, in my opinion, the ultimate is to install an automatic watering
system. For guinea pigs be sure to get adjustable valves I have an automatic
watering system in my caviary and happen to use Edstrom adjustable drinking
valves (there are also other manufacturers of drinking valves), I put this
system in about two years ago and after initially getting the valves
adjusted for the proper dispensing rate, the system works wonderfully. I
now wish I had put the system in sooner, it was easy to install and not
too spendy. I no longer have wet cages and the hassle of messing with
water bottles is a tiling of the past. Margaret, I hope these suggestions
help with your problem. Like I said previously, there is no one sure-fire
solution to the problem of pigs playing with waterers. If anyone has additional
possible solutions, please let Margaret or myself now. Sharing information is
the best way for us all to improve our cavy keeping methods.
Marny |
|
