WARNING: the importance of water being available AT ALL TIMES

i had posted this in another forum, but just thought i'd share it here as well:

So last night before we went to bed, i went to oil the ASF wheels cause they were squeaking pretty badly. And to my dismay, there was a dead rat, that had been completely turned inside out and eaten. Even MORE to my dismay, it was the male in my 3 month old 1.4 breeding colony. They should have been breeding in about another month, maybe a little more. So needless to say, i was pretty disappointed. I couldn't figure out why they would cannibalize him, they had lots of food, and a full water bottle. So we went to bed.

this morning, i look in, and see ANOTHER dead rat, again turned inside out and eaten. I checked on the others, and they felt a little weird, their fur looked a bit off, and it was as if they were a little stiffer than usual. So i thought, great, they're all gonna die and i have NO idea why! Then i decided to check their water bottle. Lo and behold, it WASN'T WORKING! No water whatsoever was coming out. I guess there was a little piece of sawdust or something jammed up inside.

and now, i feel HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!! It's all MY FAULT that these poor little ratty's went without water. In a colony of 5 rats, the water usually lasts 2-3 days. Yesterday i looked in, saw that the duckie was still at the top, indicating that their water was full. I just assumed dave had filled them up yesterday while i was at work. But nope, it was full because it was jammed, and the poor little rattys died of dehydration.

on the bright side, i still have a male and female who are very established breeders, and another colony of 1.4 in another tub. In fact, the established male and female just gave birth (literally started minutes ago, is probably still poppin' them out) and it was only 30 days ago she had another litter. So at least she's reliable.

so let this be a warning to you all, i would hate for it to happen to anyone else's colony in the future, CHECK THE WATER SUPPLY EVERYDAY! Not just visually to make sure that the bottles are full, but make sure they are actually dispensing

I'm so sorry that happened. Water bottles do malfunction sometimes, I've had it happen too, but often it is hard to catch it right away because water levels sometimes don't change appreciably from one day to the next.
After it happened to me, I made some changes:
I now keep two bottles for each cage of critters that use water bottles (for me, it's my birds) so if one goes wrong, there's another. I also switched to Edstrom Water Buddies bottles, they are easier to fill (they are top filling, can be filled while they are on the cage)and have a different kind of mechanism to release the water that seems more reliable. Actually, the ball mechanisms in regular water bottles do not fail often but I've never seen the Edstrom mechanism fail at all.

I had a bottle decide to just let all it's water out and it soaked the whole colony...almost everyone died from sickness over a period of a week...darn bottles!

lucille, thanks for the suggestion, but on the first site that came up, it said they're no longer being made?

also, those just wouldn't do for ASF's, TRUST ME i went through 3 plastic bottles within the first week! they chew like craaaaazy!

Sorry to hear about your loss. It happens though I use glass bottels with a small hole in the tube. I dont use the ball in the tube type. I will be soon so I will keep a heads up . thanx

I had this happen with my poor little ferrets!

My hubby takes care of them most days, so I didn't notice that they weren't able to drink the water for a few days. If ferrets can't drink water for more than 24 hours, they also stop eating, so they got really thin in just 2-3 days, and then I had to spoon feed them food mushed up with warm water. They perked up really fast though, and I got a new water bottle with two ball bearings in it instead of just one, and so far I haven't had any issues whatsoever. They tend to drink water with food in their mouths, and I've noticed it in the spout of the old water bottle but not the new one. It was only like $10 at PetSmart, so it might be a good investment if you continue to have problems.

I had a problem where the balls always leak the water out slowly. I decided to cut out the ball and place the tip in a small little cup I got at the thrift store for $1. when the level of the water gets below the tip, the water bottle fills it up until the tip is submerged. I can also see if they have access to the water.

cool idea!

i find if the bottle leaks, filling them up with warm water eliminates that. if you use cold water, it shrinks the bead allowing water to seep out.