Slobbering Guinea Pig

[Res Judicata]

Bunny is about to drive me nuts with her constantly slobbering out water when she drinks. And it's not just a little bit on her chin or anything; she plays with the tube more than she actually drinks. I thought it was a leaky water bottle at first and switched from the ball variety to the kind with a metal switch.

It's gotten worse as she's gotten used to the new type of water bottle and I came home on Friday to find half the cage full of soggy aspen bedding. I'm at my wit's end. I have a bath towel under there that has to be changed twice daily, as well as a shallow saucer, which she lays in whether or not there's water in it (I swear sometimes she senile). Anyone else have pigs like this? How did you solve such problems? She's constantly wet, her cagemates don't like using the water bottle anymore, and I just can't afford to be replacing soggy bedding and washing yucky towels on a daily basis.

[Jane_G]

Your post made me laugh. Bunny sounds like a misbehaving child. I don't think there is much you can do until she gets bored of playing with the water bottle. Maybe if you put 3 or 4 bottles in the cage she will stick with playing with only "hers"?

For under the bottle, you could put a mattress pad or a crib pad. That would probably be neater than towels.

Sorry I couldn't help you more, but I'd love to see a picture of her all wet. She sounds adorable.

[clotho]

I have a male piggie who also plays with his water bottle. Let's put it this way - I have six girls in a cage who go through a third of the water Stripes does all on his own!!! He plays with the spout and most of the water goes into his cage - soaking the bedding and newspapers beneath.

The only thing I have tried that helps at all is a little plastic dish - just a shallow small tupperware type dish. I dig into the shavings and place the dish underneath the spout of the water bottle, but I fill the dish with shavings. Then I can take the dish out and dump the soaked shavings and replace them however often I want. It helps a little.

[Res Judicata]

Jenn -- I wish I could put a picture of her up here, but she just gets her belly wet, and is such a wiggler. You'd see a fuzzy picture of a pig's underside.

Clotho -- I wish I could use something plastic and with a bigger lip than a little trough for under rectangle flowerpot., but that's just an invitation for cagemate Cloudy to toss it. Although she might not after she gives herself a shower. There would be a good picture....fat, wet, ticked off Cloudy. *laughs*

[paula.m.moore]

Two of my pigs, Chompsky & Oppenheimer (really, who else? ) played with one of their water bottles constantly. I would fill it up in the morning and by the next day it was completely empty. They are the 32 oz. bottles. The other was completely full, untouched. I don't know why because to my human eyes the bottles appeared identical. So I left the bottle they preferred to play with empty for several days so their only source of water was the bottle they didn't play with. After a couple days they realized there was no water, therefore (in my opinion anyway) no fun to be had, and stopped messing with the bottle altogether. Now I can put both of the water bottles in and for the most part they leave the one bottle alone and only use it for its intended purpose.

I don't know why it worked, but maybe it's worth a try if you have another water bottle?

[Res Judicata]

I bought and installed a similar water bottle, and being the little turd she is, Bunny played with that one, too. We're searching around for a heavy trough that's deeper than the one we have. If that fails, I'm going to add a separate room to the cage for the water bottles, like the bump-out I have to keep their hay in. That way I can line it with towels that can be easily replaced, there won't be soggy aspen stuck to the soggy towels -- or at least as much, and with a lip between the the new room and main cage, things will stay dry in the main living area.

[cavyinhawaii]

Mine did that too. Teddy would take showers in the spout. I watched her rub her face and her head on the tip. Dumping water all over the ground was fun too. I bought two bottles with a spring loaded tip. The spring holds the ball so they can't bounce it around and play with it. They have to lick it to get water. It annoyed her for the first few days now shes moved on to other things to do. When I went to the store I held the bottle upside down and if I could hear the ball roll I would know it was not spring loaded. I found one size and you have to push your finger on the ball to get it to move. Some packaging call them no drip. Mine didn't have any info on it.

[Res Judicata]

I'll have to look for those types of water bottles.

[aqh88]

The bottles with the spring mostly solved my problem too. Their tongues get too tired from trying to hold the ball up when they do more than normal drinking. It wasn't as much fun and they eventually gave it up completely. You can also place bricks or tiles under the bottle. It will absorb a little water, spread it out, and let it evaporate faster without soaking the bedding.

[babyboo]

You should try just putting the water in a bowel and then it won't be that much fun to play with.