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Male Babies not drinking from water bottle

teneraestnox

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
26
Another victim of unexpected petshop pregnancy here. The three male babies are all separated from their momma and have been for a little over a week now. My question is, though, that they aren't really drinking from their water bottle. Nor do they really have a vested interested in it. They have a little thing of water that is down on the floor that I HAVE seen them drink from, so they aren't dehydrated. I'm just wondering if without having an adult around they have no idea what to do with the water bottle? I thought I read once that the male babies could really do with an adult male role model. My only problem is that I already have 7 and I'm not really interested in adding more at this time. But if that's what I have to do, I'll just have to think of a really good argument to convince my wife... :)?

I'm okay as long as they are drinking some kind of water, I just worry about when we're both at work and if they tip it over or the water runs out, I don't want them to be waterless. If they're going to drink from a bowl their whole lives, maybe I should work out a non-tippable, bigger solution.
 
Someone can tell me if I'm wrong, but could feeding veggies higher in water content help? Cucumber, bell pepper, celery? Would they be able to sit in your lap if you syringed them some water occasionally?
 
Your piggies can get a good amount of water from the veggies. Rinse the greens and leave them wet when feeding. But don't overdo the cucumber and such because you are losing nutrients when feeding these.

I had a foster guinea pig for a while that refused to use the water bottle. I contacted the shelter immediately because I was concerned, and their vet reassured me that she was probably getting enough from the wet veggies, and some drink quite little. I also received tips on training her to use the bottle:

By dripping the water bottle regularly, the bit of water is often there. Guinea pigs have a good sense of smell and should be able to find it. You can also place a small dish under, so it's dripping into something and not immediately absorbed in the bedding.
 
I was thinking they might be getting plenty of water from the vegetables, but that's a good idea to give it to them wet! Maybe they just aren't as thirsty as my others. My oldest two drink plenty, but now that I think more about it, the momma doesn't drink as often. But I could just be rationalizing. She's just a sweet-tempered lady and the other two draw your attention more.

Their small container of water is located right under the water bottle to show them where it is, but I've never seen any of the babies actually, and we have one female, come near the bottle. When they were about a week and a half, we went on vacation for a few days and my brother-in-law watched them, he said he saw one of the babies drinking from the water bottle, but I never have. I'm hesitant to take away the water that I know they drink because they can't tell me they're thirsty. =\
 
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