Drinkers for rabbits: types and how to do it yourself at home

One of the most important components of successful rabbit rearing is constant access to clean drinking water. Animals suffer from a lack of fluid, and dehydration can lead to disturbances in the processes of digestion and metabolism, which threatens with diseases and death of livestock. Dirty, stale water is just as risky, so drinkers for pet rabbits should ensure that the animals have access to liquid and keep it clean.

Basic Requirements

Rabbit drinkers have the following requirements:

1. Easy design.
2. Keeping water clean even when used by many animals.
3. Permanent access of rabbits to the drinker.
4. No accidental flipping.
5. Affordable price.
6. Stable liquid supply even in the absence of owners.

If the rabbit is decorative, and it is kept in the house alone, you can limit yourself to a simple bowl, like for cats or indoor dogs. It is only important to constantly monitor the cleanliness of the contents and replace them regularly.

Types of drinkers for rabbits

In the event that rabbits are bred en masse or if several animals are kept, you will have to take care of the availability of drinkers of a suitable type. They must be durable, work properly and supply the rabbits with the necessary amount of drinking water. It will not be possible to limit yourself to a bowl or an improvised means, because the animals will dirty the container and spill the liquid.And this will lead to rotting food, breeding dampness in the cage and the room, as well as diseases of rabbits due to wet paws.

To prevent this from happening, you need to take care of buying the right type of drinker.

Cup

Such a device is equipped with two nozzles and a float, which ensures a constant level of liquid in the tank. The device is attached to the wall, does not require special knowledge and skills for installation, is easy to clean and disinfect. Rabbits quickly get used to it, but this type is more suitable for cages with three to five pets.

Nipple

This type of drinker is the most modern and convenient for keeping rabbits, because such a device virtually eliminates the risk of water pollution. Using a nipple drinker prevents animals from contaminating the liquid as it lacks a container.

It is also impossible to breed dampness, because there is simply nothing to turn over in a cage or room. Rabbits drink water from a kind of "nipple", pressing on which they receive a drop of crystal clear water using a valve - a nipple.

Nipple systems are of the following types:

1. Vertical (at 180 and 360 ^o).
2. Horizontal.

For rabbits, vertical drinkers 180 ^{o are best suited. They differ in the following characteristics:}

1. Installation within an hour.
2. Easy maintenance.
3. Autonomous operation of the system.
4. Wear resistance.
5. Service for decades.
6. Safety for animals, people, environment.
7. Minimum consumption of drinking water.
8. Constant liquid cleanliness.
9. Ability to give portions of vitamins, minerals and medicines with water.
10. Chance to install liquid heating for use in unheated areas or free range during the cold season.
11. Low price.

Nipple systems are popular and profitable for rabbit breeders, so they are becoming more common.

Vacuum

This is a fairly simple way to supply water to rabbits. The principle of operation is that the liquid pouring out of the inverted container into the bowl is topped up as the rabbits drink it. At the same time, the resulting vacuum does not allow it to spill immediately, flooding the cage and wetting the food and bedding.

These are cheap and practical devices with one drawback. Rabbits can dirty the water in the bowl of the drinker, besides, it is designed for several individuals, but not for dozens of them.

Automatic (large stock)

This option is the most practical and useful in the presence of a herd of rabbits in the tens and hundreds of heads. The auto-drinker consists of a large water tank, a distribution tank equipped with a float, and drinkers located in each rabbit cage. As the liquid evaporates or is drunk, the float descends, pouring fresh water into the bowls.

This system works well, but it's cumbersome, expensive, and the drinking bowls still need to be cleaned often because rabbits can drop wool, leftovers, hay, and so on.

Features of winter drinkers

If rabbits are outside in the winter or live in unheated rooms, they need to provide heated drinkers. For this purpose, nipple systems are suitable, equipped with electronic mechanisms that heat water to the required temperature.They require batteries to operate, so the cost of devices is quite high.

For keeping several heads or when a rabbit is in an apartment or house, they are not necessary, but when breeding a whole herd in the open air, you will have to purchase such a device. It will pay for itself over the coming months by making life easier for the rabbit breeder.

Handmade

At home, the easiest way to make a vacuum drinker. It is easily obtained from a bowl, a plastic bottle or from a sewer pipe. The most primitive option - a bottle of water is tipped over into a bowl and attached to the cage grate with plumbing clamps or strong wire. Part of the liquid is poured into the container, while the edge of the neck of the bottle is below the water's edge. When the rabbits drink from the bowl, water from the bottle flows into the container, replenishing the level.

As a temporary option, you can use any cheap plastic container, for example, the same PET bottle.It is closed with a lid, and a hole is cut in the side part slightly larger than the rabbit's head. After filling with water, an impromptu drinker in a horizontal position is attached to the side of the cage. As the liquid decreases, it is constantly topped up.

Such a device costs almost nothing, but it also lasts a couple of weeks, no more than a month. This is an excellent temporary option, for example, in a situation where the rabbits are already there, but the drinkers have not yet been brought or installed. But, with all the simplicity and cheapness of the method, it has a significant drawback. Rabbits can chew on a bottle, and plastic in the stomach and respiratory tract leads to the death of animals.

How to install it?

Most often, the cup is mounted on the wall of the room or on the side of the cage, at a height convenient for rabbits. The drinker should be placed in such a way that the owners or farm staff have quick access to the device, with minimal disturbance to the animals.This is especially important in the case of pregnant females and lactating mothers. Stress, especially frequent, can lead to the death of the entire offspring or the refusal of the rabbit from offspring.

Care and cleaning

Even if rabbits cannot litter in the water (and in 99% of cases they do), dirt accumulates in all components of the drinking systems, sediments from the water, microscopic algae develop. If you do not regularly wash and clean all elements of the drinkers, this can become a serious threat to rabbits.

They easily get indigestion, and this entails diseases that can "lay down" the entire livestock. Therefore, drinkers with bowls and containers must be washed and cleaned of dirt, as well as disinfected with products that are safe for rabbits. In summer, this should be done more often than in winter, because the water becomes polluted and blooms much faster in the heat.

How to teach rabbits to use a drinker?

Rabbits are intelligent creatures, besides they have a developed sense of smell. Rabbits find standard water containers and drinkers with bowls without problems, but novice rabbit breeders do not know how to teach animals to use nipple devices. You can do this without any problems. It is necessary to moisten the "nipples" with carrot juice or milk. Two or three such attempts, and the rabbits in the herd will calmly drink water.

Water is extremely important for commercial rabbit rearing. With a lack of fluid, the animal weakens, eats worse, its metabolic and hormonal processes are disturbed. Females may not become pregnant after mating, and after birth they are able to bite or even eat offspring. So in order to get offspring and gain weight, it is important not only to provide pets with shelter and food, but also to ensure that they have fresh and clean water.

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