Bottled water or tap water?

[Cinnamon Bear]

There are glass bottles available which can be expensive to buy bottle and holder for all my hamsters plus I've had 2 Kaytee bottles & they both dripped even while filled to the top.

Dripping drives me crazy as you can see. I had what I thought was a good Lixit bottle drench Paris' bedding. So hopefully I can return 3 out of the 4 bottles that I ordered.

I might buy a case of inexpensive bottled water for the hammies & tasty water for me? Or maybe we will all drink inexpensive bottled water, as this money could be used for a gym membership instead of brand name watee.

[AmityvilleHams]

I've used bottles and just recently tried a bowl!So far it's been a lot better,and I honestly don't think I'll keep using bottles for my current hamster(she took to a bowl immediately,so no problem there).That's a whole separate issue though,but there are good and bad sides to everything!

Inexpensive water can be fine,as long as it is decent quality and has nothing unsafe in it.

[alpacassei]

Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams

I've used bottles and just recently tried a bowl!So far it's been a lot better,and I honestly don't think I'll keep using bottles for my current hamster(she took to a bowl immediately,so no problem there).

How do you stop your hamsters from knocking the water bowl over or filling it with bedding?

[Drago]

Originally Posted by alpacassei

How do you stop your hamsters from knocking the water bowl over or filling it with bedding?

What kind of water bowl do you have? Shallow reptile dishes tend to be very hard to knock over due to their design I personally have ceramic tile in all of my hamster cages so I usually just put the bowl on that, you could also keep it on a shelf or second level. As for keeping bedding out, I usually just change the water in the bowl two or so times a day

[flowerfairy]

I have ceramic water bowls for all my hamsters and stand them on their wooden shelves to keep them away from bedding. Except for Aruns, mynlittle golden angel has never got any bedding in his bowl even though its on the ground near his wheel.

The water in hampshire is really hard. May have to think about bottled water ... Hmmm

[Vectis Hamstery]

My hamsters all have tap water and always have done. My hammies use water bottles which have a life of a few years before they need replacing. I found the glass bottles tended to jam unexpectedly so I went back to the Classic plastic ones.

[Fluffagrams]

Both the hamsters and the guinea pigs have tap water and always have done except for one occasion where we were travelling. I used bottled water to fill up James's water bottle whilst we'd stopped to have a picnic on the journey (he did have a chunk of cucumber too).

The hamsters have only ever had water bottles and we usually use the 75ml Classic ones in the cages and the 150ml Classic ones in the playbins although that's only because I had to throw some smaller ones away recentely and haven't bought more yet. I think if I was to use bowls, my girls would only do something silly with them like put 'housekeeping' in them.

[Hamsterita]

I think that the safety of tap water depends on where you live. I drink tap water and I give Blacky tap water. I wouldn't drink tap water from the South East of Spain and I probably wouldn't give it to my ham either. In some places tap water can be even better than bottled water (it's not usual, but it can be), and in other places tap water can kill you or make you very very ill (for example if you go on Holidays to Egypt travel agencies recommend you even brush your teeth with bottled water).

I use water bottles but lately I been thinking about using a different one or bowls.