Boys and their water bottles

[MistyMae]

Hello All,

We have all dwarf hamsters (Campbells, Winter Whites, and Robos). During our regular water bottle changes, we have noticed that all our males seem to have a lot of thick residue on the tips of their water bottles. However, all of our females' bottles are always clean. Not sure if the males have thicker saliva or they are scent marking their water bottles. We were just curious if anyone else experiences this with their male hammies?

Thanks

[Jessie]

I have this problem with my male guinea pigs but I've never noticed it with a hamster. I'm interested in what others think. I always assumed it was food residue of some sort