Found black stuff in water bottle nozzle?

[kayred2000]

So a while back my mother's friend gave me some hamster supplies that included a water bottle. My water bottle was connected to my cage but my hamster is now in an aquarium so I have to use a different one. There was a weird yellow ring inside of the part you twist off, and I put a Q-tip through the part that the hamster would drink through and found this black stuff. I'm trying to clean this up and still maybe use it but I'd like to know that this is safe? That if there's any residue left that it won't harm my hamster. Please help with any knowledge you have!

[Jenibelle]

Could you put it through a dishwasher? That's probably your best bet for a thorough clean.

It sounds like it may be mold?

[kayred2000]

I might be able to but I think it might be one of the ones with a spring inside? I've spent the last about twenty minutes cleaning it and I'm not finding much of the black stuff left. If I run some more water through and check it again do you think it'd be okay to use?

[cypher]

Personally I would just bin it.
If bottles haven't been cleaned regularly & frequently the build up inside can be almost impossible to get rid of, maybe bleach or vinegar would do it but that might corrode the spout making things worse & if it did work you'd have to rinse it really, really well before you could safely use it, I don't think it's worth taking a risk for the price of a new water bottle tbh.

[souffle]

You can use a baby bottle steriliser tablet for them then rinse really well but o be honest it may be as well to get a new one as the gunk can cause the bottle to jam up and you don't want your ham going without water. Try and rinse it daily if you can to prevent build up.

[Pebbles82]

It's probably mould. I would bin it too. I have these bottles at the moment - they're good - let water out easily and don't drip. It's best to get two and keep one as a spare as water bottles do fail sometimes and don't seem to have a very long lifespan.

Fpi 4660 Drinky75 Drinky B.

Not sure if you're in the US or the UK - these seem popular in the US

Amazon.com : Kordon/Oasis (Novalek) SOA80304 Bell Bottle and Hold Guard Small Animal Value Set, 4-Ounce, variety colors : Pet Water Bottles : Pet Supplies

If you need to use it until the new one arrives then boiling water should kill any germs or fungus if you don't have a steriliser or dishwasher, but it will need a good 10 minutes in the boiled water. Don't actually boil it in a pan or it'll melt, just tip boiling water into a dish and put the affected parts in there.

[Jenibelle]

The link that Serendipity posted of the U.S bottle is the one I have, and although I've only had it a few days, I'm extremely happy with it so far!

[flowerfairy]

You could always give your hamster a water bowl as back up. All mine have bowls, heavy ceramic ones for the syrians and shallow ceramic ones for the roborovskis.