Tips for cleaning water bottles

Coco1 · 03-14-2005, 12:30 PM

This may not be new to some, many of you may do this already, but for those who may not have thought about it I figured I'd pass along this hint. As I'm a birder, I love to garden for hummingbirds & keep a lot of hummingbird feeders. Those of you who use hummer feeders also know that you can buy little brushes, some made of bristle, some of soft sponge, to clean out the hummer feeders. Hummer feeders are very similar in size / shape to hamster bottles and the brushes used to clean them are excellent for getting inside the hamster bottles to give them a really good clean!

Many bird stores sell these small brushes (I personaly prefer the small sponge tipped brush) for just a couple of dollars. You can also get the tiny "Mascara" shaped brushes which are used on hummer feeders to clean out the ports. These can also be great for cleaing inside the spout end of the bottle.

(For those in the UK, as you don't have hummers there you probably won't find the hummer brushes but I'm sure brushes of some sort do exist for pet bottles)

Emma · 03-14-2005, 04:32 PM

Yes, many pet shops over here sell stiff-bristled brushes of various sizes for cleaning out pet water bottles. I have one for my guinea-pig bottles which tend to get algae more often, being outside. I've never seen one small enough for my robo's bottle, which is only 60ml (a mouse bottle), but then it's emptied and washed out daily, there's never been a problem with it.

**babyboos** · 03-14-2005, 05:46 PM

I use baby formula bottle brushes and sterliser tablets for my bottles. They are steeped and scrubbed on a weekly basis, and on a nightly basis rinsed out with plain water and a few grains of rice. We are lucky to have nice soft water in Scotland with low levels of limescale, so have very little algae and furring problems.

Coco1 · 03-15-2005, 10:01 AM

Babyboos, I never thought of baby formula bottle brushes! (but then I'm not a mum other than to my animals so wouldn't even think of it!)

I have used grains of rice however in the past with some of my hummer bottles if I didn't have a brush on hand. Worked well.

**babyboos** · 03-15-2005, 02:16 PM

I am not a mum either except to all my fur babies!

Coco1 · 03-15-2005, 02:20 PM

hehehe. OK!

**babyboos** · 03-15-2005, 03:11 PM

maybe one day

**pophammy** · 04-02-2005, 02:48 AM

Go for it Babyboos exept it will take longer than 16 days! Pophammy is two-daughter and me. We never used bottle brushes as mummy's milk is best for all babies! She loves hamsters as much as me!

**babyboos** · 04-02-2005, 06:22 AM

And thankfully I don't risk upwards of 4 babies in the one sitting - my average is 13 for the Syrians, 4 for Chinese and Roborovski, and 8 for the Russian Dwarves.