water bottle freezing

[pitmanuk 2]

i use tin foil and wrap it around loads then use a load of tape. its working for me, but it's not that cold in swansea.

[Wardyuk 0]

I put the hutch in the garage over night.

[oohmydog 82]

Get your self round to your nearest scaffold yard and ask them for a piece of the safety lagging your bottle will fit perfect. bit of tape up the seam and your sorted the bit of ice round the ball bearing melts quick when your ferrets try to drink

[happyferret123 13]

There are also items you can buy on Ebay for those who have money,...sadly not me. I just change it loads of times a day when it's this cold

Some examples.

ebay bottle

 

ebay bottle

[shepp 2,285]

Iv got 4 big bottles. 2 sit on the radiator in case a change is needed and the other 2 are side by side on the cage mesh. Once iv attached the bottles to the cage mesh i wrap a big hessian sack around them and hook a small bungy cord to either side to hold the sack in place. Every day i check if its frozen or not by removing the sack and looking and i open the cage door and dab the ball to see if thats frozen or not. If it is then i replace both bottles with the ones on the radiator (which iv not had to do yet).

 

That looks a bit too high tech for me mate

[deanflute 550]

There are also items you can buy on Ebay for those who have money,...sadly not me. I just change it loads of times a day when it's this cold

Some examples.

ebay bottle

 

ebay bottle

 

 

I still think the nozzle and ball would still freeze up, That's the trouble I'm having at the minute, The water in the bottle is not frozen but the nozzle is, Just have to change them last thing at night and then first thing in the morning

[borntohunt 19]

mix the water with cooking oil or sugar this stops the water freesen but the pipe and ball still freese up on mine

[THE GRIFF 8]

All of my ferrets are in hutches in my shed and the bottles have been freezing solid overnight for the last 3 days. I have another set of bottles I have been swapping over on a morning and night, but the nozzles have still been freezing during the day.

 

I think I have sussed it out though tonight, I have put an old oil filled radiator in the shed and put it on a low setting just to take the chill out of the shed. I have just been out to check on it to make sure it has warmed up and the shed is warmer than my bedroom, I might even go and sleep with the ferrets tonight!!!

[ferrety f 23]

If you are still having trouble with the nozzle freezing, try heating some large beach type pebbles in the microwave / radiator and place in a big ceramic dog or rabbit bowl of water.. apparently this works.

 

I have not tried it as my stinkies like to snorkel all the water out.

[kevin from bristol 95]

its a pain in the arse once frozen dont put the bottles in hot water as they will bend up as the ice melts just take the caps off and let them melt at room temperature ,laging the bottles will work until you get really cold -20 then you will have to change them anyway also this time of year extra bedding goes along way, i make up little boxes stuffed with bedding so they can get in and snuggle up , my hob is on his own and loves his little box this weather is no joke for ferrets i expect alot have died this year from people not being propared and knowing what to do

[The one 8,483]

A ten minute job of topping up the water bowls and defrosting the dog bowls is taking a hour times that four times a day .the white stuff loks nice but its fast loosing its appeal

[longnetter 32]

I just swop my bottles morning and evening, leave the frozen ones to thaw out over night indoors

[stevethefish 80]

Nothing will work apart from changing the bottles daily, its been down to minus 15 here, all my water pipes, central heatin pipes etc are frozed solid with loads of lagging on them so socks would not work here. They will do ok if you feed them fresh kill, there is enough water in the body of a rabbit to keep them alive and well even if they have to chew at frozen food, sounds harsh but what would they do in the wild?