are you joining me for this video you're very helpful what do you think water
dishes or water bottles
hey guys it's me Victoria and today I wanted to sit down
and discuss water dishes or water bottles so throughout my lifetime of
owning hamsters ten years I have never gone without using a water bottle I have
never used a water dish for my hamsters so it really kind of came to me when I
was researching more about hamsters and their care in other countries like
Germany where they do not use water bottles because they don't believe that
water bottles are good for the hamster they actually use bowls and bowls and
water bottles seem to be a very debated topic a lot of people think that bowls
are dangerous and that they can create a lot of bacteria and that your hamster
can fall in and drown which I don't know how you're gonna drown in an inch of
water but okay so that made me decide to try out water dishes and see how my
hamsters like them and what's the difference between the two & which I
like better one of the reasons a lot of people actually like to use water
bottles is because that they say it creates less bacteria for the hamster
because it's not open bedding and stuff can't fall in it but that isn't really
true bottles can create just as much bacteria as a water dish could if you're
not cleaning out this part here every time you change the water and same with
this spout this spout is very very very hard to clean properly you can't see in
it so you can't see what you're cleaning really so it can be a lot harder to
clean so bacteria can build up on this whereas this is a open bowl and it's
pretty easy to clean and of course every time you change your hamsters water you
should be cleaning out their dish so that bacteria doesn't
build up and anything now another one of the reasons that German hamster owners
don't like using water bottles is because they have to drink out of the
spout therefore it can be an awkward angle when drinking especially if you
don't have it positioned right if you have your bottle too low they're going
to have to try and go like this and if they're too high they have to try and
reach as well so that can cause some issues as well so you really kind of
want your bottle to be at a happy medium almost eye level even then people
do think that it can cause neck issues or that it causes them to drink at an
awkward angle whereas a dish a hamster can drink
naturally hamsters in the wild they don't got water bottles to drink out of
hamsters will go to a body of water to drink from so a dish really is a more
natural option for a hamster another thing is that when you have a water
bottle I think a lot more people are less likely to change it out as often
because you can put so much water in here and you can just walk away and you
don't really have to refill it as often which isn't as good because then the
water isn't as fresh so when you have a dish the water evaporates a lot more
faster therefore you're going to have to change it more often which is better
because fresh water is good and that way you are going to be cleaning out their
dish more so that means a less bacteria you can very easily prevent a hamster
water dish from getting dirty by keeping it on a platform another issue with the
water bottle that you wouldn't have with a dish is that a hamster can access a
dish at any time there's no issue with a bottle when you put it into their cage
you don't know if this is going to be working all the time the ball in the
water bottle sometimes will get stuck and a pocket of air will get stuck in
here therefore water won't come out which isn't safe because if you don't go
to check it often your hamster might not be getting water and become dehydrated
so if you do have a water bottle make sure you are always checking and pushing
on this ball and that water is coming of the bottle so when I decided to
switch my hamsters to water dishes I had to find a perfect water dish I didn't
want something that was too large and I didn't want something that was too tiny
of course so I actually found the perfect happy medium and that is little
tea light candle holders I got these off of Amazon it came in a pack of eight I
think when I gave my hamsters water for the first time in a dish it was a very
interesting reaction all of the hamsters got it right off the bat I don't think
there's a hamster who isn't gonna know what to do when they're given a water
dish because it's just a natural instinct to drink out of water but these
Syrians definitely were a little bit more shocked when they put their little
noses into their and their whiskers touched the water and they were like oh
my gosh what is this Tater Tot got it right away she was like drinking out of
it as soon as I put it in there so she really enjoyed having a water dish it
was also really interesting to catch bumble drinking out of the water dish it
was super adorable and I just looked a lot more natural and she could also
access water a lot easier if you were to compare like trying to drink out of a
water bottle yourself you have to sit there and lick at this ball to get water
out where is this you can drink and get water out of very easily so I think the
water bottle definitely can prevent your hamster from drinking a lot more in
conclusion I think both can be great options I have nothing against a water
bottle or a water dish I personally am going to be sticking with using a water
dish but water bottles but water bottles can be great as well as long as you are
properly cleaning them out making sure they are working so I hope this video
can help maybe somebody choose between whether or not they want to use a water
bottle or maybe they want to switch to a dish or you haven't decided yet I hope
I've answered any questions or concerns so yeah guys thank you for watching bye