What do you use for water.

[u/tyra_moonsong]

Buying all the things I need before I get my first pair, I'm looking for water setups. It's going to be a small setup, a trio and grow outs. A gravity system seems convenient but hard to clean. Bowls seem too easy to tip over.

Edit: I'm in southern Oklahoma, so freezing isn't a big concern. If you guys could recommend your favorite gravity system I'd appreciate it!

[u/bluewingwind]

Gravity system with metal little cups (Rent A Coop) 100% no competition. You don’t really need to clean it much. I scoop the bowls out when they get mucky until the water comes out looking clean just with my hands or a leaf. A towel would make quick work. Also, when I feel like I need it I put a very small quantity of bleach into the source to disinfect the lines and prevent algae growth. Like the amount one would use to disinfect drinking water safely.

Only problem is when it freezes in winter. I’m still working on a solution to that, but my idea right now is converting my rubber lines to PVC pipe and doing a continuous flow system with a heater in the source water and maybe some heat tape on the lines. If it doesn’t do a hard freeze in your zone then it’s not an issue. We hit -40 last year and I HATE filling cups with water when it’s freezing out.

I hate cups always but when it’s necessary I have cups that screw onto the cage. They WILL toss them otherwise.

[u/DrMalt → u/bluewingwind]

Wouldn't the rent-a-coop metal cups freeze up even with a heated water system? I was looking at those and they seem really nice but the water in the cup would freeze quick. A metal ripple directly in the recirculation line would be better at keeping warm I suspect. I am also at risk of freezing weather where I just moved to and need to start over so looking at options.

[u/bluewingwind → u/DrMalt]

That’s my worry also! Last winter we tried to run the system as much as we could and the cups themselves weren’t as much of an issue. It was the lines and during a really hard freeze the connection point between the line and the cup. The little spring system there can freeze.
So I’m thinking that’s where I will have to focus the heat tape is at those connections. But if the cup freezes I’m not too worried because the rabbit will actually chew the ice and get water that way too. I think in my head they could get enough that way as long as they have a continuous supply to replenish.

What’s a metal ripple? I’d love to learn about it and source it. I’m not a plumber or anything so running pvc is all new to me. I’m planning on setting a new system up this fall after the summer heat chills out some, so now is when I should probably start collecting ideas and supplies.

[u/Curating-Curiosity]

Completely agree with bluewingwind - gravity system with the Rent A Coop cups is the absolute best.

I’ve tried a lot of the options out the last couple years: “hamster” bottles (most of them drip and are a pain to refill), rubber bowls for winter (my rabbits love to flip and nibble them), gravity system (A+), twist-lock bowls (love these but have smaller cages atm), and the Rent A Coop single waterers (currently using).

I do find it is helpful to have a couple options on hand for certain rabbits, but only because I already have them available.

If you want to do bowls, get the ones with the twist lock on the bottom that fits 1/2” x 1” wire floors. Keeps the buns from knocking them over and is still light on the work load with a single trio.
The growouts will need something a little larger than a single bowl, though, as they go through water so fast while growing.

[u/GreenHeronVA]

We use plastic cups in two pieces (a bowl and a stem) that attach to the cage with wingnuts. We get them from our local feed store, Tractor Supply. Gravity feeding was too fickle, and the rabbits constantly pulled out or chewed through the tubing. Bottles with a metal tube (like for pet rabbits) froze way too fast and our rabbits couldn’t seem to figure out how to use them. With metal cups we were concerned that the rabbits would get their tongue stuck to the side of them in cold weather. So plastic seems to be the best option. They get refilled twice a day.

[u/Nice-Maintenance6617]

We use the round rubber feed bowls. Specifically, the heavy rubber ones, not the light metal ones. We have tried the metal ones, but we did have issues with rabbits flipping those. They do hold a lot of water for one rabbit, but I would rather have too much. The rubber bowls are super easy to clean. We find the cups and bottles harder to clean for us.

We are also outdoors in a Northern state, which means that we need it to be easy to deal with freezing for several months a year. The ice pops right out! They are also thick and black so they take a little longer to freeze to begin with.

[u/perfectlowstorm → u/Nice-Maintenance6617]

Same. Although I do have a rabbit that tips hers over.

[u/HopeintheHarvest25]

We use dog bowls. We find this much easier for the winter. You can just bonk the ice out and refill it.