FINCHforum

How many of you use the rubber stopper, glass tip feeders for water similar for use with rats, mice, gerbils, etc.? Not necessarily the type with the ball at the end, but it's generally glass and open at the tip.

I bought several of the type that has the "finger treat cup" end that fits into the cage and it makes me nervous that if it's not positioned correctly, the water doesn't fill up the little cup as the bird drinks.

Didn't take long for them to learn to use the new feeders, but wondering if the rubber stopper type is better.

The best tip type water drinker is the Water Buddy by Edstrom. We use them and love them.

I use the tube-style waterers with the 'finger treat cup' end, and I've never had a problem with the end not filling up with water. On the other hand, I have had some overflow and most of the water goes on the cage floor. They still have the water that is in the base and the 'treat cup' end, so they don't run out of water, but I would hate to be out of town and have this happen.

fairestfinches wrote:The best tip type water drinker is the Water Buddy by Edstrom. We use them and love them.

How does this drinker work? And, more importantly, how quickly can birds adapt to using it? TIA.

Hi, Atarasi!

The Water Buddy type of drinker works sort of like the type of water systems used for hamsters, gerbils, etc. The main difference is that Water Buddies have a metal nozzle that sticks into the cage between the cage bars and that nozzle has a "needle" like device inside it that the birds push with their beaks in order to make it dispense water. It does not work on a vacuum system (so seeds/gunk don't get sucked inside the nozzle.

Birds will learn to use them ... some more quickly than others, depending on levels of curiosity. Also, you can "teach" a bird to use a Water Buddy by holding a bird's head to the nozzle and gently push its beak against the needle so the needle dispenses a drop of water. Once one bird in a cage learns to use a Water Buddy, it will teach the others how to use it. To be on the safe side, we usually put an open dish of water under the Water Buddy nozzle until we know all the birds in a cage have learned to use the Water Buddy.

One thing we have learned about the Water Buddies is that birds are very clever and quickly figure out that, if the Water Buddy is placed high enough up on a cage, one bird can use his/her foot to depress the needle and cause a continuous stream of water to come out .... thereby creating a very relaxing shower for all the other birds waiting down below. Our societies taught our gouldians how to do this last year. Ugh! LOL! And, our juvenile blue caps figured it out on their own!

Water Buddies also are top rack dishwasher safe and the ones made of blue plastic also help to prevent the growth of bacteria inside them. ;)

You can check them out on our website if you like. They're under the "Cage Accessories" tab.

Michele