Water Bottle Filling Mania!

I have 47 water bottles in use at a time. Yes, cleaning water bottles is a big affair here. lol I have 2 or more water bottles on each cage OR a water bottle on each level. Anyway, I was using a Brita filter but that takes forever. I wanted to put a water filter on my bathroom faucet so while at Home Depot today to get shelves, we went over to look at bathroom faucets. None really fit. Then I thought it would be nice to have something on the shower to switch back and forth. And do you know, they actually make water filters for showers! We got a Danco Diverta Valve, 86" shower hose and a shower filter. I couldn't wait to try it so I cleaned water bottles just to try it out. OMG it is so awesome. It took no time at all to refill them. I still use a pitcher because the hose shoots the water out too fast but just using the phrase "too fast" in a statement about water filters is awesome!

Oh No I Broke a Glass Water Bottle....it's not a problem :-)

I broke one of my new glass water bottles....oh no!!! But no worries. I use the Lixit GB-Kit S (Recycles Beverage Bottles) Small Tube water bottle kits. They seem spendy, but they are WELL worth the money. I bumped the table and poof. Well, I just went over to my cabinet and pulled out another. Totally cool. This is also a great bottle if you have trouble opening the screw top bottles, which I have trouble with. Once you attach the hardware onto the cage, you don't remove it. Just scrub it when you scrub the cage. It is also easy to keep lots of bottles in reserve. I use Snapple bottles I get from the recycle bin at my work lunchroom--other bottles work as well. I remove the labels using a hair dryer and then I scrub the bottle, then I put it in boiling water and then run it through the dishwasher sans soap (I don't want soap residue in the bottle).

Even better, you can purchase additional stoppers with tubes so when you clean your bottles, you can have standbys readily available. And you are contributing to sustainability.

There are various places this can be purchased, but it is primarily listed under BIRD water bottles as it is marketed as a bird water water bottle.

New Site and New Water Bottles

Well, the site is underway. The new water bottles are working out well too! These are the Lixit Water Bottle Kits. I sterilized the Snapple bottles and the first one is in use. It is totally awesome. I have enough for everyone to have one bottle but I will be ordering more so every cage can have one for every level. These are totally awesome. I highly recommend them.

Looking forward to finishing the site and taking pictures for the site.

Vermin Village Update

Well, the room is FINALLY coming together. I have to clean some more cages and do some more shifting and it will be DONE. I will be so happy when I can say it is DONE. But it won't really be done.

The set up will be done, but then I want to add some plastic coverings to the walls because the cages rest up the walls and well, the little guys pee. I know some ratteries use shower curtains. I am going to see if something at JoAnn fabrics has something I might like.

Water bottles. Well, I ordered 2 cases of the water bottle kits to use with Snapple glass bottles. They were $8 per kit. I could have gotten a glass water bottle set for $2 less, but to order replacement bottles, it would have been too much to get the bottles so I'd end up buying a whole new set up. This way if I break the bottle, I go to the store (or the recycle bin at work in our lunchroom) and grab a new Snapple bottle. Today I hit pay dirt at work and got 26 bottles. So I will sterilize them and they will be ready to go.

Cages...I ordered 6 more custom parts and 3 modified Large Deluxe Rat cages. The modification for the Large Deluxe Rat cages will have no balcony and no ramp. This is for my senior ratties that can't have multiple stories. BUT it will still mesh with the rest of the cages when I don't have senior ratties. It will probably be ready sometime in May. (Great timing since our tax refund should be back by then.)

I'm looking to sell 3 of my custom cages of a different style, all of my Critter Trail stuff, a long 20 gallon aquarium (not manufactured for water worthiness), and a 10 gallon cage with topper, and a small cage that works as a carrier ( I would never house any animal in it for long term). I hope to put this towards my new purchases.

The 2 boys that live downstairs will be placed in the "senior" cages. Sherman will also move to a senior cage.

Temporarily, I will connect two of the large carriers together, one set for Popeetka and one set for Mr. Snuggles. They will move to the senior deluxe cages when they get here. Popeetka's current cage will go to Sherman to use.

The 6 custom extensions will be divided. The Rico Act will get an extension, Dumbo and Eddie will get an extension, Diego and Hades will get a section, Pip, Patches and Spot will also get an extension, as will Ruthie, Tweek, Zelda and Sprite. The last section will probably go for the girls Shäst, Precious, Lucy, Nona and the three new girls Isabella, Starlight, and Mocha. Eventually, they will be joined by Smudge. But as Smudge needs more socialization, she will remain in the bathroom cage until she is very socialized.

That is all the news for now. :-)