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Question about Rodent watering systems.

I gotta admit, I am nervous about using an automatic watering system in my new rack. The thought of a flood and the loss of life it could cause bothers me. Has anyone come up with a floodproof method (other than water bottles)?
 
SVT Snake said:
They don't seem to have any sort of valve to prevent dripping. I guess they just rely on vacuum?
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They don't drip. I used them when I was breeding rats and had no problems. Water pressure not vaccum helps keep them closed.
 
One tip I would offer with the valves. Put a dash of unscented clorox in the water resevoir. Everything will work fine for a couple of months without it, but there's a buildup that will occur over time that will prevent the needle valve from working and no water will come out.
THis may not be a problem on city water, but it happens with me and I found that a little clorox solves the problem.

Occasionally the valves will begin to drip. You can usually take them apart and clean them and fix that.

Jamie asked if there was a floodproof way of using an auto watering system. There isn't. Regardless of what you do eventually you'll have a flood. That's why I only use buckets as resevoirs and do not hook the system into a constant supply line.
Floods are rare though, but they do happen. Even so, the work saved by getting rid of water bottles is more than worth it.
 
Clay Davenport said:
Jamie asked if there was a floodproof way of using an auto watering system. There isn't. Regardless of what you do eventually you'll have a flood. That's why I only use buckets as resevoirs and do not hook the system into a constant supply line.
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Depending on how your vivs are set up, you could install a drain line, in case of flood. A standard shower drain assembly with p-trap is inexpensive and easy to install. If your vivs are located where a line can be run either through the floor or out the wall, a drain would prevent any interior damage.
 
I wouldn't say a drain would prevent ANY interior damage, unless the floor was concrete, but it would prevent standing water.
However, Jamie's concern was the loss of rodents due to their drowning in the tub in the event of a flood.
The reason I don't use a constant water supply is with a bucket, you normally only lose one tub when a flood does happen. If it's on a constant supply though, that tub will overflow and flood the one below and so on until the water reaches the floor resulting in even more lost rodents.
 
Clay Davenport said:
I wouldn't say a drain would prevent ANY interior damage, unless the floor was concrete, but it would prevent standing water.
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jaxom1957 said:
"If your vivs are located where a line can be run either through the floor or out the wall"
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Did that part of my post escape your reading?
 
jaxom1957 said:
Did that part of my post escape your reading?
Click to expand...

No, I read it just fine. Perhaps I was unable to visualize what you were suggesting properly based on your three sentence description.
I assumed you were suggesting putting a drain in the room to catch the water from a flood.
Were you actually suggesting installing a drain in every individual tub in the rack to prevent any water from reaching the floor in the first place?
 
Clay Davenport said:
No, I read it just fine. Perhaps I was unable to visualize what you were suggesting properly based on your three sentence description.
I assumed you were suggesting putting a drain in the room to catch the water from a flood.
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No, I meant a drain for each viv.
Were you actually suggesting installing a drain in every individual tub in the rack to prevent any water from reaching the floor in the first place?[/QUOTE]
Yes, I was suggesting a drain in each tub. I was thinking of snake tubs, not mouse tubs, though mouse tubs could be done as well, using the smaller vanity sink drain. Simple to cut a one inch hole with a hole saw and attach the drain. I would imagine each drain dropping down into a collection pipe that would then travel out of the room. Most people that I've known with mouse colonies have them in exterior sheds, so running drain lines isn't particularly difficult.
 
I guess I would have to see such a set up to understand how it works. I don't understand how a drain pipe could be installed without interfering with the removal of the tub from the rack for cleaning purposes.
Regardless, in my case I have around 70 rodent tubs of various sizes in my rat building. Floods are so rare it's not nearly worth the effort to install drains in every tub, plus the spares I switch out with during cleaning, even if they didn't hinder the removal of the tubs.
 
Clay Davenport said:
I guess I would have to see such a set up to understand how it works. I don't understand how a drain pipe could be installed without interfering with the removal of the tub from the rack for cleaning purposes.
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Take a look under your bathroom sink. Most drains are connected to the p-trap (the section of pipe that curves down and then back up again, preventing sewer gas from entering the room) by a plastic coupling with two "ears" on it. The coupling holds a silicone washer in place to prevent leaks. To remove the tub, you would just unscrew that fitting and lift it out.

I doubt that I've installed more that a hundred or two, so.... Used to rehab houses for a living, so had to learn carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc. It comes in handy for the oddest things. :D
 
I know what a p trap is, what they are for, and how they are installed. I just didn't think you'd be hooking it up normally due to the aggravation of having to unhook it from each and every tub once a week for cleaning.
Rodent tubs in a rack do not lift out, they slide out towards the front, and the levels are spaced close together to increase space effeciency. The tubs used in homemade racks are most often cat litter pans or concrete mixing tubs.
My opinion remains that to install such drains in rodent racks would be highly impractical and make servicing the rack several times more aggravating.
I would much rather lose a tub of mice every few months due to a flood than to have to deal with that degree of work just to keep them clean.
 
Clay Davenport said:
I would much rather lose a tub of mice every few months due to a flood than to have to deal with that degree of work just to keep them clean.
Click to expand...
As I said earlier, I thought he was talking about an automatic watering system for his viv, not his mice.
 
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