DIY drinker/feeder

[zuppa]

Hi, will be away for 3 days and need to leave enough water/food for my rabbits. Two males are easy they will survive 3 days with 600 ml water bottles and they're not greedy on food so I can leave 3 day portion sure they won't eat more than they want. But my girls are always hungry and they will easily eat all the food at once, they both also drink a lot of water, about 400 ml for 24 hours as it is quite hot now.
They both have 600 ml drinking bottles but that wouldn't be enough so I am doing some googling on DIY feeding/drinking solutions.
I thought I'd post some of my findings here.

Drinkers

 

[zuppa]

 

[zuppa]

Not sure how it works

 

[zuppa]

Wooden feeder

 

[zuppa]

Same system as a coupe posts before, poor rabbits so dirty and all but I don't understand how it works.

 

[zuppa]

 

[zuppa]

 

[zuppa]

 

[Blue eyes]

The rabbits that will eat more pellets if offered more pellets should not be given 3 days worth at one time. That could lead to GI issues pretty quickly.

For the water, I would not trust any new methods that have not been tried by you and your rabbits over at least that length of time when you are there to monitor and check for unexpected problems. If you aren't able to do that ahead of time (or even if you are) I still wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them for 3 days without knowing for certain that they will have enough water. Perhaps a neighbor or someone can at least stop by to check?

I've gone away a night or two leaving my indoor rabbits home. I would not leave them any pellet food whatsoever since I knew they would overeat. Instead, I left piles & piles of hay (and plenty of attached water bowls). I also had a real-time camera on their space.

 

[zuppa]

The rabbits that will eat more pellets if offered more pellets should not be given 3 days worth at one time. That could lead to GI issues pretty quickly.

For the water, I would not trust any new methods that have not been tried by you and your rabbits over at least that length of time when you are there to monitor and check for unexpected problems. If you aren't able to do that ahead of time (or even if you are) I still wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them for 3 days without knowing for certain that they will have enough water. Perhaps a neighbor or someone can at least stop by to check?

I've gone away a night or two leaving my indoor rabbits home. I would not leave them any pellet food whatsoever since I knew they would overeat. Instead, I left piles & piles of hay (and plenty of attached water bowls). I also had a real-time camera on their space.

Yes I have more than a week and going to do at least two trials, think I have a solution for water and for pellets you're right I wouldn't leave Smokey with 3-day portion, she'd only stop eating when it's all gone!

I am leaving next Wednesday around lunchtime and coming back Saturday late afternoon so just going to make sure Wednesday morning they are all fed and happy then will leave 2 day-bowls for everybody except Smokey and one day portion for Smokey but going to bury pellets under hay in her haybox so she will eat her hay and will find them when there's less hay, also thinking maybe will make her haybox (I gave her a large shallow cardboard box with perforated bottom) double layered so when she will eat her hay and will see the bottom of her box she'll see pellets underneath and will work the holes so she can get to the pellets. It should work, but I am not going to leave her much pellets anyway. She'll have plenty of hay and water she'll be fed by Wednesday lunchtime and I will leave her a half of day portion somewhere hidden I think so she'll find it next day hopefully when there's less hay and I am going to put them into a cardboard box so she will have to open it also will take time and effort. That will keep her occupied Thursday and for Friday even if she will find pellets under her haybox/bed earlier if she had only hay for Friday and half-Saturday that would be fine.

I am going to start tomorrow my first trial maybe for two days and will see how it goes. If she finds hidden pellets quicker or something else is not right I am just going to leave her with one-day portion and lots of hay and water. She's very smart and strong, like a Velociraptor

With Bernie I am also going to hide her second day food she's not so quick it will probably work. We'll see

With my males I know for sure they don't eat too much they are smaller than girls and when I give them more pellets than usual there are still some next day, so feeder like this last photo would work for them.

 

[Blue eyes]

Hidden pellets may or may not work. They may find them right away. Just bear in mind that it is better that they have no pellets than have too many pellets. If they miss out on their pellets but have plenty of hay that won't cause issues. But too many pellets can cause problems. You don't want digestive issues when you are gone and when they may be stressed from the change in their routine.

Just find the balance you feel is best.

 

[zuppa]

Just for the record, everything went well I bought extra giant drinking bottles for Smokey and Bernie (1100 ml) and they had their large 600 ml as well so 1700 ml in total, there was still some water when I came back home. Fred and Leo usually don't drink much they have midi 300 ml bottles and that's enough for a couple days but I added extra large 600 ml bottles just in case. They still had plenty of water left in them they usually drink about 50-70 ml daily. So everyone had two bottles and I fixed them firmly to the bars with an additional wire to make sure they can't be moved.

For food, Wednesday before leaving home I gave everyone a bit more than usual portion of pellets but without bowls for girls just on their hay, also left them a plenty of hay, as all my rabbits are perfectly toilet trained I've just covered their floor with hay (excepting their toilets). I removed all hanging hay mangers and everything that could be potentially dangerous. As I'd expect Fred and Leo still had their hay they both like their floor clear and moved hay to one side opposite the toilet tray Fred stuffed all hay under the bench.

Girls, Smokey was fine she still had some hay left and one bottle was almost full, her toilet looked healthy normal size poop maybe a bit less than usual as she had no pellets for two days. Bernie was skinny and very hungry she normally eats plenty of hay and I left a lot but she ate it all, I gave her only hay that evening I came back and pellets in the morning not full portion. She looked really skinny but now in two days back to normal weight and happy.

The only Fred's poop was not normal but smaller in size and some berries were connected I think because he ate some hay from the corners where there found some hair from molting I cleaned his cage before leaving and he's not molting now actually just a little bit as he is very fluffy maybe he cleaned himself and got some fur I watched him if he's in pain but he was acting like normal and next day his berries were normal size.

Also, before leaving home I put screens in front of every cage and shut down the blinds so it was dark in the room an

So summa summarum they did great and their cages weren't too dirty too, I usually change girls toilets twice a week and males weekly but remove urine corners on day 3-4, so everything went well.