please help!

[Blue eyes]

I have found that rabbits tend to drink more from a bowl than from a bottle. More water is good! I also feel that a water bowl is cleaner because it is so easy to rinse out. The bottles often look clean but get a clear slime if not bottle brushed every day. Bottle brushing bottles every day is not my desire! (Just stick a finger inside a bottle to feel the inside and see if it isn't slimy.)

I used to use bottles only for my rabbits. Then I got a rescue rabbit that would get frustrated getting a single drop at a time while using a bottle. He preferred to drink the water that had dripped into a bowl I had placed under there to catch drips. That's when I started filling a bowl for him. His bondmate then also liked the bowl and started drinking more. That was enough to convince me to stick with bowls from then on.

Rabbits clearly can get used to using a bottle and it is still an option. But drinking from a bowl, imo, seems more natural-- they don't have to twist their neck to get to it. Maybe that's why they tend to drink more from the bowl.

To prevent tipping, I use the bowls that twist onto a clamp like these:

 

[zuppa]

I have found that rabbits tend to drink more from a bowl than from a bottle. More water is good! I also feel that a water bowl is cleaner because it is so easy to rinse out. The bottles often look clean but get a clear slime if not bottle brushed every day. Bottle brushing bottles every day is not my desire! (Just stick a finger inside a bottle to feel the inside and see if it isn't slimy.)

I used to use bottles only for my rabbits. Then I got a rescue rabbit that would get frustrated getting a single drop at a time while using a bottle. He preferred to drink the water that had dripped into a bowl I had placed under there to catch drips. That's when I started filling a bowl for him. His bondmate then also liked the bowl and started drinking more. That was enough to convince me to stick with bowls from then on.

Rabbits clearly can get used to using a bottle and it is still an option. But drinking from a bowl, imo, seems more natural-- they don't have to twist their neck to get to it. Maybe that's why they tend to drink more from the bowl.

To prevent tipping, I use the bowls that twist onto a clamp like these:

That's great explanation, but when you say that they drink more from bowl than from bottle do you know how much exactly per 24 hours? Just out of interest, would that be more than 200-300 ml per day or less

 

[zuppa]

I also feel that a water bowl is cleaner because it is so easy to rinse out. The bottles often look clean but get a clear slime if not bottle brushed every day. Bottle brushing bottles every day is not my desire! (Just stick a finger inside a bottle to feel the inside and see if it isn't slimy.)

My bottles are not slimy, firstly I don't use tap water (where I live tap water is very bad and I don't use it for drinking or cooking), also I clean bottles with white vinegar time to time, they are pretty clean. Squeaky clean. No slime.

 

[Blue eyes]

That's great explanation, but when you say that they drink more from bowl than from bottle do you know how much exactly per 24 hours? Just out of interest, would that be more than 200-300 ml per day or less

My most recent pair is the one I can remember. The one from my original story, I no longer recall. But from my recent pair, the female would drink 20 oz per day (about 600 ml). The male would really vary -- some days he'd only drink half that and other days, near 20 oz. The bowls I had held 20 oz and I had to have 2 bowls to last the night with the bonded pair.

 

[zuppa]

My most recent pair is the one I can remember. The one from my original story, I no longer recall. But from my recent pair, the female would drink 20 oz per day (about 600 ml). The male would really vary -- some days he'd only drink half that and other days, near 20 oz. The bowls I had held 20 oz and I had to have 2 bowls to last the night with the bonded pair.

600 ml per day wow that's extreme. Bernie's max was 400ml during hot weather. One of my trio's drinks from 1100ml bottle and sometimes I have to refill twice a day, it makes about 600ml per day but not every day, also because it is a large bottle there are some leaks since tube is wider so some water wasted.
That's interesting, I will try to experiment with bowls to see if they will drink 600ml, I have a few with wide base so they can't tipp them over, but they are maybe less than 100 ml. A few months ago I remember now I didn't have a bottle and Bernie had to use a food bowl fixed to the wall, about 100ml, I only refilled it twice a day and it wasn't completely empty I just wanted her to drink fresh water without any hay in it. It was just for 3-4 days and when she was back to her bottle I think she looked happier than drinking from bowl. I will try again someday.

Not with Smokey, she;s very desperate and water won't stay in her bowl and won't be clean so bottle is her only friend. By the way, her bottle is 500ml long tube and she does drink a lot lately because she started eating more hay, so I find her bottle empty more often so checking on her more often and refilling maybe every 16 hours, it would make more than 500ml a day, but she only started drinking that much recently, maybe a month or so.

 

[Blue eyes]

I've definitely seen a correlation to how much hay they eat with how much water they'll drink.