So it appears that Clemmy and Piper are still a little too shy to write anything other than "hello." I tried to offer them the keyboard, but they ran away. We'll probably need to wait another week or two before they're ready.
Aside from that, I discovered a cleaning method for those tricky water bottles! Much thanks to the Guinea Lynx Forums for this wonderful tip!
How to Clean the Water Bottle and Spout
* It should first be mentioned that water bottles must be cleaned out daily in order to prevent algae and other muck from contaminating your guinea pig's water. They need fresh water at all times and providing a clean water bottle is just part of it. While you may not need to repeat this particular method everyday, it should be done at least once or twice each week.
1. Start by emptying any leftover water from the bottle. Rinse with hot water once (fill halfway with hot water, cover, and shake for 20 seconds).
2. Pour one (1) tablespoon of dry, uncooked rice into the bottle. DO NOT use minute rice; it'll get mushy.
3. Pour one (1) teaspoon of plain tablesalt into the bottle.
4. Pour two (2) tablespoons of hot water into the bottle.
5. Cover the opening with hands/fingers and SHAKE VIGOROUSLY! for one to two minutes. Be sure to swirl and create small vortexes in the water so that the rice swishes throughout the entire bottle.
6. Empty contents.
7. Rinse bottle with hot water three (3) times and allow to air dry.
**(this may be repeated for very dirty bottles)**
8. Rinse spout with hot water and remove the rubber insert.
9. Wipe outer and interior areas with a hot cloth (soap optional). Any areas that cannot be reached can be wiped with a Q-Tip.
10. Rinse three (3) times, making sure any soap is completely removed. Allow to air dry.
The whole process takes about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how thorough and/or dirty the bottles are. My girls are pretty messy, so I would need to repeat this process about two times each week. For daily cleanings, I would only need to do step one.
Hope this helps anyone that needs it!
2 comments:
Don't you mean another wheek or two? :-D hahahahahaha
Water bottles can be such a pain to clean sometimes!
I gave up on water bottle brushes geared toward small animal owners, because they don't reach the tricky spots well at all. I started using a filter brush, like what folks use for aquariums. It bends any which way you need it to go.
There's still nothing better than cotton swabs for cleaning the drinking spout, is there?
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