NUTRITION (cont)
Clean potable water should be available to rodents all the time. In some areas of the country the water may need to be analyzed for possible contaminants. Water may be supplied either through an automatic delivery system to individual valves in each cage or from bottles with sipper tubes. Of course an automatic watering system is much less labor intensive than water bottles but it must be checked on a daily basis to be sure it is working properly.
Water provided in bottles should be monitored for such problems as sipper tubes that are too short for the animals to reach and fully-filled bottles that prevent water flow down thru the tube.
Sipper tubes vary in length