Farm Innovators Model HRB-20 Heated Water Bottle for Rabbits, 32-Ounce, 20-Watt, 4.2 x 4.2 x 11.5 inches ; 1 pounds, White

Brilliant solution to problem of frozen pet drinking bottles
I keep a couple of working ferrets here in Norfolk, UK. Since they are hardy they live out all year round and drink happily from the usual bunny bottles. When temperatures dip, however, the bottles freeze up and it’s usually the stainless steel drinking nozzles that go first of course. You can insulate the bottle in bubblewrap or somesuch and that’s ok for mild frosts, but there’s nothing you can do to stop the nozzle freezing. You can buy an insulated jacket for the bottle, but same problem with the nozzle.As my ferrets only eat dry complete food they need to drink a lot of water, including during the night when their bottles may have frozen. With the weather we’ve been having here in the UK this winter, with night time temps dropping to -14DegC (6.8DegF)or less (nothing compared to North America, I realise), I decided something had to be done.Sooo… I started thinking how I might incorporate a small heater into an existing bunny bottle – maybe the lowest-power aquarium heater controlled by a domestic central heating frost thermostat. But then arose the problem of how to make safe electrical connections, water seal etc etc. Then I thought: where in the world do they know a thing or two about harsh weather and are inventive enough to come up with ways of combating it? Answer: the good old USA, of course. So I googled ‘heated pet drinking bottle’ and up came this product on Amazon.com.Well, I placed my order on Dec 7th and it arrived on Dec 18th – just 11 days from the USA to the UK in the pre-Christmas rush, including customs clearance. I’ve been waiting longer than that for items I ordered from Amazon UK and they still haven’t arrived, so top marks for service! And the package was trackable online – how good is that for ordinary mail, not courier?Obviously, being an American product the voltage was ‘wrong’ – 110vAC instead of 220v AC but a quick visit to Amazon UK found me a small step-down transformer with built-in US-style socket for less than GBP7, so problem solved. Tip: make sure any transformer you buy produces at least 20 watts output or you can fry its internals – the one I got produced 45 watts so no problem.Installed and set up the bottle today and it’s working fine – heater warming nicely. Intructions are a bit so-so, particularly what you do with the two little metal brackets included with the product. The two stretchy springs also included are all you need to attach the bottle to the mesh of a cage, so my guess is the two brackets are to give you attachment options for situations where there’s no mesh available.I would agree with other criticisms that the mains lead/cord is way too short – 4 or 5 feet (1.5 metres)would be better; it would give more siting options for the connecting socket/outlet. And of course for we Europeans a 220-240v AC model would be even better. I’ve added a plug-in circuit breaker to protect the 30 metre extension cable I bought to take the household mains supply out to the ferret cage – just in case some rat decides to chew on the cable or the element or transformer fails and electrocutes a hapless ferret!The bottle holds 36 Fl Oz – or 900 mls as we say here in the developed world, which means it doesn’t need filling every day!All I need now is for the ferrets to learn how to drink from the bottle’s nozzle, but as they are quite bright I don’t think it will take long – dying of thirst is a strong motivator.

Excellent product!
Northeastern US this product works so far. Great! It has been between 10 and 25° around the clock. I’ve had it for two days it doesn’t heat up to the touch, but it does prevent the water from getting any ice or freezing at all. No more going out for five times around the clock to make sure animals have Freshwater, and I’m sure they appreciate it not being ice cold lol. I’m going to buy more of these, most definitely worth the money! Will update in a month after the holidays. It does have the little nail instead of the ball at the spout, which I’m typically not a fan of because I have one rabbit that is dyslexic and can’t figure out how to get the water out of it. But this one is very easy. You just have to put a tiny bit of pressure in the water comes out. So I thank the company for that bit of ingenuity. I don’t have to worry about my psycho bunny who can’t push a lever! AND the bottles open at the top to just pour in more water, brilliant! However, I do recommend touching the tip just to be certain that there is flow, a better safe than sorry. But the tip doesn’t freeze or anything so far. How refreshing for a product that does exactly what it says it’s going to do!

Works!!!
This thing really works! I am so very happy that there will be no more frozen water bottles to deal with this winter. It was 12 degrees last night, and the bunny has water without any effort from me. I also, like the feature that allows it to be refilled by just popping open the top lever, no taking it off the side of the hutch at all.

Our rabbit hutch is on our lawn, it has been below -20 or colder for weeks on and off. It will freeze solid in this kind of weather. This is the second winter we have used the waterer and although it does freeze, once we take it inside it thaws out, we plug it in and it works fine. Still doesn’t leak water, despite two bucks using it, pretty tough and seems electrically safe as well. It does have a grounded cord but has never tripped an outside breaker. Will buy another when/if we need it, attaches easily to cage and stays in place well. Good quality. P.S. does not hold enough water for two large rabbits over 24 hours.

It’s nice that the water doesn’t freeze, but it doesn’t have any water in it because it leaks out faster than I can refill it, JUNK.

We have 8 of these that we use over the winters in Alberta and they have stood up well. The lid could be a bit more durable but other than that they are worth it.