How to teach rabbits to drink from a water bottle?

Why won't my rabbits drink from their water bottle? They will only drink from dishes. I made their bottles drip into their dishes for a day, then took away the dishes, but they just didn't drink. When I put the dishes back in they rushed over very thirsty, so I haven't tried again because I don't want to dehydrate them. Any tricks to switching them over? Dishes are a pain!

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Jul 22, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		Hey that might work
by: Anonymous

Thank for sharing. We will try that, AL
May 14, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Easy!
by: Anonymous

I just placed the water bottle above their water dish and then I just took all the water out of the dish and when they were thirsty I just squeezed some water out of the bottle and then they caught on perfectly!
Nov 19, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Teach Rabbits with Molasses
by: Karen

Yeah, sometimes rabbits need to get a clue, don't they! I've had this problem too, and we put a dab of molasses on the tip of the water bottle. Boy, rabbits LOVE molasses! When they lick it off, some water also comes out. And they will finally put 2 and 2 together.

If you need to, dab on the molasses twice a day, and for several days, if necessary. You can leave the water crock filled with water in the cage during this time. You'll know the rabbits figured it out when you see them using the water bottle, or you notice the water in the crock doesn't go down very much.

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