A Better Bottle Brush

Do you find yourself wishing that your bottle brush cleaned your guinea pigs' water bottle just a little bit better?

Our finned friends in Fish Land may have an option you'd like better -- a filter brush. I came across this option purely by accident years ago, when my pet supply store didn't have a critter bottle brush in stock. I bought the brush as a temporary solution and wound up liking it so much that I've stuck with. The one shown here (which is what I have) is the Aquatic Gardens Flexible Twin Head Brush, which retails online for about $3.99.

What I like about the brush is that the bristles don't mash down within the first few uses and, even if they get a little flat, they can be restored simply by running your fingers over them in the opposite direction. The flexible wire coil in between the brush ends makes it easy to twist a brush end around so that you can really scrub at the top and side surfaces of the water bottle, and even in that hard-to-reach spot just inside the bottle's opening.

The brush heads are small enough that you can run them down both ends of the drinking spout for 8-ounce and 16-ounce bottles. They are, however, just a little tight when you try to pull them back out...but I've never had one get stuck.

The brush heads clean quickly under warm or cold running water, and dry quickly as well. Because the brush is 19" long, it can be a little trickier to store than the standard critter bottle brush but its cleaning ability far outweighs this.

You'll be amazed at how much cleaner your critter water bottles can be!