Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Below the was a short discussion about R/O water being bad for your snakes? So are we saying that "TAP" water is better than say "Bottled water" is bad? Most bottled water in R/O like Dasani for example is R/O with added minerals like sodium, potassium. So what are you water thoughts and experiences?
Thanks

All mine get heavy mineral tap water and have from the get go. I don't see any problems with it and the fluoride should help protect their teeth when they forget to brush!

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Todd Hughes

now that's another aguement. I know a well known Chamelon breeder that's says not to use tap water because of the floride... so im still confused maybe ill just switch back to tap and stop stressing. thanks

If you research flouride it's kind of scary. It's more poisonous than lead, just slightly less so than arsenic. It is a neurotoxin and it alters the basic architecture of bone as it accumulates. I never drink tap water and only use toothpaste w/o flouride. Many European countries have banned its use. The flouride is obtained as a toxic by-product of the super-phosphate fertilizer industry. As to why it is still promoted by the US Department of Public Health and American Dental association, well, since they have endorsed it for about 50 years they certainly aren't going to tell us its poison and open themselves up to massive liability claims. Not to disimilar from the tobacco industry and now the telecommunication industry (turns out that wireless radiation is not a particularly healthy thing to expose yourself to every day). Needless to say I give my animals filtered water.

Wow!,.....that's pretty darn interesting,....and very SCARY at the same time!

Thanks for posting that info!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

They at one time tried it on rats... they got cancer long term but it made their teeth stronger!!
I avoid it at all cost, in fact the one that is most important to me that isn't thought about much is your shower.
Get a shower filter if nothing else, your skin is your largest organ, it is also acts like a spounge. When the water is hot it opens your pores. It also allows all the crap in your water including flouride to become vapor. It goes into your pores as well as in your LUNGS!!!
You ingest more in the shower than you do drinking. Look into it, it will shock and disturb you that our government allows this to continue.
And PLEASE don't allow your dentist to talk you into flouride treatments for your kids.
All right I'm off my soapbox.
ravens mom

It degrades enamal and can even cause pitting, fractures and decay. It's called dental fluorosis. There really has never been any definitive proof that it helps teeth in any way. It is restricted in most of europe any cavity rates there are no worse than in places where it is heavily used. The CDC now says that 32% of American children have dental to some degree. Good point about the shower filter, we use one as well. Why is it that when the government lies and/or steals from us its OK? When we lie and steal we go to jail. I'm a little confused anymore about what is right and wrong. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore! In fact, starting today, I'm no longer wearing my safety belt and I'm thinking about not turning my headlights on in the construction area on my way home.

that we are lied to at the expense of our health. Then again, if some of my eastern kings have their teeth all fall out I wouldn't mind the mistaken identity bites I take from time to time.

When I have my natural terrariums going, I only use bottle spring water (yes, I make certain it is from an actual spring, we have a few around here ) or collected and slightly filtered rainwater. That's mostly because it's suggested for natural terrariums, tap water can be harsh on the plants. My snakes generally wait to drink until I get them into the bathtub, so they often get tap water.

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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.0.2 Cornsnakes (Lyle & Erik Menendez)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

I have used both tap water and bottled water, and at this point, I have used only bottled water for the past 10 years for my collection.
It was a result from living in an apt. complex that had unusually smelly and strange tasting tap water. My wife and I started drinking bottled water only, so I then shared that habit with my snakes. The smell was that bad, and the taste was rather strange, to say the least, of the tap water.
Years later, we live in a house where the water here is fine, but I still just use bottled water for the serpents. I only use 3 gallons a week, so it is no big deal doing so.

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Genesis 1:1

Nice Billy, if that is what those superb splendida need to have then I might have to oblige! My wife only drinks bottled but I drink from the hose outside! j/k...not, lol!
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Todd Hughes

I love the rubber-infused, warm to hot, refreshing drinks from the hose outside!!!!
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Genesis 1:1

LOL, yep, it's great for the kids in high summer...NOT!
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Todd Hughes

Wow!,.....that just gave me a FABULOUS idea!,.......I can start a neat line of flavored water too, just like the silly expensive stuff advertised on TV,....you know!,....the pretty girl looking up with here hands up in the air getting drenched with refreshing water in "slow-motion"..LOL!

I will start a refreshing line of "rubber-infused" spring water!.......My TV add will consist of....a pretty girl in a skimpy t-shirt with her arms held high in the air with a sexy smile getting drenched with cold water from high above in slow-motion,.....and instead of an assortment of fruit slices of different kinds falling with the water onto the pretty girl,.....I'll have old hose sections, pieces of tire tread from the highway, old bicycle inter-tubes, etc....showered from high above with the water down onto the pretty girl!.........Huh!,....NO!,.......that wouldn't be a big seller at the grocery store??????....hahahaha!!!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

HA HA HA!!!
That rules Doug!!!
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Genesis 1:1

Both me and my snakes have always drank tap water. from New York to Vermont, to colorado I have always done tap and it has been totally fine. Thousands of long lived herps live out their lives on good old tap water. I just don't think that there is any benefit to using bottled over tap water. However if it floats your boat I don't think using bottled water would hurt at all.

DO NOT USE RO WATER. It is not safe as permanent drinking water.

Hi there,

Why is RO unsafe to use a primary drinking source? Most bottled water is RO filtered. I have been drinking RO water for years. I first got the system for my reef tank, but began consuming it myself because of the superior taste. I realize that it does not have the mineral content of tap, but our tap water around here (lake erie) is so hard w/ minerals that I figure that I get enough through food prepared with local water. Thanks.

Will

I thought that too.

Hey, sorry to weigh in on this topic so late but I've used RO for about 5 years now with 200 snakes and have seen no effect on the snakes. Great clutches and ripping health all around.
The local water is loaded with minerals and the waterbowls became so encrusted that I was rinsing them with hydrochloric acid to get the crust off - the house reeked and vinegar didn't take the crud off at all so something else had to tried.
RO is fine and the snakes must be getting their minerals from the mice.
I'd tossed this subject around on the health forum a couple years ago but nobody had been doing it and asked a vet friends' opinion and he couldn't find any info or research data on the pros and cons.
My results have been very positive and I can filter out some of the crap 3M has contaminated my groundwater supply with.
Everybody remember that the Federal allowable limits of lead and arsenic were raised a couple years ago because about half the nation was beyond the limit???
Install an RO system for your own health too.
Jeff
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The rich require an abundant supply of the poor. - Voltaire

thanksgiving jeff. it seems this subject is really just a personal prefence thing. id love to here what the big name/ old timers have to say about this. thanks so far errrbody.

But RO like you said lacks minerals that are commonly found in tap water and RO removes "electrolytes" something like that lol.

I use RO for my freshwater planted tank only because my local tapwater is super hard/high PH (Florida) but I still need to add RO additives as the pure RO water was turning the green plants yellow by its lack of those things.

Its actually bottled water which is NOT regulated many here dont know this and RO/Purified water each bottle can differ from the other and spring water can be completely bogus .

I tried bottled water before just using RO filter myself and testing the water each bottle was as different as could be with some so high in phosphates that it was insane .

I suspect that if some tested the bottled water they bought against their tapwater they would be shocked as many tap waters are much better.
Mine isnt good for amazon type plants only because ph/hardness so high but great for drinking,etc