Buying water for my snakes?

hello, my snake is not eating on a regular basis and well i just want to give it the best care i can. and i was wondering what kind of water should i get for my snakes to drink? Do i need Distilled or regular drinking water. Planning to buy the gallon jugs.


Thanks,

great question... BUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH TAP!

um... well i don't know, maybe nothing but i don't want to cheap out on water and have my snake die. trying to do everything to get it comfortable. she has gained like 10 grams in like two months. to 76 grams.

I use regular tap water, since that is what I drink. If you could give a detailed description of your set-up (type, size, hides, substrate, heating, temps, etc) it might help. Sometimes just a minor adjustment to husbandry or set-ups will help with feeding. Also, what are you feeding? How often are you offering? And how often is your snake eating?...

So you value your snakes life over your own?

If you drink/cook with the tap water, its safe for your snakes/pets to drink as welll

All my snakes drink tap water - they're all thriving.

You are aware that most bottled water is just that - tap water?

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Originally Posted by jlg329

um... well i don't know, maybe nothing but i don't want to cheap out on water and have my snake die. trying to do everything to get it comfortable. she has gained like 10 grams in like two months. to 76 grams.

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10gs in 2 months:O mine two girls almost doubled their weight in same time.
Some tend to grow faster than others but being that small, I dont blame you for being concerned.
So, what are you feeding and have you tried switching? I feed all frozen and try to feed earlier in the day because I have one that wont always take frozen. If she doesnt eat then I run to my pet store and get her a live, she hits it every time.;)

I also use regular tap water and I have not had any problems.

think about it, what do they drink in the wild and been doing so for thousands of years

76 grams is still pretty small so if she is eating you should try and feed her every 4 days. My babies all get fed pretty heavy in the beginning until they are at a weight I am more comfortable with. Are you having troubles getting her to eat? I've always just used tap water, and it's perfectly fine. The only pet that I'm aware of that needs distilled water is fish. Which really you don't even need to buy distilled water, if you fill a jug of tap water and leave it out for 8+ hours you can use it in your fish tank just like distilled water.

ya that weight gain doesnt sound good :( how often are u feeding. Im with slitherian sisters

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Originally Posted by rabernet

All my snakes drink tap water - they're all thriving.

You are aware that most bottled water is just that - tap water?

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not all tho and i agree all of my animals drink tap water

I filter my tap water with a Brita filter (for both myself and my snakes).

As everyone else has stated, tap water is fine. But just an fyi for everyone out there, distilled water is acutally BAD for most animals (and us too to a certain extent) because it contains NO trace elements or minerals. Most wild-type animals in our care (such as snakes, birds, rodents, rabbits, etc) really need those trace minerals found in regular tap water. Filtered water is fine because no filter can remove all particles of trace elements and minerals from the water. And if you have really hard well water like I do, or city water with added flouride, a Britta or other filter is really great. But distilled water is to be avoided as drinking water for you and your pets. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

As everyone else has stated, tap water is fine. But just an fyi for everyone out there, distilled water is acutally BAD for most animals (and us too to a certain extent) because it contains NO trace elements or minerals. Most wild-type animals in our care (such as snakes, birds, rodents, rabbits, etc) really need those trace minerals found in regular tap water. Filtered water is fine because no filter can remove all particles of trace elements and minerals from the water. And if you have really hard well water like I do, or city water with added flouride, a Britta or other filter is really great. But distilled water is to be avoided as drinking water for you and your pets. :gj:

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Britta doesn't remove fluoride, you need reverse osmosis to do that.

Yes tap water is perfectly fine.

http://www.watervalue.com/tapwater.html

http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluoride-facts.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/safe...ucing_risk.htm

I tossed those links out just to stir a turd. Then this was released today.

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Study finds probable carcinogen in 31 U.S. cities' tap water

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122002505.html

all my animals get R/O water . i dont know if our city adds floride to the water supply. our water here is high very high in desolved solids. high in sodium. so r/o it is what i use .. i think it just comes down to personal pref.. either is ok as long as the animal has acsess to it at all times..

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

Britta doesn't remove fluoride, you need reverse osmosis to do that.

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Ok, well, I wasn't trying to get into the technicalities too much, but yeah, thanks for clarifying... ;)

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

As everyone else has stated, tap water is fine. But just an fyi for everyone out there, distilled water is acutally BAD for most animals (and us too to a certain extent) because it contains NO trace elements or minerals... :gj:

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Damn OSMOSIS!!!

Where I am there is a huge amount of chlorine (you can smell it in the water) I use water that has been boiled and left to stand for 24 hours for the snakes and myself. Chlorine is removed over the 24 hours (the water container cannot be sealed up tight) The water isn't very hard and there is a small amount of fluoride but I am not overly concerned about it. I use distilled water for misting as it doesn't leave water marks on glass, and mixing Chlorhexidine soln's. Chlorohexidine is made inert by contact with anionic compounds (copper and iron for example) that might be found in tap water especially hard water. No point in spraying blue water about! ;)

upon some thought I think Flouride is an anionic compound... so chlorohexadine solutions mixed with tap water are somewhat less effective. I have no recollection on amounts my chemistry is a bit rusty.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Damn OSMOSIS!!!

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LoL! :P