Gunk in Repti Rock water dishes?!

[Yonny]

Every so often I have to scrub some yellow gunky junk out of my water dishes and I was wondering if I should be concerned about this? Theyre just like these ones... Im a ninny with a crappy pos phone so I cant post exact pics sorry. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...sh&FORM=HDRSC2
I scrubbed them with a steel wool scrubby and still couldn't get them completely cleaned out...

Theyre fancy and pretty to look at but I have no problem changing to something else if this is not good for him.

[Reinz]

There SHOULD be nothing wrong those dishbowls. However, you could have a defective one.

Otherwise my questions are; how soon is this gunk showing up? How often are you changing the water? Does your snake frequently get in the dish? Is your tap water typically drinkable for yourself?, i.e., is it always clear and taste good?

Until you get to the bottom of this, or, just do test and put some plain o' bowl in there.

[Sauzo]

I use 2 of the extra large Zoo med water dishes and I have never seen gunk in them that my snakes haven't dragged into there. I usually find a few pieces of aspen in them but I change all my snakes' water every other day and spray them down with Chlorhexadine twice a week. Are you sure the "gunk" isn't snake urate or poop?

[Yonny]

Reinz
Im not really sure... Its kind of subtle I guess.
I usually try to change it everyday. Rinse the dishes and put them back with fresh water.
Yes and no... ones a small deep dish and the others a medium low dish. He doesn't get in them so much as climb over them. Theyre on the cool side of the cage.
Yeah I drink it. Its city water if that really matters at all. I recently started using a reptile water conditioner that adds electrolytes and removes chlorine but the dishes did this before that.
Sauzo
I could see it being urate but his poops usually look like tiny cat turds and theyre pretty solid with the exception of once it was a little runny. Ill look into getting some of that Chlorhexadine though.

[John1982]

If it's around the water mark you're just seeing mineral deposits. Fill the dish with distilled white vinegar and let it sit for an hour or two - should come right off. I change water weekly, and when dirtied, and clean/soak the dishes about once a year to get them back in pristine condition.

[Yonny]

Hmmm no it appears to be all over them... except the underneath. It seemed to start at the bottom of the inside and worked its way to the outer edge.
Ive got a heavy plastic water catcher for flowerpots Im going to switch him to for now until I can get a good disinfectant (we don't appear to have vinegar right now either oddly enough)

[Sauzo]

My idea on the whole issue is if the water is safe enough for me to drink, its safe enough for the reptiles. I wouldn't waste money on the water conditioner stuff. I just see it as something the companies try to sell but its your choice Have you tried putting the same water from the same source in a glass to see if the glass gets gunk? Maybe its something in your water source. Like fill a glass a up from the same sink you fill the snakes bowl from and let the glass sit a day and see if you get gunk buildup on that glass. If so, they I would be calling your water dept and finding out what sort of creature you are going to morph into

[Yonny]

I will do the water test But there is no such build up in my turtles tank and I don't change his water nearly as much.
I didn't think the water conditioner was a big deal but my guy bought it so I figure Ill use it so he doesn't feel silly.
I noticed when I changed them out for the plastic dish earlier that they don't even look like I spent an hour scrubbing them! Theres more crap on the bottom of the dishes! Im wondering if it might be some funky kind of algae...
=I love smilies=

[Sauzo]

That's weird. If it was algae, i would imagine it would only come from the water source aka the faucet. Do you have the recipe for the water bowl? Maybe return it and buy a different brand although like i said, i use 2 of the extra large Zoo Med Repti rock water bowls and they are fine. If you cant exchange them, then definitely look into the Chlorhexadine. Then soak the bowl in a bucket of properly diluted Chlorhexadine for a couple days and try again. That's really weird though with your water bowl lol. Although honestly if that bowl is the only thing that gets the weird gunk, i would just return it and tell the guy that there is some weird stuff growing in the bowl whenever you add water to it.