Drinking Water Question

[L.West]

Hi, I recently moved to a new house where we have well water - the water is very yucky (sulfer water) so we have a water softening system installed that works with salt/peroxide - is this safe to use for my snakes.

I am currently using bottled water for them but wanted to know if I could safely use the treated tap water.

Thanks.

[Skiploder]

Hi, I recently moved to a new house where we have well water - the water is very yucky (sulfer water) so we have a water softening system installed that works with salt/peroxide - is this safe to use for my snakes.

I am currently using bottled water for them but wanted to know if I could safely use the treated tap water.

Thanks.

Water softening devices basically swap out hard ions like magnesium and calcium and replace them with with softer ions - specifically sodium and potassium salts.

Sounds like your system utilizes hydrogen peroxide to remove the sulfur. Hydrogen peroxide is just an ordinary water molecule with an additional oxygen atom temporarily tacked on. Sulfur thrives in oxygen poor environments, so that additional oxygen atom delivered via hydrogen peroxide is a neat way to deal with the problem. It's alot safer than using shock chlorine treatments and the like. It forms no toxic by-products.

Normal properly functioning commercial water softening systems pose no problems for snakes. Problems can arise if the system malfunctions or is not maintained and the sodium levels climb too high.

Short answer: as long as the system is functioning properly, your treated tap water is safe to use.

[L.West]

Thanks for the answer. Since my husband is in charge of maintaing the water system - I think I will stick with bottled water for my snakes. My husband tends to let things break before doing maintenance - I wont risk my snakes health on those odds.

Thanks for your thorough answer - it was very helpful.