Drink distilled water?

[johncjb]

Hey everyone,

I just bought a Repti-fogger from Petco today, filled it with distilled water (like the manual and internet said,) and turned it on.

The fog came out and after a few minutes, water began dripping from the hose.

Is it alright if my chameleon (which I do not have yet) drinks this distilled water or will it harm him? (because it's distilled)

Does anyone else use distilled water in their terrarium and fogger?

Also, do I have to add a dechlorinator to the water? (didn't say in the manual)

 

[Carlton]

Hey everyone,

I just bought a Repti-fogger from Petco today, filled it with distilled water (like the manual and internet said,) and turned it on.

The fog came out and after a few minutes, water began dripping from the hose.

Is it alright if my chameleon (which I do not have yet) drinks this distilled water or will it harm him? (because it's distilled)

Does anyone else use distilled water in their terrarium and fogger?

Also, do I have to add a dechlorinator to the water? (didn't say in the manual)

Distilled water is produced by boiling water and collecting and cooling the steam. Anything other than H2O that happened to be in the boiling source water was left behind in the kettle or evaporated off. It is supposedly pure H2O (no minerals, organics, or other chemicals). It is fine for your cham to drink as long as you are doing normal vitamin and mineral supplementation. There is no chlorine in distilled water.

 

[ataraxia]

IMO, Distilled is the way to go. Will not harm your chameleon.

Be sure to clean the tube from your fogger weekly

If your using distilled. No reason to use dechlorinator.

 

[johncjb]

Thanks for the feedback guys, just one question:

If I use distilled water, why do I need to clean the tube weekly?

I thought that distilled water isn't supposed to cause mineral build up.

 

[ataraxia]

Not from the deposits but the moisture in the tube will mold.

 

[johncjb]

Not from the deposits but the moisture in the tube will mold.

Oh, I see.

 

[spawn]

The problem with distilled water is it's PURE which means no electrolytes. You should reconstitute it with some sea salt or other minerals.

I learned this the hard way when I went through my "no tap water" phase when I was working out. I would buy gallon jugs of distilled water, bring it to the gym, and drink until I was saturated, but I was still thirsty. Drinking it will physically make you think you're drinking enough, but after a few minutes you'll still be thirsty, and not quenched. Tap water for most intents and purposes is fine since it runs through the pipes and filters and accrues all kinds of minerals on the way to your home, but many people fret about chlorine, copper, other carcinogens and trace minerals that cause problems, atop fluoride which leads into other discussions.

All I'm saying is you should put some stuff into the distilled water so your cham's thirst is quenched. I do not think on paper it works by itself. They could be getting the salts they need from the bugs...I don't know.

 

[johncjb]

Thanks for your reply,

The problem with adding minerals to the water is it will clog the fogger with mineral deposits.

As someone said above, the chameleons will need other sources of minerals if I use distilled water. (such as calcium supplement on crickets)

Does anyone know if a chameleon's thirst will be quenched with distilled water?

BTW, thanks for taking your time to reply, Spawn

 

[Carlton]

Thanks for your reply,

The problem with adding minerals to the water is it will clog the fogger with mineral deposits.

As someone said above, the chameleons will need other sources of minerals if I use distilled water. (such as calcium supplement on crickets)

Does anyone know if a chameleon's thirst will be quenched with distilled water?

BTW, thanks for taking your time to reply, Spawn

Again, it's a matter of degree. Adding electrolytes might cancel out the benefit of using distilled water in the fogger and may clog your fogger. There isn't any recipe for this type of thing. IMHO, as long as your cham is getting properly gutloaded feeders and correct supplementation there shouldn't be an electrolyte balance to worry about too much. After all, an exercising, sweating mammal is excreting a lot of salt from skin pores. Chams don't sweat, though they can excrete small amounts of excess calcium salts from their nares.

Another type of water to consider is reverse osmosis filtered water. This isn't really as pure as distilled, it contains some low level of micronutrients (unless you use additional pre-filters for something), but removes other treatment chemicals, organics, and the majority of mineral salts that clog foggers.

 

[johncjb]

I'll just use distilled water. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[lainezor]

I use reverse osmosis water which is basically the same thing. I use it for all my pets and myself

 

[showjet95]

I use RO/DI for alot of my chams and they do just fine.

 

[Daddio53]

I use distilled water in the fogger. I have a Little Dripper which I fill with filtered tap water - with minerals added. It's a PUR faucet filter and their mineral filter, which puts some minerals back into the water that is delivered from the filter on the end of the tap. I also spray with that same water so my cham has plenty of water and ways to drink it. She goes right to the end of the dripper hose and drinks right out of it.

By the way,I agree about cleaning your hoses regularly. I use oxygen at night for myself. If I don't clean or replace the hoses on a regular basis, I end up with a URI - upper respiratory infection. This has led to pneumonia a couple times as well. Ideally you should use a fragrance free hypoallergenic soap. Mild bar soap or dish detergent are okay as well. Swish some soap around in warm to hot water, pour it into the hose, agitate it back and forth for a little bit and then pour it out and rinse the hose. If you do this in the evening after your chameleon's lights go off, when they generally can be without the humidity, that would be best time wise. You can let the hose hang on the shower head or a towel bar overnight, and in the morning you can set up the fogger with a clean hose.