Water Quality

[Brad]

What kind of water are you offering your chams - tap, distilled, etc?
Do you add any kind of water treatment?

There is a very good article at Chameleon News: Water - The Most Important Nutrient of Them All - by Sue Donoghue VMD, DACVN. I live in Texas, and according to that article I have a lot of fluoride in my tap water. This can lead to problems. I have used water conditioners before, but not consistently. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[neil nosy be]

RO unit

Hi brad

Try to find out if you can get hold of a piece of kit called a RO unit ( reverse osmoses) It fits under your sink and filters water before it gets to the the tap
I use one and the are excellent, take a look at this site under equipment and your'll see what im talking about i also use there misters

http://www.dartfrog.co.uk

 

[Chamgirl]

I use a product called Reptsafe by Zoo Med. It is a water conditioner that instantly removes Chlorine and Chloramines from water. Also removes Ammonia and adds essential Electrolytes including Calcium.

 

[Brad]

Thanks for the advice. I wonder if reptisafe would deal with the excessive fluoride in my water. Neil, how often do you have to replace the RO carbon filters? That dartfrog site offers a lot of nice equipment.

 

[neil nosy be]

Thanks for the advice. I wonder if reptisafe would deal with the excessive fluoride in my water. Neil, how often do you have to replace the RO carbon filters? That dartfrog site offers a lot of nice equipment.

Hi brad

Took alook at reptisafe and it doesnt say anything about fluoride so im not sure if it will deal with it, chamgirl might know if it does. I replace the carbon filter every 6 months (as this is what they state you should do) Dartfrog is a great site and they are keen to offer advice etc and there service is top notch. can you get RO units in the states???

 

[Brad]

Yes RO units are readily available here. I was just trying to estimate future costs with the carbon filters. I'm going to get one. Would like to use it for my dog too

 

[Chamgirl]

No idea about the Fluoride, sorry - bottle doesn't mention anything

 

[Brad]

A recent picture of Ezhno - unhappy about the water deposits on his leaves.

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He is starting to get some nice coloring

I clean the leaves weekly when cleaning the rest of his cage. Using an RO unit should make this easier and save me time/money. I just need to decide on a particular unit.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Couldn't help but notice and wonder... having lived a few years in England, I know the plumbing is a bit different, like the lecky. Is there a good RO unit source here in the States?
And also... it's been my experience that if something is not on a bottle of something, then they cannot declare as a funcioning part of their advert. (re:Flouride treatment)
FYI: Another concern, is how good IS spring water these days? I've microscoped the bacteria count and am horrified. I'll trust Alhambra and Hawaii bottles only, so far, but have yet to test all. Some, I hope not to be drinking myself, much less give to my cham.

 

[Brad]

I don't have any specific sources, but RO units are widely available. Your local Walmart or Home Depot will have them. You could try ebay.

I have always wondered about bottled spring water. I prefer purified water.