Water

yokman

New Member
What kind of water do you use to water chameleon and do you treat it with reptisafe or anything else?
 
I use tap water, but im not in a big city with alot of chemicals in it either.
 
Unless your water is exceptionally foul, tap water is just fine. If you would drink it your chams will too. If you are using an auto-mister consider using RO (reverse osmosis) water so as not to clog your mist nozzles with calcium and mineral deposits. Cheers!
 
Albertson's water is what I use. It is destilled, purified, filtered, homogenized, ionized, pasteurized...ha!
 
Big city water is often "exceptionally foul". My distiller does a gallon of water at a time. The residue from one gallon of tap water actually stinks.

I am of the opinion that Fluoride poses a significant danger to chameleons.

I'll offer this article from Chris Anderson's e-zine as support.

Fluoridated water contains 0.5 to 1.0 ppm fluoride, usually as the sodium salt. Fluoride has a narrow safety range. In mammals, deficiency is associated with dental caries and with osteoporosis in the aged. Fluoride toxicity (fluorosis), due to accumulation from long-term consumption of high levels, is associated with deformed bones and soft, mottled, and irregularly worn teeth. Animals fed diets deficient in protein, calcium, and vitamin C are more susceptible to fluorosis. Water sources containing high levels of fluoride are found in parts of Arkansas, California, South Carolina, and Texas and may be a risk for fluorosis. In reptiles, fluorosis can mimic the signs of metabolic bone disease (MBD).
 
Here in Calgary on the "high planes" of Alberta we are lucky... our city water is fed by mountain springs and glacier run off! Not a lot of ground water. Also the city council just voted to remove the fluoridation. I would still like to get a RO system someday though. Cheers!
 
i tried using tap water and my chameleon got gular edema. switched to filtered water and all is well.
 
So what about tap water and reptisafe? I go through about 60 to 80 oz of purified water a day between my humidifer and spraying and was wondering if reptisafe will make my tap water"safe". I don't live in a big town but the do put Fluoride in and is kinda hard with calcium.
 
I use tap water that I let sit out over night for spraying and drippers. I use RO water for my misting kit. :cool:
 
I use tap water that I let sit out over night for spraying and drippers. I use RO water for my misting kit. :cool:


Do you use the RO to keep your system clean? I hand spray and have a thing of reptisafe from zoomed and don't know if I should just keep withthe bottled water or fill my 3 gallon jug full of tap water and treat it. All is well,just looking for a cheaper way to provide "good" water.
 
living in American suburbs provides me with clean tap.....i just use it straight from the faucet....no issues here. calcium builds up on the glass of my other reptiles/ amphibians...but i just use lemon to get it off. like a legit lemon....cut and rubbed on the side of the glass
 
Ed Kammer says... lol

I actually asked Ed Kammer this when I bought a panther from him a few months ago...

He says he uses tap water because the minerals in it are beneficial, kinda like dusting insects. My parents also only live about 30 mins from him in socal, so I'm not sure if it's only because he knows that area doesn't fluoridate their water or whatever, but I did ask if he was concerned with the chlorine being in water. He said something along the lines of "I've been doing it this way for 18 years and never had any problems."

Personally, I have a bucket of tap water I let sit out for a day or two before using so any chlorine in it will be removed, but that's all I do differently.
 
This is shocking to me. For water to be deemed safe for humans but to not be safe for chams seems silly to me. A simple water test would tell if the water is safe. If people were dieing from drinking public water wouldn't we here about it?
 
Well, humans are not reptiles and vice versa. There are lots of things that are safe for most humans but toxic to other species. Even other mammals can have extremely negative reactions to things humans can consume.

I don't believe fluoride is removed by boiling or letting stand overnight or carbon filters so, if one is concerned about that, purchasing purified water, distilling water or using an RO system are the way to go.
 
I use Reverse Osmosis water from an AquaZamp RO filtration system.

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