Tap water once in a while....good or bad?

[Mikoh4792]

Is it okay for snakes to drink tap water(I'm assuming that it's not too good because of the chemicals/minerals) once in a while you soak them in a bath?

I don't normally bathe my snakes but my GTP hasn't made a bowel movement in a long time so I thought I'd give it a go. She took a pretty long drink, and was wondering if it's okay for her.

[DeesBalls]

mines been drinking tap for about 4 years, no harm done... some people may thnk different though.

[bigsnakegirl785]

My ball python has been drinking tap water for 7 years, my boa constrictor for 2, and my garter snake is drinking tap water. Another words, the entire time I've had them all. I haven't had any problems with it all.

[poison123]

Other tthen my amphibians, all my animals drink tap as well.

[Mikoh4792]

Is tap from the bathroom faucet/bathtub the same as the one that comes out of your kitchen sink?(don't know much about plumbing).

[Hannibalcanibal]

Yes. And i've used it for the last five years, no issue. It's fish you should be worried about with tap water.

[knox]

Tap for the last 20 years. Yes, all the water in your house comes from the same place.

Fish and Amphibians are the only ones you need to worry about. And remember, Chlorine evaporates pretty quickly out of the water - so relax and enjoy the simplicity of that indoor plumbing :-)

[Zoo Nanny]

Tap water is different in each town or well so it is really dependent on the quality of water. In my town the water is very hard and I've had problems with animals drinking it. A simple filter pitcher does the trick though. I use Brita and the animals have been fine since.

[knox]

Tap water is different in each town or well so it is really dependent on the quality of water. In my town the water is very hard and I've had problems with animals drinking it. A simple filter pitcher does the trick though. I use Brita and the animals have been fine since.

Wise words. I hadn't thought about that aspect of it.

[MDT]

cesspool jungle puddle with bacteria, protozoa, parasites, dirt, etc compared to city water meant to be ingested by vertebrates with an impermeable integument....

hard choices ;)

[Terranaut]

As long as there is no fluoride in the water and you can't taste chlorine in it , tap is fine.

[alessia55]

Tap water is the only source of water my snakes get and they're doing fine.

[swolek]

I use tap water for all my snakes and always have. Amphibians, on the other hand, shouldn't be given tap water IMO, it's too risky.

[Mikoh4792]

Thanks for clearing that up guys, however I am confused. How can it be okay to ingest tap water(reptiles), but not absorb it through the skin(amphibians)?

[poison123]

Thanks for clearing that up guys, however I am confused. How can it be okay to ingest tap water(reptiles), but not absorb it through the skin(amphibians)?

Frogs breath through their skin. All the chlorine and other stuff in tap water blocks off the oxygen.

[Mikoh4792]

Frogs breath through their skin. All the chlorine and other stuff in tap water blocks off the oxygen.

ah forgot about that. Makes sense.

[shaunyboy]

imo it all depends on the quality of your tap water mate

imo if its good enough for you to drink then its good enough for a snake,all mine are on tap water and ive had no issues

if i need to bathe a snake i do it with tap water

cheers shaun

[LadyWraith]

Also, it could be (this is just speculation from my own common knowledge) that by drinking, all the crap in tap water is filtered out by the bodies onboard waste management system. Wheres with amphibians, the filtration is different and harmful contaminants are more freely dispersed in the body? Not sure on the accuracy of that.

[MDT]

Frogs breath through their skin. All the chlorine and other stuff in tap water blocks off the oxygen.

Not trying to be a DB (seriously)...can you give the physiology behind this? I'm not aware of Chlorine interacting with hemoglobin to interfere with O2 binding...

I'm really asking, bc if it is legit, I would like to be educated,

[Hannibalcanibal]

Chlorine burns. And it burns bad. You can dissolve ants and leaves in it, and we use bleach to kill off microbes.

All i know is, breathing it kills people (think ww1), and breathing it also kills fish. But drinking a dilute amount of it does not hurt us, or evidently the snakes. I can see phibs having the same problem as fish, though- no way to urinate it out, and there is no way to push it out through the skin because it will just absorb more through the contaminated water it's sitting in.

Just speculation, though. if anyone has a better idea, let me know :D

[mistersprinkles]

Tap for the last 20 years. Yes, all the water in your house comes from the same place.

Fish and Amphibians are the only ones you need to worry about. And remember, Chlorine evaporates pretty quickly out of the water - so relax and enjoy the simplicity of that indoor plumbing :-)

Chloramine doesn't evaporate particularly quickly at all though. Some municipalities use chlorine, others use chloramine, which is a combination of ammonia and chlorine. The ammonia "locks up" the chlorine so that it is more difficult for the chlorine to leave the water. I'm not saying that the low dose of chlorine is going to hurt the snake, but if you're on a chloramine water system, the snake is likley going to ingest some chlorine.

I don't know anything about chlorine affecting amphibians, but I do know that there are dechlorinators on the market which work the same way as (fish) aquarium dechlorinators, and are marketed for use with amphibians.

[prairiepanda]

I'll give my animals(other than amphibians/fish) any water that I'd be willing to drink. Generally I'm fine with the tap water where I live. The water at my university, however is a different story. They have their own reservoir, and I have no idea why because it would probably be much better to share with the city. This is why the school has expensive machines all over the place where you can fill your water bottles with CLEAN water:
http://i.imgur.com/aNxnnPl.jpg

[mistersprinkles]

I'll give my animals(other than amphibians/fish) any water that I'd be willing to drink. Generally I'm fine with the tap water where I live. The water at my university, however is a different story. They have their own reservoir, and I have no idea why because it would probably be much better to share with the city. This is why the school has expensive machines all over the place where you can fill your water bottles with CLEAN water:
http://i.imgur.com/aNxnnPl.jpg

That looks like a nice, dark lager coming out of that faucet. :D

[Zoo Nanny]

or urine!:shocked:

[lisas]

My corn drank tap for 5 years and she's fine. I bought distilled water for the lizard / snake now because I heard that you should. To me, my well water, even though it's a little hard (iron), seems healthier that water from a plastic bottle. I think I'll go back to my well water. I have hundreds of acres of woods around me so the water is clean.

[Zoo Nanny]

Distilled water shouldn't be used consumption. You are better off with spring water or filtered tap water. Distilled water has no minerals.

[lisas]

I'll just filter the tap water then. Actually, it's filtered in the basement anyhow so I'll just doublecheck / change that filter if it's needed.

[mistersprinkles]

Ya don't do distilled water. No minerals. Just use water that you know is potable for humans and it should be fine. If it's for amphibians, consider dechlorination seriously. JM2C.