Bottled Water vs Treated Tap?

[Boston Pitty]

Didn't know if I should post this here or in another area, it's not really health related or cage related. When you fill your drippers/sprayer/misters ex. do you use treated tap water or bottled water? Or just tap?
I'm currently using bottled drinking water for everything including the cool mist. I might just be paranoid, but when I used tap water for my fish tanks even with the conditners and other treatments to make it fish safe I always had issues. Switched to bottled water and never lost a fish after that or had any issues even when starting a new tank.

I'm just woundering if anyone else uses bottled water for chameleons or are they a little more hardy when it comes to water than fish? When I got my Dripper it came with a water treatment sample. But like I said the water treatments for my fish tanks never really worked.

Some of the things I've seen online say if it's safe to drink it's safe for chameleons, but I don't see how florid could be safe for them

 

[JacksJill]

Just to keep the misters from clogging I use distilled, drinking or R/O water in my cages and systems.

 

[Boston Pitty]

I didn't even think about distilled. that might be better for the humidfyer. They don't need the trace minerals? I know distilled will kill fish. I guess as long as it's still in the drinking water it should still be fine

 

[JacksJill]

You are supplying their trace minerals in the food and supplements. I live in an area with very hard water so tap water is out.

 

[Boston Pitty]

Didn't think about the food. I'll swap my humidifyer and sprayer over than to distilled. Thanks

 

[Graves923]

Distilled is harmful to aquatic inverts and some fish due to the trace amounts of copper from the distilling process. This trace amount will not harm the chameleons at all. I use distilled now since I have started keeping carnivorous plants that require distilled or rain water. Tap water can kill the plants so i figured I would just buy the extra couple jugs of distilled and save me the hassle of cleaning my mister nozzles every few months lol

 

[Boston Pitty]

Never knew carnivor plants couldn't use tap. Never owned them, learn something new everyday. I have extra jugs of drinking but gunna buy a few of distilled when I do my weekly water run. People at walmart probably think I'm crazy. I buy like 5-8 jugs each week just for the fish tank alone. Gotta up that to 10 drinking and about 6 distilled. my humidifyer takes about a jug alone each day.

 

[MSewart]

Good info! Never even thought about distilled! I have well water that we filter (carbon) and supplement with reptisafe (I think is what it's called). Y'all think that's okay?

 

[jcarlsen]

Definitely distilled all the way. I see you're a boston person, and I'd recommend getting your distilled over at Stop and Shop, as it's usually cheapest there.

 

[Boston Pitty]

My dogs is a boston terrier x pitt bull mix so thats where the name comes from lol. No stop and shops here in ohio

 

[Darthroastcoffee]

Food town haha

 

[jamest0o0]

Whole foods and other places have water refills. I bought an RO system for $100 bucks that I use now. Pretty much anywhere sells gallon jugs of distilled as well.

 

[jamest0o0]

@Graves923 what carnivorous plants do you keep? I have a bunch, recently noticed what I think is aphids attacking my sundew.

 

[Graves923]

@Graves923 what carnivorous plants do you keep? I have a bunch, recently noticed what I think is aphids attacking my sundew.

I currently keep flytraps and a variety of sundews. I made my first attempt and growing from seeds recently which doesnt seem to be working so well lol.

 

[Carlton]

Good info! Never even thought about distilled! I have well water that we filter (carbon) and supplement with reptisafe (I think is what it's called). Y'all think that's okay?

A carbon filter won't reduce the mineral content of the well water. If your unfiltered well water is hard, the minerals will eventually clog your misting system nozzles and/or foggers. Best to use RO or distilled water for them anyway.

 

[MSewart]

Thanks! Will definitely make the switch!

 

[Goose502]

I’ve only ever used distilled water for my mister. It keeps it from ever clogging and it won’t leave any water marks on the sides of a glass terrarium. Plus, I always thought that the chameleon drinking off the leaves adds trace minerals from any dirt/dust or vitamin/calcium powder that may have landed on them.

 

[Lennoncham]

After reading this I looked up distilled water and found that they sell water distillers for your house. It may be kinda expensive at first but will save you time and $ on jugs of water. Or a reverse osmosis system works as well. I will be getting a reverse osmosis once I get paid.

 

[Carlton]

RO water is fine. Should be less expensive to install than a distiller I would think. I have installed RO filters on the kitchen sinks in all my houses. The chams are not the only ones who get to "use" it!

 

[JacksJill]

If you have multiple cages especially with montane species R/O systems will pay for themselves over time (a couple years). If you only have one cham and you don't use it for yourself then the break even will take a decade.