Question regarding distilled/RO water and misting system. (Distilled not bad for arboreal reptiles?)

[aapuzzo]

While reading online I have come across tons of information stating that distilled/RO water is bad for reptiles. I know for a fact it is bad for humans, mammals, amphibians due to the PH being acidic and leeching minerals. RO water for human consumption is remineralized.
Now every misting system states to used RO/Distilled water to prevent damage to pumps and misters from clogging which makes sense. Is this bad for arboreal lizards My common sense says that for arboreal lizards that drink rain water off of leaves it shouldn't be as big of an issue because rain water is pretty close to distilled. Are animals that drink from standing water on the ground the only ones affected?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but after a day of reading online I can't find a straight answer. You either find information on you must use distilled water in a misting system or another write up on never use distilled water it's bad for reptiles and amphibians. Both points are not discussed together.

Personally I wold love to use RO water just to reduce water spots.

 

[jamest0o0]

Most of us use distilled/ro. With proper supplementation it works fine. Especially since recent chameleon research shows they get much of their hydration from fog/humidity at night. Not a dumb question though, there's been tons of threads on this.

 

[coastal_chameleon]

distilled water is not bad for humans or rodi , people think its bad because it has no minerals , but you get most of your minerals for foods you eat . the purpose of water is to rehydrate your body . same thing with chameleon , we give them the vitamins and minerals they need . distilled and rodi are best to increase the longevity of your misting system . rodi and distilled water have 0 total dissolved solids , this is key to prevent calcium build up from clogging your mist heads . its also better to know that the water your giving you chams has no fluoride or chlorine or algae or bacteria from well feed water .

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

I'll also add that in a decent RO "system" these days, the last "stage" is remineralization. So, it puts minerals and such that are beneficial back into the newly cleansed water. I know you can get these as an "add on" to existing systems as well.

 

[coastal_chameleon]

also , I have both a distiller and an rodi unit , I test both and ph is always around 6.5-6.8 . it all depends on your water . just because someone tested their water and theirs is lower than 6.5 doesn't mean your's will to . both a tds meter and a ph meter are around 15 bucks on amazon .

 

[coastal_chameleon]

I'll also add that in a decent RO "system" these days, the last "stage" is remineralization. So, it puts minerals and such that are beneficial back into the newly cleansed water. I know you can get these as an "add on" to existing systems as well.

breta also makes a water container that boosts ph

 

[coastal_chameleon]

Most of us use distilled/ro. With proper supplementation it works fine. Especially since recent chameleon research shows they get much of their hydration from fog/humidity at night. Not a dumb question though, there's been tons of threads on this.

if this holds true , that would mean that they do not need minerals in their water supply as fog has no minerals !

 

[Brodybreaux25]

distilled water is not bad for humans

Truth!^

More truth: Epstein Didn’t kill himself!

 

[nightanole]

take a pea, put it in a 55 gallon drum of distilled water. That is the difference between distilled and mineral water,other than calcium/lime/rust.

 

[Lunatuck]

The amount of minerals an organism gets from water is negligible. The amount of minerals RO water can reabsorb is minimal.

Minerals and nutrients come primarily from food. Water isn't a significant source.

 

[aapuzzo]

Thanks for the replies. I won't hesitate to use it with my reptiles in the misting systems. My information based on it being bad from humans came from this article https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf. I believe it is the world health organization and the study was for RO vs ground water and surface water. That's what lead me to the question on Chameleons because they aren't drinking ground or surface water so I figured it wouldn't apply but wanted to ask. The part on"Direct effects of low mineral content water on the intestinal mucous membrane, metabolism and mineral homeostasis or other body functions" is what concerned me.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf

 

[skoram]

Pure water has a pH of 7 - perfectly neutral. It becomes acidic very easily when in contact with decaying organic matter because it lacks buffers. As you said rain water is pretty much the same as distilled so I can’t imagine there being any issues with chameleons.

Most of us use distilled/ro. With proper supplementation it works fine. Especially since recent chameleon research shows they get much of their hydration from fog/humidity at night. Not a dumb question though, there's been tons of threads on this.

Can you share any links to this research? I’d be fascinated to read

 

[jamest0o0]

Pure water has a pH of 7 - perfectly neutral. It becomes acidic very easily when in contact with decaying organic matter because it lacks buffers. As you said rain water is pretty much the same as distilled so I can’t imagine there being any issues with chameleons.



Can you share any links to this research? I’d be fascinated to read

I'm referring to petr necas'. I've seen it through facebook back when I had it and him posting on here. @Brodybreaux25 you're usually posting Petr's stuff, do you know where to find a direct article about this?

 

[skoram]

I'm referring to petr necas'. I've seen it through facebook back when I had it and him posting on here. @Brodybreaux25 you're usually posting Petr's stuff, do you know where to find a direct article about this?

Found some references after you gave me the name. There is even a thread here made by jannb about it:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...er-management-unleashed-by-petr-necas.165025/

and an extensive article:

http://terra-pets.de/download-attachment/94999

This is very valuable information I think all keepers should be aware. It explains a lot for me personally as well. I almost exclusively use solid side enclosures like Exo Terras for my chameleons and have never misted over 4 minutes per day (typically 2 -3 minutes) based on information from Chris Anderson about keeping chameleons in glass enclosures. I have pretty much never witnessed them drinking water droplets directly but likewise have never had any issues with dehydration.

Anyway, sorry to the OP for semi-hijacking this thread.

 

[jamest0o0]

Found some references after you gave me the name. There is even a thread here made by jannb about it:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...er-management-unleashed-by-petr-necas.165025/

and an extensive article:

http://terra-pets.de/download-attachment/94999

This is very valuable information I think all keepers should be aware. It explains a lot for me personally as well. I almost exclusively use solid side enclosures like Exo Terras for my chameleons and have never misted over 4 minutes per day (typically 2 -3 minutes) based on information from Chris Anderson about keeping chameleons in glass enclosures. I have pretty much never witnessed them drinking water droplets directly but likewise have never had any issues with dehydration.

Anyway, sorry to the OP for semi-hijacking this thread.

No doubt, IMO/IME heavy misting is just as good if you don't want to go fogging route, but the fogging does seem to work. Petr (I think)said he even has chameleons living off *only* fog and no mist. Pretty incredible. Personally, for my Parsons in the garage, this winter I have switched from heavy misting to high humidity/fogging at night out of convenience. He hasn't showed any signs of dehydration. I still do an hour or 2 shower once to twice a week for him though. And I give him a daily light misting.

 

[SeeJay]

I produce large quantities of RODI water for my reef tank, so when I heard the nonsense about not using it for animals I of course did a few minutes of googling and posted the question here. There seems to be no science to back up that claim, so I ultimately concluded that the idea that water could be so pure it’s bad for animals is pretty ridiculous.

 

[RyanBRZ]

I use tap water filtered through a PUR water filter. IMO, as long as you let the chlorine evaporate out of it, filtered tap water is fine. No issues with my chameleon, or mist king, after over a year. If it ends up clogging after 4-5 years, I will either clean it or just buy a new nozzle.

 

[nickeeyy]

While reading online I have come across tons of information stating that distilled/RO water is bad for reptiles. I know for a fact it is bad for humans, mammals, amphibians due to the PH being acidic and leeching minerals. RO water for human consumption is remineralized.
Now every misting system states to used RO/Distilled water to prevent damage to pumps and misters from clogging which makes sense. Is this bad for arboreal lizards My common sense says that for arboreal lizards that drink rain water off of leaves it shouldn't be as big of an issue because rain water is pretty close to distilled. Are animals that drink from standing water on the ground the only ones affected?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but after a day of reading online I can't find a straight answer. You either find information on you must use distilled water in a misting system or another write up on never use distilled water it's bad for reptiles and amphibians. Both points are not discussed together.

Personally I wold love to use RO water just to reduce water spots.

Use distilled bottled water all the time everyday; it's fine

 

[skoram]

I use tap water filtered through a PUR water filter. IMO, as long as you let the chlorine evaporate out of it, filtered tap water is fine. No issues with my chameleon, or mist king, after over a year. If it ends up clogging after 4-5 years, I will either clean it or just buy a new nozzle.

It really depends on where you live as tap water can vary so much in amount and type of dissolved minerals by area. A TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter can help - they are around $15 on Amazon. My area's tap water has a TDS of about 100 (pretty low) but I heard some people have a tap water TDS as high as 5-600. I agree that using tap water will still take a pretty darn long time to clog your misting system. I use RODI water mainly to avoid hard water stains on my glass enclosures.

 

[RyanBRZ]

It really depends on where you live as tap water can vary so much in amount and type of dissolved minerals by area. A TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter can help - they are around $15 on Amazon. My area's tap water has a TDS of about 100 (pretty low) but I heard some people have a tap water TDS as high as 5-600. I agree that using tap water will still take a pretty darn long time to clog your misting system. I use RODI water mainly to avoid hard water stains on my glass enclosures.

Valid point.