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

[skoram]

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.

Heavy misting could be just as good if you have a screen enclosure but, per info from Dr. Chris Anderson, will create too wet of an environment in a glass enclosure which could lead to URI. Dr. Anderson said he mists his glass enclosures once per day for 2 minutes. I always had doubts about how my chameleons could receive sufficient hydration with a similar misting schedule since I have almost never witnessed them actively drinking. I just trusted in the fact that their urates were white. Your reference to Petr Necas' research provided me with some clarity on the issue.

 

[jamest0o0]

Heavy misting could be just as good if you have a screen enclosure but, per info from Dr. Chris Anderson, will create too wet of an environment in a glass enclosure which could lead to URI. Dr. Anderson said he mists his glass enclosures once per day for 2 minutes. I always had doubts about how my chameleons could receive sufficient hydration with a similar misting schedule since I have almost never witnessed them actively drinking. I just trusted in the fact that their urates were white. Your reference to Petr Necas' research provided me with some clarity on the issue.

I can see that. That RI fear has also only been an issue with hot+humid according to necas. Many montane chams are found in constantly wet areas(parsons for one). That said, I can see with glass being low air exchange, could be a concern. If your cage is not drying out, the humidity is probably high enough that they're retaining a lot of water so no need for much misting. My cham's cage never fully dried out with 1-2hr daily mistings. Then in the spring through fall I keep my parsonii outside in temps ranging from 40s to high 90s and high humidity(we regularly have fog). No RI's yet. I'm a believer it's more about air exchange than anything regarding that.

 

[Waxy Lizard]

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

Assuming that the chameleon would get NO rain, then yes lots of its hydration comes from fog and insects. But I'd assume rain water is jam packed full of nutrients. I'm by no means a meteorologist, nor do I know what I'm talking about, but it's just an assumption. I personally have an under sink RO system, and I use repashy calcium plus LoD 2 or 3x a month for extra vitamins, along with gutloading correctly of course. Just saying, he will get plenty of vitamins and nutrients through feeders assuming you gutload correctly.

 

[jamest0o0]

Assuming that the chameleon would get NO rain, then yes lots of its hydration comes from fog and insects. But I'd assume rain water is jam packed full of nutrients. I'm by no means a meteorologist, nor do I know what I'm talking about, but it's just an assumption. I personally have an under sink RO system, and I use repashy calcium plus LoD 2 or 3x a month for extra vitamins, along with gutloading correctly of course. Just saying, he will get plenty of vitamins and nutrients through feeders assuming you gutload correctly.

Older thread, but rainwater(as it should be in nature) is pretty low in nutrients. It’s not as low as distilled or RO/DI, but it’s pretty pure. Enough so that carnivorous plants aren’t harmed by it(they’re notoriously finicky with nutrients in the soil/water). RO water I believe is a little more like rain water, RO/DI is ultra pure like distilled.

I agree though… with feeders, supplements, and gutless there shouldn’t be any concerns.

 

[Waxy Lizard]

Older thread, but rainwater(as it should be in nature) is pretty low in nutrients. It’s not as low as distilled or RO/DI, but it’s pretty pure. Enough so that carnivorous plants aren’t harmed by it(they’re notoriously finicky with nutrients in the soil/water). RO water I believe is a little more like rain water, RO/DI is ultra pure like distilled.

I agree though… with feeders, supplements, and gutless there shouldn’t be any concerns.

Yeah, and sorry I hadn't noticed the dates. Just thought I'd try to give some advice where I saw it was needed lol. And that's good to know about the rainwater.

 

[JacksJill]

Distilled water is fine to use in misters and foggers but should not be used in hand sprayers or drippers because it is deionized and can leach minerals. Misting and fogging introduces ions. I have now gone to using a half distilled half RO mix in my misting system to reduce the cost. I have no build up on my misting tips.

 

[jamest0o0]

Distilled water is fine to use in misters and foggers but should not be used in hand sprayers or drippers because it is deionized and can leach minerals. Misting and fogging introduces ions. I have now gone to using a half distilled half RO mix in my misting system to reduce the cost. I have no build up on my misting tips.

Why are misters okay, but not hand sprayers? Just curious. Would distilled counter over(?)-mineralization, as in over dusting?

 

[JacksJill]

I don’t know if the droplets from a hand spraying of fine enough to counter the deionization.
I don’t believe it would work like that as the leaching would be on the first point of contact like the teeth, oral surfaces and eyes not the deep tissue like the liver where much of the over supplementation deposits.

 

[jamest0o0]

I don’t know if the droplets from a hand spraying of fine enough to counter the deionization.
I don’t believe it would work like that as the leaching would be on the first point of contact like the teeth, oral surfaces and eyes not the deep tissue like the liver where much of the over supplementation deposits.

Ah gotcha. Makes sense… so it’s pulling from pretty much whatever it touches. In the case of minerals it would have to be making it to the bones/blood vessels/liver/etc to pull excess minerals away… which I’m guessing isn’t possible without causing more damage than you’re repairing. So getting sprayed directly in the eyes/mouth everyday with larger droplets of distilled water might not be the best thing for you… I guess I was just thinking the body could move around the stored minerals to where they’re needed(teeth for example).

I bet a lot of people unknowingly give their animals RO/DI water from their fish tanks or whatever. I wonder if there’s been any obvious cases where this was damaging.

 

[JacksJill]

RO shouldn’t be an issue just distilled.

 

[jamest0o0]

RO shouldn’t be an issue just distilled.

RO/DI not RO, but yes I’d agree RO wouldn’t be a problem. RO/DI is the same thing as distilled for the most part.

 

[JacksJill]

Gotcha.