water

[brownie64]

This question may have already been answered, and if so I'm sorry. Well here goes. I just got my Mistking a wile back, and the instructions say to use distilled, or reverse osmoses. I use distilled because I haven't went to the expense of installing a reverse osmoses system. And buying it at the pet store cost more than the distilled. But I'm concerned that the distilled water don't have the minerals my chameleons need for their proper health. I've done research on the net, but get mixed results. So this is where you come in. Is it safe to use distilled water, or do I need to spend the extra cash on the revers osmoses water?

 

[xraygirl]

Maybe I'm in the wrong here, but I run regular tap water through a Pùr filter on my stink in my mistking and it has done just fine.

 

[mowryrd]

I use stright-up tap water. I would think you would want minerals for the chameleons health but it will build up in the lines and mister head. From what I heard this can be fixed by running some diluted vinegar through the system (and then flushing with clean water of course). But I've run mine for a year with no issues. I think the chlorine is the only thing you want to get rid of and this can be done by simply letting the water sit for 24hours before using

 

[broderp]

I use stright-up tap water. I would think you would want minerals for the chameleons health but it will build up in the lines and mister head. From what I heard this can be fixed by running some diluted vinegar through the system (and then flushing with clean water of course). But I've run mine for a year with no issues. I think the chlorine is the only thing you want to get rid of and this can be done by simply letting the water sit for 24hours before using

Q- How is letting water sit for 24 hours any better than having standing water for a cham to drink? Wouldn't allowing water to sit allow bacteria etc. to grow? The forum always steers people away from fountains and such in enclosures. I would think, keeping a fountain or other water source clean and changing the water every day or two plenty safe for most. The problem in my eyes is getting people to change regularly.

 

[Carlton]

Q- How is letting water sit for 24 hours any better than having standing water for a cham to drink? Wouldn't allowing water to sit allow bacteria etc. to grow? The forum always steers people away from fountains and such in enclosures. I would think, keeping a fountain or other water source clean and changing the water every day or two plenty safe for most. The problem in my eyes is getting people to change regularly.

Maybe, but we'd have to assume that people actually do keep their fountains clean (and what they consider clean varies a lot!). A bucket of fresh tap water sitting out to allow chlorine to dissipate is slightly different than a fairly small volume of water sitting in a cage where just about anything grody can fall into it. I don't use fountains because they are simply a serious hassle to deal with. You have to disrupt the cage to move them, clean them, and replace. And I think they look pretty stupid.

 

[Carlton]

I use stright-up tap water. I would think you would want minerals for the chameleons health but it will build up in the lines and mister head. From what I heard this can be fixed by running some diluted vinegar through the system (and then flushing with clean water of course). But I've run mine for a year with no issues. I think the chlorine is the only thing you want to get rid of and this can be done by simply letting the water sit for 24hours before using

It all depends on your tap water and what treatment chemicals your particular municipality happens to use. Letting the water sit will work for chlorine, but it WON'T work for chloramines, added fluoride or some other chemicals. You may have naturally softer water which is why you haven't had trouble with your misters. Sounds like you are good to go which is great! Yes, running vinegar through the mister does dissolve mineral deposits.

 

[Carlton]

Maybe I'm in the wrong here, but I run regular tap water through a Pùr filter on my stink in my mistking and it has done just fine.

Depending on the specific type of Pur filter it could be enough. If your city uses chloramines to treat the water it might not remove them but you'd have to investigate that yourself. It is different for everyone because everyone's water source is different.

 

[Carlton]

This question may have already been answered, and if so I'm sorry. Well here goes. I just got my Mistking a wile back, and the instructions say to use distilled, or reverse osmoses. I use distilled because I haven't went to the expense of installing a reverse osmoses system. And buying it at the pet store cost more than the distilled. But I'm concerned that the distilled water don't have the minerals my chameleons need for their proper health. I've done research on the net, but get mixed results. So this is where you come in. Is it safe to use distilled water, or do I need to spend the extra cash on the revers osmoses water?

I suspect the loss of minerals can be made up by proper gutloading and dusting. Chams drinking rainwater are not getting all that much nutrition from that either.
An RO filter at home basically saves buying the water in bulk over time, and creating distilled water at home isn't very practical.

 

[Kate]

Q- How is letting water sit for 24 hours any better than having standing water for a cham to drink? Wouldn't allowing water to sit allow bacteria etc. to grow? The forum always steers people away from fountains and such in enclosures. I would think, keeping a fountain or other water source clean and changing the water every day or two plenty safe for most. The problem in my eyes is getting people to change regularly.

The bucket I use for my mistking has a lid on it that way I know that no Cham poop or feeder insect can drop into it and pollute the water.

 

[ataraxia]

Distilled is just fine along with R/O. I strongly recommend that you do use either with your system.

The thing many are doing here is humanizing nutrients from what our water is picking up through being filtered naturally or by added chemicals from your local water treatment plant (Pulling water from the earth). "Most" chameleons drink from rain water or from dew. These sources are not "Earth" naturally filtered picking up minerals and they would not have any positive influence via chemicals in the same way we are getting water.

 

[brownie64]

thanks for the info

Thank you for your advice you guys are great. So I guess I'll stay with the distilled water until I can acquire a reverse osmosis system filter.

 

[xraygirl]

Depending on the specific type of Pur filter it could be enough. If your city uses chloramines to treat the water it might not remove them but you'd have to investigate that yourself. It is different for everyone because everyone's water source is different.

Luckily, I'm not on yucky nasty city water... But I'm on a well, and I guess I do it to sleep better? Haha, I guzzle my (unfiltered) tap water cause it tastes great.

 

[mowryrd]

The difference between a waterfall or a water dish and the the bucket for my mist king is the bucket is kept outside the cage with a lid on it and is filled with clean water every other day. The water is not recirculated but sprayed into the cage and collected in a separate bucket that is also outside the cage. The only way it would be dirty is if the first bucket was dirty and I would gladly drink form that bucket, good clean water dosnt go bad from sitting in a bucket for a day.