Water Importance

[ConcinusMan]

I've always just used plain tap water. Considering what's in the water where I find healthy concinnus in the wild, I highly doubt that anything in our tap water is going to hurt them. (we actually have some of the best tap water in the country)

Yeah, that's right. I'm a bad daddy. Untreated tap water and gold fish. WC and never dewormed, never saw a vet. Poor guys. They only lived 2 decades.

[MasSalvaje]

I've always just used plain tap water. Considering what's in the water where I find healthy concinnus in the wild, I highly doubt that anything in our tap water is going to hurt them. (we actually have some of the best tap water in the country)

Yeah, that's right. I'm a bad daddy. Untreated tap water and gold fish. WC and never dewormed, never saw a vet. Poor guys. They only lived 2 decades.

Those things may have worked for you and the two garters that did so well but I know others have had very bad experiences by doing, or not doing, those same things.

You can't pass those things off as across the board acceptable care based on experiences of 2 specimens. You also can't look at solely longevity to determine if an animal thrived or not.

I don't mean to bash you or your husbandry techniques but I do think you should point out that just because something has worked for you does not mean that it will work with every other species or even every individual within that species.

-Thomas

[ConcinusMan]

oh I know. I'm just saying I didn't know any better and it just so happened that all of my snakes over the years did just fine. Not just two of them. In another example I had an ordinoides that exceeded the so called "maximum" size by about 2 inches, and made it 13 years in captivity. Like I said, our water is exceedingly good, and I imagine that my goldfish source probably was not high in thiaminase, and they got lots of other food sources besides "bad" fish. As to whether they thrived or not, of that I have no doubt whatsoever. If you are concerned about additives in the water where you live, I would use spring water, or even distilled rather than put more additives that supposedly "treat" the water. Most of my snakes did come from highly polluted water sources, and yet the area is still full of healthy, large snakes. I'm just saying the water they are drinking in the wild is far worse than my tap water, and is full of fertilizers and petroleum products.

[drache]

I only treat tap water for bathing - the drinking water they get is filtered tap water
our water is supposed to be among the best in the US, but it does travel through an awful lot of pipe before it comes out of our faucet, so I just want to take the edge of whatever traces of heavy metals and treatment plant chemicals may come with it
I'm not fond of adding chemicals, but I think a squirt of stresscoat is relatively benign, not to mention that the aloe in it is kind of a nice bath addition

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

my snakes get tap water straight from the sink... it IS well water though... so it's not chlorinated, or fluoridated... or anything like that!! It's great water actually, I can actually take our water and put fish (i keep fish) straight into it. Actually when I bring the feeder guppies home from the store, I bring them in a bucket of their fish tank water. If i leave the guppies in that over half will die (went through this at least a dozen times) but if I put them in MY water they thrive!!! So if it's perking up my guppies I figure, it can't hurt my snakes


water that is bottled in plastics is a lot worse than many think it is. The plastics release toxins, and many sources of bottled water are just straight tap water put into a bottle. You have to read labels carefully, for clues like "obtained from a public water source".

[Zgi]

I've got a question on this.
At the moment theres a bassin in my terrarium, containing ca. 3 liters.
Now i'd like to attach an Aquarium, size: 30x30x30 (or higher)
The Terrarium is integrated in a cupboard und so there would be a possibility to build an additional floor comprehending an aquarium.
Terrarium's size is: 150x40x40 (l,w,h)
What do you think - is this possible or should i keep the bassin?

MfG
Marc

[drache]

another piece of input for those of us who don't have access to uncontaminated springs
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us...html?th&emc=th

[gregmonsta]

I always treat my water ... but then it is how I add vitamins and calcium into their diets. Soluble vitamins and calcium are much less hassle and I find it a lot easier to administer a constant trace amount in this fashion.
Scottish water is known to be fantastic (unless you live in Edinburgh) ... but I always allow the cold water to run for a minute or so before I take water fromm the tap ... the reason being - Have you ever seen how dirty the insides of a hot water tank can get?

[ConcinusMan]

my snakes get tap water straight from the sink... it IS well water though... so it's not chlorinated, or fluoridated... or anything like that!! It's great water actually, I can actually take our water and put fish (i keep fish) straight into it. Actually when I bring the feeder guppies home from the store, I bring them in a bucket of their fish tank water. If i leave the guppies in that over half will die (went through this at least a dozen times) but if I put them in MY water they thrive!!! So if it's perking up my guppies I figure, it can't hurt my snakes


water that is bottled in plastics is a lot worse than many think it is. The plastics release toxins, and many sources of bottled water are just straight tap water put into a bottle. You have to read labels carefully, for clues like "obtained from a public water source".

That's why I suggested spring water or distilled. Other bottled water from municiple sources has been dechlorinated at least. And always check the expiration. It takes time for the plastic to foul the water. Anyway, there's nothing added to my tap water besides chlorine gas to sanitize it. Chlorine gas dissipates pretty fast once it's placed in an open container. I don't know about guppies, but goldfish survive in my tap water once it's allowed to "air out" for a day. More than half will survive anyway, straight out of the tap. But heck, if you live outside of a big city, or otherwise do not have much in the way of air pollution, there's probably nothing wrong with collecting rain water/snow and using that.

[guidofatherof5]

Thought I would give this a bump.

Water is such an important item for them.