I use bottled still water, its so cheap why risk giving them that chlorinated rubbish out the tap!
The chlorine in tap water burns the gills in freshwater fish so you have to use products such as Tap Safe to de chlorinate it.
If it does that to fish what could it be doing to our little noodles?
Hey Willy! How ya been?
I know I'm not the best person to debate a topic like this, since I smoked cigarettes for 40 years (ran 6 NYC Marathons while nearing the end of those 40 years, mind you), did a whole lotta pharmaceuticals and processed by-products of psychopharmaceuticals up till the age of 30, used all sorts of chemical flavoring enhancers (i.e., aspartame, Splenda, etc.) for as far back as I can remember, and I've been drinking NYC tap water all of my life. I personally think it's the best and only drink Poland Spring because my wife likes it and when on the go, it's just easier and doesn't taste like paint thinner.
That being said (I've already LOST all the tree-hugging, Eastern medicine, haters of most-things-Western and I really don't care), I do admit to using a product call Reptisafe, the label of which claims to remove chlorine & chloramines from tap water but the reason I use it is that it is supposed to add essential electrolytes, including calcium, it removes ammonia and helps prevent its accumulation and also reduces pH. Just 2 drops per cup of water is supposed to do the trick. I don't know if it really works, but I've been using it for 8 years with my adult corns and when they drink they drink for 2-3 minutes at a time. (Wonder of that made any of the tree-huggers who stuck around happy). :eek1:
However, your point about fish is not a good example, because what fresh water fish use water for is for the equivalent of breathing in animals with lungs. In addition, I've known people who keep fish for more years than I'd like to remember in NYC tap water just by letting it sit for 24 hours and although the fish can't speak, they have kept for years beyond their typical life span. Never saw any double-headed guppies spawned from NYC tap water, though I can't say that for our areas rivers and streams and have heard rumors that upstate, near the Dow Chemical Plants, there HAVE been sightings of several different species of salt- and fresh-water fish that have sprouted tentacles, odd-looking growths with independently moving digits resembling human toes and in some cases, fur!
However, back to the topic: Unless I'm dampening sphagnum moss for a lay box or for anything coming in contact with eggs, I use good, old-fashioned NYC tap water! (BTW, my yearling, OZZY, who hatched one year ago today - I started a thread in the Corn Snake Photo Gallery entitled "Happy Hatchday Ozzy!" - came from a clutch that I used tap water with EVERYTHING, including the moss which held the eggs he came from! And he seems to be fine! Just weighed in at 155grams prior to eating an adult mouse today and 171grams after!).
Just my .02!
