Drinking Water for Tarantulas?

Triggerman73

Arachnoknight
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Apr 24, 2009
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Does it matter what type of water you use? Can it be from the tap or does it have to be purified a lot? i hope my question is easy to understand
 

Miz

Arachnosquire
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Apr 20, 2009
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i personally just use purified bottled water from the store. i fill my spray bottle with it and use it to mist and fill water dishes. tap water has lots of....stuff in it that could be harmful. not to say that it is for sure, but just to be on the safe side. IMO, if I won't drink it, then neither should they.
 

Transylvania

Gondorian
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Dec 26, 2006
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I, as well as lots of others, just use tap water. I don't believe the additives are too harmful, though I wonder if anyone's done an experiment with this...
 

Triggerman73

Arachnoknight
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Apr 24, 2009
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i personally just use purified bottled water from the store. i fill my spray bottle with it and use it to mist and fill water dishes. tap water has lots of....stuff in it that could be harmful. not to say that it is for sure, but just to be on the safe side. IMO, if I won't drink it, then neither should they.
ok makes sense thats why i started the thread the whole "additives" part worries me but there are many different sides so its a little questionable i will probably use bottled water.

anyway, this has nothing to do with the post but how do you get from "arachnopeon" to say, "arachnoprince" and such?
 

Sathane

Arachnoking
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I use tap water to fill bowls and moisten substrate. I use purified water for misting because it leaves less deposits on the sides of the enclosures.
 

HankyPankyRoe

Arachnosquire
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Nov 8, 2008
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Bottled Water. We have a well, even though it is treated, I still will not take a chance.
 

the_mask86

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personally i don't take the chance.
i use purified water but its from the tap as well.
 

RoachGirlRen

Arachnoangel
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Tap, but treated w/Prime since we have ample chlorine and copper in our water; better safe than sorry.

Though tap is often perfectly safe, changes in water treatment may warrant concern. Chloramine does not dissapate like chlorine and is increasingly popular in municipal water supplies. It is known to be toxic to invertebrates, so it may be worth treating tap if you live in an area that has switched over from chlorine to chloramine.
 

J Dave

Arachnopeon
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Apr 3, 2009
Messages
11
My choice is distilled water, mineral free; I use it for my Ts, reptiles and all my pets. Lost a Chihuahua due to my mineral laden well water as a contributing factor. She developed kidney problems due to calcium saturation. (stones)
My pets get the best quality food, so water is just that water....
 

Elleken

Arachnoknight
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Sep 29, 2008
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I just use tap. Though I live in the middle of nowhere and our water is from a spring. Never run into any problems.
 

redsaw

Arachnoknight
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Sep 16, 2008
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I use Zoo Med Reptisafe for mine. I have it for our tortoise so I just use that for the Ts also. The bottle says good for arachnids.
You could let tap water sit for 24 hrs and a lot of the impurities will evaporate.
 

Paramite

Arachnoprince
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I live at the center of the city, so the water isn't exactly well water, but I've never had any problems.
 

xrickus

Arachnopeon
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Jan 22, 2007
Messages
29
RO water

I use purified water for few reasons:
1. the water in my area is very hard and leaves calcium deposit on the enclosure glasses and in the water dishes.
2. I 'm sure that the additive added in municipal water cannot be beneficial for any animal or human.
3. I noticed a reduction in mold formation even on wood decorations.

To purify the water I use a Reverse Osmosis system.

Rick
 

WelshTan

Arachnoprince
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Feb 20, 2009
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tbh i use tap water as mine isnt treated with chloramine. . .also somehow i dont think that any T's in the wild go shopping for distilled/purified water. . .they settle for puddle water/water collected in leaves etc which could have and probably has all sorts of hidden nasty bacteria etc in it ....
 

RoachGirlRen

Arachnoangel
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Jul 8, 2007
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My concern with R/O and distilled water is that it is lacking in important trace minerals. This probably is not problematic for species that obtain most to all water via their prey, but species that do drink water and require that source of trace minerals could be adversely affected. There are also some osmotic balance concerns with pure H2O being imbibed, though I'm not sure how much a tarantula would be affected as I am not under the impression that they do a large amount of drinking. Perhaps some of our board chemists could shed some light on these concerns? I am going mostly on problems seen with R/O and distilled in vertebrates.
 
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