chlorinated water

[Olive_Hermann]

Good morning,

As I was misting Olive/enclosure this morning it occurred to me that I was spraying her with chlorinated water.
History: I put in a pond earlier this year and checked with our water supplier to what treatment they used. This was confirmed as chlorinated water. I then treated the tap water before using it for fish/wildlife pond.

So my question is, is chlorinated water safe for tortoises? And if so, why are they any different from other cold blooded animals? And what could be the affects of continuous long term use? Bladder stones?

- Would it be better to collect rain water and warm up for baths and misting?

Thanks in advance, Jay

 

[JoesMum]

If it’s safe for you to drink then it is safe for your tortoise.

Few of us have unchlorinated tap water.

 

[Olive_Hermann]

Thanks JoesMum. Yes I would say it is mostly safe for human consumption but there are a lot of reports into the safety of drinking water for human consumption such as cancers etc, not that I’m bother about myself because we don’t live as long a tortoises, but is there any proof it’s safe for tortoises! But I’ve been researching this morning: rain water is a bit risky to filter, boiling tap water won’t remove the all the chlorine and ammonia and the only way to reverse it is to filter, which would cost hundreds to set up. BUT you can buy filtered water which is completely clean and lucky I have a pure water centre less then a mile away apparently where I can go a fill up my own bottles at 2.5p a litre! So to be safe this is the road I’m going to go down. Sort of answered my own question there.
If you hadn’t notice I am very particular ? x
Thanks, hope you have a nice weekend x

 

[Tom]

I agree that if the tap water is safe for you, then it is safe for reptiles to be drinking too. Animals that live and breathe the water, like fish or amphibians, are a different story.

However, using that water for rinsing, spraying or misting will leave behind horrible hardware stains on your enclosure AND your tortoise. Use collected rainwater, RO water, or distilled water for rinsing, spraying, misting, but use the tap for drinking and soaking.

 

[Olive_Hermann]

Morning guys, I’ve decide that because the water is has been chlorinated, and it is difficult to remove the chemicals (and tortoises have a very good sense of smell..) I will using a different treated water for Olive just to be on the safe side. I think most people’s water may just have been treated with chlorine which evaporates so becomes safe and is okay to use, but where I am the process is different... Thanks for helping!
X

 

[Yossarian]

Morning guys, I’ve decide that because the water is has been chlorinated, and it is difficult to remove the chemicals (and tortoises have a very good sense of smell..) I will using a different treated water for Olive just to be on the safe side. I think most people’s water may just have been treated with chlorine which evaporates so becomes safe and is okay to use, but where I am the process is different... Thanks for helping!
X

All chlorine used to treat municiple water supplies in the UK outgases or evaporates slowly from the water, it also breaks down by bonding with ammonia and also by simply breaking into single atoms. Sunlight also breaks down chlorine molecules. What process are you talking about, most of the UK has pretty good water supplies. It gets pretty costly to go away from municiple water, or to RO filter it. It really isnt necessary, normally, would hate for you to go to all that trouble for nothing.

 

[JoesMum]

Morning guys, I’ve decide that because the water is has been chlorinated, and it is difficult to remove the chemicals (and tortoises have a very good sense of smell..) I will using a different treated water for Olive just to be on the safe side. I think most people’s water may just have been treated with chlorine which evaporates so becomes safe and is okay to use, but where I am the process is different... Thanks for helping!
X

@Olive_Hermann the UK water supply is just fine. I live here and and have kept a tortoise since 1970

Lime scale in the water will stain the tort’s shell,

Bottled water that you buy in supermarkets is very high in minerals and is likely to stain even worse.

If you are concerned about the chlorine then fill a jug from the tap and leave it to stand for 24 hours. The chlorine will evaporate.

Please don’t use de-ionised water or the like with your tortoise. That really isn’t good for him.

 

[Olive_Hermann]

@Olive_Hermann the UK water supply is just fine. I live here and and have kept a tortoise since 1970

Lime scale in the water will stain the tort’s shell,

Bottled water that you buy in supermarkets is very high in minerals and is likely to stain even worse.

If you are concerned about the chlorine then fill a jug from the tap and leave it to stand for 24 hours. The chlorine will evaporate.

Please don’t use de-ionised water or the like with your tortoise. That really isn’t good for him.

Hi guys!
I wouldn’t use de-ionised water, there aren’t any microbes in it. I’ve been researching all night about uk water and what is in it. Our water as absolutely filled with chemicals. In Essex number one is ammonia, which is very hard to remove. Elsewhere you have fluoride, which does cause symptoms in children - see NHS.org website, this worries me about kidney stones.. Some bottled water reduces this (Fluoride) (I have a young tortoise so this would effect her).
There is no way after reading what I have today that I would give Olive tap water, I also have a four year old son which I wouldn’t want drinking tap water. Tap water is at a very high in chemicals. I am looking into a filter system (Berkley seems to be a good option and good value over all but it will be a “big” purchase). At the moment I am using mineral water and boiling it to remove the chlorine, which seems fine at the moment. It’s a difficult subject but I think we should discuss it. Thanks everyone for input x

 

[Olive_Hermann]

All chlorine used to treat municiple water supplies in the UK outgases or evaporates slowly from the water, it also breaks down by bonding with ammonia and also by simply breaking into single atoms. Sunlight also breaks down chlorine molecules. What process are you talking about, most of the UK has pretty good water supplies. It gets pretty costly to go away from municiple water, or to RO filter it. It really isnt necessary, normally, would hate for you to go to all that trouble for nothing.

Thanks Yossarian, filter rainwater would be more healthy then our tap water. I do agree I don’t like fuss but I think it’s actually very important in our and our tortoise’s health to find a middle conclusion.

 

[Olive_Hermann]

Thanks Yossarian, filter rainwater would be more healthy then our tap water. I do agree I don’t like fuss but I think it’s actually very important in our and our tortoise’s health to find a middle conclusion.

Yossarian, that isn’t true btw, see my letter from my water supplier. To get out ammonia out of water is a lot of hard work. But anyway there are a lot of fluoride and metals in tap water that can cause long term problems. I’m not looking to disagree with anyone and I’ve come to my own conclusions on this, through my own research, please do what is right for you. We all want the best for our tortoises and we all do what we think is best. Who knows at the end of the day. But if I think I am doing something wrong then I can no longer do that thing. And I don’t think whatever anyone else does is wrong. Happy, Healthy Tortoises! X

 

[Yossarian]

Yossarian, that isn’t true btw, see my letter from my water supplier. To get out ammonia out of water is a lot of hard work. But anyway there are a lot of fluoride and metals in tap water that can cause long term problems. I’m not looking to disagree with anyone and I’ve come to my own conclusions on this, through my own research, please do what is right for you. We all want the best for our tortoises and we all do what we think is best. Who knows at the end of the day. But if I think I am doing something wrong then I can no longer do that thing. And I don’t think whatever anyone else does is wrong. Happy, Healthy Tortoises! X

Im not sure what isnt true, chloramines outgas, just not as fast as chlorine, of the various types of chloramine molecules that can be formed only one is stable, it takes 3-4x as long as normal chlorine to outgas but it does, if you agitate and heat the water it will release it more quickly as well. Where chloramines are used btw, there is very little free ammonia found as it is consumed to produce the Chloramine. Im not gonna get into this argument with you, it is an area of huge disinformation because there are many people that want to sell you expensive RO and other unneccessary filtration systems combined with the whole conspiracy side of the Flouride debate.

 

[Justincl]

Good morning,

As I was misting Olive/enclosure this morning it occurred to me that I was spraying her with chlorinated water.
History: I put in a pond earlier this year and checked with our water supplier to what treatment they used. This was confirmed as chlorinated water. I then treated the tap water before using it for fish/wildlife pond.

So my question is, is chlorinated water safe for tortoises? And if so, why are they any different from other cold blooded animals? And what could be the affects of continuous long term use? Bladder stones?

- Would it be better to collect rain water and warm up for baths and misting?

Thanks in advance, Jay

Theorectically if u sprayed ur tort's shell and he/she didn't drink some of it by accident it should be fine but it might leave some mineral deposits on the shell like turtles in tap water. Do you use drinking water for ur tort's drinking supply?

 

[Maggie3fan]

I certainly am no expert. But I have kept tortoises for a few years, and I'm not gonna spend money to buy pure water for an animal who eats their own poop...just sayin

 

[Justincl]

I certainly am no expert. But I have kept tortoises for a few years, and I'm not gonna spend money to buy pure water for an animal who eats their own poop...just sayin

Or you could get some water from the tap in a bucket and leave it overnight the chlorine should be gone because i have kept fish in the past and it worked as for me my water dispenser converts water from the pump with reverse osmosis so i just use drinking water

 

[Cathie G]

Good morning,

As I was misting Olive/enclosure this morning it occurred to me that I was spraying her with chlorinated water.
History: I put in a pond earlier this year and checked with our water supplier to what treatment they used. This was confirmed as chlorinated water. I then treated the tap water before using it for fish/wildlife pond.

So my question is, is chlorinated water safe for tortoises? And if so, why are they any different from other cold blooded animals? And what could be the affects of continuous long term use? Bladder stones?

- Would it be better to collect rain water and warm up for baths and misting?

Thanks in advance, Jay

Hello. Many years ago I was playing around with plants. I was told by a plant nursery that clorine turns into a salt so to just let the water sit for a few days. Then use the the upper part for watering my plants and try to avoid the residue. That doesn't mean I disagree with anyone here because I don't. They are such a wonderful bunch of people. I do use a simple pur water filter on my faucet for my animals drinking water though because I don't trust our tap water. It filters chlorine and other contaminates. I won't use it for my Betta.?

 

[Cathie G]

Or you could get some water from the tap in a bucket and leave it overnight the chlorine should be gone because i have kept fish in the past and it worked as for me my water dispenser converts water from the pump with reverse osmosis so i just use drinking water

Yep. Reverse osmosis is the only other bottled water I can drink besides spring.

 

[Justincl]

Yep. Reverse osmosis is the only other bottled water I can drink besides spring.

Yep better to be safe than sorry because who knows what chemicals are gonna enter the tort's digestive track

 

[Cathie G]

Yep. Reverse osmosis is the only other bottled water I can drink besides spring.

Also I'm wondering why there is amonia and chlorine together in water. That's something you avoid mixing when cleaning so you don't get gassed to death ☠️?

 

[Justincl]

Also I'm wondering why there is amonia and chlorine together in water. That's something you avoid mixing when cleaning so you don't get gassed to death ☠?

Considering the fact that most countries recycle water from sewers and lakes i'm not surprised that there is still a small amount of ammonia present for instance my current high school in indonesia managed by an indian principal never changes the pool water in our school but rather just adds more chlorine to the point it stinks of chlorine and no one swims there

 

[Cathie G]

Considering the fact that most countries recycle water from sewers and lakes i'm not surprised that there is still a small amount of ammonia present for instance my current high school in indonesia managed by an indian principal never changes the pool water in our school but rather just adds more chlorine to the point it stinks of chlorine and no one swims there

If the truth be known, I don't want to even think about what we HAVE to drink now. The rivers and waterways should not be for sewage. Then spend billions trying to clean it up. The only reason I don't collect rainwater is because I live in a wetlands area. It's polluted with snails and not the pretty version. But the slimey version.?