Is tap water safe for snakes? Here is what you need to know

When I got my first pet snake. I spent a couple of weeks searching for what is the best stuff I can do for my pet snake to accommodate him. And the one thing which I got stuck on is What kind of water should I give to my pet snake?. Is the tap water safe for snakes or should I use bottled water or anything else?. After searching it on the internet and forums. I found people with different opinions on which is much safer. So I did a lot of research and reached out to a couple of people who own snakes. And found my own version to answer this question. Is tap water safe for Snakes?

Tap water is completely safe for snakes. As it is treated and regulated by your regional authority to meet the required standards. The general thumb of rule is if the tap water in your locality is safe for humans to consume than it is completely safe for your pet snake.

As the water that comes in your tap is much cleaner as compared to the water deposit found in the wild that is consumed for drinking by snakes.

However, if you are not sure about the quality of your tap water or it is not up to the required standard.

Then your concerns are genuine regarding the disinfectant and other chemicals found in tap water such as chlorine, chloramine, fluoride, and their by-products.

To figure out if your tap water is safe for your pet snake, keep reading the article as I have covered an in-depth answer to this question.

How to know if your tap water is safe for your snakes?

In General, if the water you are drinking and using in your kitchen comes directly from the tap without any in-house filtration process. Then it is completely safe your pet snake.

If you are thinking about why I am comparing humans with snakes?. Because of the process of how snakes intake water in much similar to humans.

Even if your drinking water contains a minimal amount of disinfectant residual it will not have much effect on the snake’s body.

You can simply figure out the quality of your tap water by contacting the municipal of your locality.

In the U.S the EPA sets the standard for drinking water quality.

And you can get a CCR (Consumer Confidence Report) that will provide you with the information regarding the quality, and source of the water supplied to your locality.

You can also get water testing kits to find the amount of chlorine, chloramines, and pH level of your tap water.

If all the content present in your water compiles with the drinking water quality standards than your tab water is perfectly fine.

Do snakes need special water?

Snakes do not need special water for drinking or for soaking. If your tap water is clean enough for drinking than you can give it to your pet snake.

Other than tap water you can also give purified water, dechlorinated water, alkaline water, and RO Water.

While I discussed with the people who are owning snake as a pet for as long as 10 to 12 years it turned out that they have never given any specially treated water to their pet snakes other than tap water.

While we can’t assume this as a straight answer, as the purity of the water depends on the way your municipal authority treats your drinking water supply.

But you can always give up your concerns by switching to RO(Reverse osmosis), dechlorinated, or alkaline water for your pet snake.

While discussing with the snake owners who use RO and Alkaline water. I found one interesting thing that by adding another layer of purification to the drinking water, their pets were found more active and healthy.

So if you are willing to spend some bucks to get a R.O(make sure it has a carbon filter in it) or Alkaline purifier than go for it.

But if you get clean drinking water in your tap and you don’t want to spend money on water supply, then your tap water is completely fine.

What type of water is safe for snakes?

I have listed the most commonly used type of water like a tap, bottled, purified, and distilled water.

Tap water

If the water coming in your tap compiles the standards set by the authority governing water supply then you can give it to your pet snake.

Bottled water

Bottled water is not safe for snakes. Because you can’t rely on the quality of the water. As a packaged drinking water standard is regulated by the FDA which doesn’t require testing of water.

While on the other hand Tap water is Regulated by EPA that follows strict regulation and testing done by governing bodies.

Other than this, bottled water will cost you more and you will also not get the assurance of the quality of water.

If your tap water is not clean enough then you can switch for bottled water. But before doing that you must check out the presence of chlorine, chloramine, and its PH level.

Distilled water

Distilled water is not safe for your pet snake. As snakes intake some amount of minerals from water, and distilled water doesn’t contain the necessary dissolved minerals.

Thus distilled water can cause an imbalance in the osmoregulation in snakes. However, you can use distilled water for misting the terrarium of your pet snake to avoid any spots caused due to mineral deposits.

Purified and Mineral water

The best type of water you can give to your pet snakes are RO and Alkaline water. As the filtration removes chlorine, chloramine, fluoride and improves the PH level of the water.

It is the ultimate option to go for if you want to switch from tap water. While optioning for RO make sure it contains a carbon filter as RO without a carbon filter not be able to remove chloramine effectively.

How to make different types of water safe for snakes?

There are a lot of different options you can go for to improve the quality of the water that you are giving to your pet snake.

But before getting into the purification process make sure to have a report of your drinking water.

So if you tap water only contains chlorine than you can fill a bucket of water and keep it in the sunlight for 24 hours prior to use, this will dissipate all chlorine from the water other than this you can also boil the water.

If your tap water contains chlorine and chloramine than you can use dechlorinator, the one that I will suggest is a dechlorinator by Reptisafe. It will remove all the chlorine and chloramine.

If you want to get better results and you are willing to spend a couple of bucks than you can get a RO(Reverse osmosis) purifier that has a carbon filter. It will remove all impurities of the water and improve the PH level of the water. This can be used as an ultimate option for the treatment of all types of water sources.

Conclusion

The safety of the tap water for your snake really depends on where you live and how the water treatment is done. So there is no definite answer to this question. But once you know the quality of your tap water then it will become much easier for you to decide, if your tap water is good for your pet snake or if it’s time to switch to any purifier or water treatment kit.

Do snakes need to Drink water?

Snakes need to drink water as their body requires a necessary amount of water to keep them hydrated and to regulate their body function. Snakes mainly obtain water from their prey, but they will also intake water in liquid form if they found a reliable water source.