• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Can "hard water" kill a ball python?

S

stevek123

New member
Joined
May 17, 2008
Messages
476
Reaction score
10
Points
0
Age
74
Location
vermont
A lady was telling me the other day that she moved into a house and the water is extremely hard. She said it has killed a few of her younger snakes. She has switched to bottled spring water. Anyone ever hear of this happening?
 
I think that water quality can have an effect. where I live they over-chlorinate the water, so I boil tap water and then condition with goldfish water conditioner (cheaply available at pet stores) just to be on the safe side.
 
Im sure it can if the chemicals the city uses is too strong. We use tap water not a problem but the thought of my snakes dying is motivating me to change somethings. Im thinking a whole house water purifier might be awesome. I believe i saw one when we were at Lowes last.
 
Many african fish species need hard water. I would imagine the snakes might be use to it? Either way, you can have the water tested for fairly cheap. Are you using well water?
 
I'ts not me so I don't really know if it's well water or not, all I was told is this person was using tap water that is really hard, so high in calcium? She said she lost a few babie/BP's and thinks it's the water.
 
I would doubt that it was water hardness. Did she have necropsy done to see that it was some sort of chemical build up? Doubtful. I could see an excess of chlorine or some other conditioning having a negative effect, maybe. But chlorine typically evaporates completely out of tap water within 24 hours of not being contained.
 
I also doubt it is the water. My town has hard water and it has had no effect on any animals baby to adult so far. Her guess about the cause is no help to anyone.
 
This does keep coming up though. I have had several people say the same thing to me. Either there's some truth or its a really persistent urban myth. Either way, I prefer to take precautions just in case....
 
I used hard tap water from the 1990's until 2011.
the only reason I switched was to keep hard water scale from building up on the water dishes.
I have a sinaloan milk that I raised from a hatchling in 1995 or 1996 to present with no health problems; she is still going strong.
I now live in a place with softer water and use tap again.

Also note that most cities use chloramine in place of chlorine and it DOES NOT evaporate in 24 hours like chlorine; use conditioner that specifies that it removes chloramine to get rid of it. I would use a conditioner made for reptiles but it probably is the same a fish conditioner. (I worked at a pet shop for 11 years and there are some slight differences in some conditioners in my experience).
 
I have very hard water with too much iron and calcium and in the past the reptiles were fine with it. All mine get poland springs now though, just because if I won't drink the water then I'm not giving it to them. Have your water tested and get a filter if your worried.
 
another note on water quality

just another note on water quality is that contaminants other than chlorine, chloramine and carbonate hardness would be a chief concern. (stuff like chromium, lead and other heavy metals, plus phosphates, nitrates and nitrites from fertilizer :ack2:)
You can get an idea what is in your water by reading your annual water quality review that is mailed to you or by requesting a copy of the water quality analysis from you local water district (for municipal sources).
Some bottled water sources have the same problem unless they are purified by reverse osmosis.
Well water is not always better either due to the level of pollution in most aquifers from industrial and agricultural seepage. :(

Reverse osmosis is the way to go if you want to purify your water to the fullest.
R.O. systems can be purchased at Home Depot for $151-$450 or so. I don't think it is needed for reptiles so much because they eat whole food items or have supplements dusted on their insects, but with tropical fish there used to be this stuff called "R.O. Right" that would re-introduce the trace elements removed by R.O. There may be different considerations for inverts and amphibians.
 
Do you mind posting the name of the lady this happened to? I had a similar conversation with a young lady about a year ago that said she lost half of her collection due to deposits in her water. I am curious if this is the same person or a completely different case.

Thanks,

Jay
 
Back
Top