When it comes to what a leopard gecko can eat and drink, all owners should be extremely mindful of what is given to them as their bodies can only break down and process so many things safely without causing any harm to their health, body, and overall wellbeing. Most water given to leopard geckos is safe but when it comes to tap water, is it really? Read on to find out.
Can leopard geckos drink tap water? Yes, but because tap water contains chlorine and many other contaminants, it will need to be treated or purified before being given to your leopard gecko.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with tap water and in fact, some leopard gecko owners have even given their gecko tap water exclusively without any issues whatsoever. Because it contains things that can take a toll on your leopard gecko’s body though, it cannot be given to them without getting all of the stuff that’s not safe for them out of it first. Here’s how to do that.
Using a Water Conditioner
Despite how clean you think your tap water is, if not filtered, there’s a possibility that it contains a lot more contaminants in it than you’d like to even know about. According to this source, these contaminants include things like chlorine, lead, mercury, giardia lamblia, BPA, and many other things.
While you may have heard of some of those contaminants, I can almost guarantee that there’s some that I just listed that you haven’t heard of and that’s kind of scary to think about.
The point of letting you know this is not to give you a lesson on how contaminated your tap water potentially is, but to let you know that if those contaminants aren’t good for our bodies then just imagine how bad they are for our leopard geckos.
The level of contamination your water has depends on certain factors like whether or not it’s hard or soft, if the pipes that carry it are old and rusty, or if your city has a poor filtration system like certain locations such as Flint, Michigan.
But because it’s impossible to tell how safe your water is unless you get it tested by a state-certified laboratory, it’s best to just treat all water the same so that you don’t run the risk of potentially subjecting your leopard gecko to contaminants that are not good for their little bodies and purify it.
In order to do that, you’ll need to get your hands on a good and safe water conditioner like this one here from Amazon.
If you plan on giving your leopard gecko or reptiles in general tap water for a long time to come, then having a water conditioner like that is mandatory and will help with taking out a lot of the bad stuff in it that can cause harm to your leopard gecko’s health.
I currently own a reverse osmosis filtration system and because of that, I don’t have to use any conditioner anymore to treat my leopard geckos water like I’ve had to do in the past. But before I got my filter, that same water conditioner is what I used for my leopard gecko whenever I was doing my treatments and I had absolutely no issues using it.
Using a filtration system is the better and most time-saving route to go, but if getting a filter isn’t an option, then treating your tap with a water condition will work just as fine as well. Just keep in mind that the only downfall to using is it is that it doesn’t get rid of as many contaminants as other water purifiers do.
Using a Sink Filter
Treating your tap with a water conditioner is one way of ridding your water of most of the bad stuff that it can potentially carry, but if you want to take your filtration to the next level then getting yourself a faucet filter is what you’ll want to do.
Just like the water conditioner, a faucet filter will do its job of removing as much gunk as it possibly can to give your lizard the safest drinking water without a lot of the original contaminants in it.Â
And although both do the same thing as far as cleaning your water goes, faucet filters are more advanced and can filter out a little more gunk than a water conditioner could ever get rid of.
Another plus of using a faucet filter to treat your leopard geckos water is that purifying is done for you without you having to do any work. Yes, this might sound a little lazy.Â
But when you’re constantly having to change out your water due to dead insects parts, substrate, calcium, or whatever else that can potentially get into your leopard gecko’s water bowl on a daily basis, getting something that will save you time and energy will be one of the best things that you could possibly do.
Just think, would you like to have to add a water conditioner to your water every single time you wanted to drink it? Probably not.Â
Don’t get me wrong, water conditioners are amazing and do enough to make sure your leopard gecko’s water is safe for the most part, but it is slightly more of a hassle to use as opposed to a faucet filter and it doesn’t get rid of as many contaminants either.
With that said, if you’d like to know the exact same faucet filter that I used to use when treating my leopard geckos water then check it out here over on Amazon.
As stated above, water conditioners are amazing. But if you’re looking for something that will get more of those unwanted contaminants out, then a faucet filter will do just that.
Using a Filtration System
Okay, water conditioners and faucet filters are amazing, but if you’re only looking for the best of the best to filter your leopard gecko’s water, then a reverse osmosis filtration system will be what you’re looking for.
In addition to the contaminants that I listed above, there are many more out there that could potentially be in your tap and because of that, again, you put your leopard gecko at risk of being exposed to these various different contaminants every time you give them this type of water.
Water conditioners, faucet filters, and reverse osmosis filtration systems all have the same goal and that’s to clean your water so that it’s safe for you and your reptiles to drink. But despite the fact that they all have the same job, some water-filtering methods and devices are better at getting rid of contaminants than others.
With that said, if you’re looking for something that will get rid of 99% of the hazards that your tap water presents, then getting a reverse osmosis filter is the very best way to go. They’re easy to set up and using one will give you peace of mind knowing that it is getting rid of almost all of the potential contaminants that pose a threat to your leopard gecko’s health.
Sure, you can treat your gecko’s water just fine by using the other two filtering methods, but as loving and caring owners, we want our leopard geckos to live very long and healthy lives and by filtering out the bad stuff using a filter that gets rid of more contaminants than any water conditioner or faucet filter ever could, you’re ensuring that you’re doing just that.
It’s no secret that a healthy body leads to a healthy life, so when choosing which way you want to filter your leopard gecko’s water, just remember to choose the option that you feel will give you the best possible chance of achieving that for your gecko.
And because reverse osmosis filters are the best of the best, I recommend you check out this one here over on Amazon so that you know what is all available to you before choosing the filtering option that you think is best for you and your gecko. It’s the one I’m currently using and I absolutely love it.
Tap water itself doesn’t pose a threat to your leopard gecko’s health and wellbeing, but because your water could be subjected to over 1,000 different contaminants that leak into what comes out of our faucets, it makes it not only unsafe for us, but for our geckos as well.
To give you an idea of even more of these contaminants that potentially taint our water system, check them out here:
- Mercury
- Pesticides
- Cysts
- MTBE
- Chloramines
- Lead
And sadly, there’s many more than that.
Conclusion
Tap water straight out of the faucet is not safe for your leopard gecko to drink if it’s not filtered. So whether you choose to treat your tap with a water conditioner, a faucet filter, or a reverse osmosis filter, your water will need to be cleaned before given to them.
There are many contaminants that could potentially be in your water without you even knowing, so instead of taking a chance and allowing your lizard to drink tap that isn’t filtered, it’s best to go with the safer option and treat your water even if you feel that there’s nothing in it that could cause harm to their bodies.
And even though tap water isn’t necessarily good for us either, our bodies are able to process the contaminants in it a lot better than our lizard’s bodies can. Because of this, it is in the best interest of all leopard gecko owners to do what’s needed in order to provide them with the cleanest water that we can possibly give them.
