There has been a huge surge in the number of people looking to add a pet snake to their family recently with corn snakes and ball pythons being particularly popular right now but a number of other snake species are also seeing a huge increase in their popularity.
This has resulted in more and more people reaching out with a wider range of different question about what they should be doing to offer their snakes the best care possible and we have seen people wondering if tap water is safe for snakes to drink or not.
A large number of people who keep snakes and other reptiles use regular tap water for their snakes with minimal issues with the general consensus being if the water is safe for humans then it is safe for snakes.
Even though most tap water supplies do have various chemicals added to it for various reasons, they do seem to be harmless to snakes and they tend to do just fine on tap water.
Keep in mind that there are various countries around the world where drinking tap water is not considered safe so our advice would be that if you do live in an area where you are not able to drink the tap water, don’t give it to your snake.
If the local human population is able to drink the tap water in your area then you will usually be able to give that same tap water to your pet snake.
Is Tap Water Safe For Snakes?
For the most part, tap water is perfectly safe for a snake to drink provided that humans are able to safely drink the tap water in your local area too.
The trace minerals and chemicals that are commonly added to the tap water supply in most large towns and cities tend to be safe for snakes and not cause problems if they consume them.
One problem that we do see with people new to keeping pet snakes is that they will use tap water for their pet snakes but give it to them in an unsuitable dish making it difficult for their pet snake to actually drink then blame the tap water.
In most cases, if you are not giving your pet snake its water in a suitable water bowl then it will make it difficult for your pet snake to drink its water no matter what type of water you use.
We have seen some people on social media asking about adding water treatment tables to tap water prior to giving it to your snake but we would not recommend that you do this.
Not only does this increase your costs but it also tends to add additional risk as water treatment tablets are actually chemical based and may add potentially harmful chemicals to the water.
If you are going to use tap water as the water source for your pet snake then just use it directly from the tap.
Should You Use Tap Water For A Snake?
Tap water is cheap, easy to get, and perfectly fine for use as drinking water for snakes in the majority of situations making tap water an excellent option for the majority of people who keep a pet snake.
There are other options available for people to use as drinking water for their snake but these often increase your costs and can be difficult to find in some areas making tap water the better option for most people.
In many cases where people buy the special bottled water that has been apparently treat specifically for animals to drink, they will have to switch over to using tap water at times anyway due to supply issues for the bottled water supplies.
This is why we often recommend that you just go with tap water from the very start and save yourself the additional costs of the bottled water.
It is common for the majority of people who use the special bottled water to just switch to using tap water for their snakes full time after a couple of months or a year due to the additional costs of the bottled water.
This essentially makes the bottled water a waste of money as you have switched your snake over to tap water anyway negating any potential benefits of the bottled water.
With some of these water products costing $10 per bottle, this can quickly add up to saving you a surprising amount of money if you had just gone with the tap water for your snake from the very start.
Should You Boil Tap Water Before Giving it To Your Snake?
There is no need to boil tap water prior to giving it to your pet snake to drink and the majority of people should just run their tap water, fill their snake’s water bowl and then put the water bowl in their snake’s vivarium.
Boiling the tap water does little to nothing to remove the minerals and chemicals that have been added to it any way but it does add time to your tank maintenance routine where most people need to look to reduce the time required to care for their snakes.
If you do boil your tap water prior to putting it into your snake’s vivarium then you do add a potential risk for burning your pet snake with the water if you don’t leave it to cool first.
We just feel that the risks and time requirement for boiling tap water for a pet snake are far too high while offering minimal benefit if any at all when regular tap water does the exact same job.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if tap water is safe for snakes to drink to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand the advantages of just letting your pet snake drink tap water. It tends to be much cheaper and easier than the alternative options out there and a huge number of people within the reptile keeping community use tap water for their reptiles and snakes to drink without issue.
