Regular tap water can contain chlorine, ammonia and other chemicals your pet doesn’t need, but ReptiSafe Water Conditioner removes them all. And it does it almost instantly.
It also contains ions and electrolytes that help keep your reptile better hydrated.
Don’t worry about the “Terrarium” in the name. You can use it for your box turtle’s drinking/soaking water dish, too. The bottle has instructions for use both in terrariums and for drinking water.
If you also have amphibians and/or fish, it will stimulate slime coat development in them.
This is basically a great all-around product to make water safer and healthier for any reptile, amphibian or fish you own.
Keep reading for more about Zoo Med ReptiSafe:
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Size & Ingredients How to Use Do You Need It?
Pros & Cons Where to Find Pros & Cons
ReptiSafe Water Conditioner Size and Ingredients
This product comes in 4 different sizes:
- 2.25 ounce
- 4.25 ounce
- 8.75 ounce
- 64 ounce
If you’re only using it for drinking water dishes, one of the smaller sizes is probably all you need at one time. It only takes 2 drops to clean 8 ounces of water.
The ingredients list says it contains:
- Water
- Dechloraminating agent: Removes chloramines (these are drinking water disinfectants; usually formed by mixing ammonia and chlorine)
- Chelating agent: Removes metals from water
- Electrolytes: Minerals that help keep your (or your pet’s) body hydrated
- Synthetic organic polymers (colloids)
How to Use This Water Conditioner
According to Zoo Med’s directions, treat drinking water with 2 drops of ReptiSafe for every cup (8 ounces) of water.
That’s all you need to do to remove:
- chlorine
- chloramines
- ammonia
- nitrite
It also lowers the water’s pH and provides essential ions and electrolytes for better hydration.
Do You Really Need This For Your Box Turtle?
Plenty of box turtles (and other reptiles) soak in and drink just plain tap water. They seem to do just fine.
But it’s not really the best thing for them.
Some people believe that simply “aging” the tap water will make it safe. And this does help, because it gives things like chlorine time to break down and disappear. But it doesn’t do anything about heavy metals and some other chemicals. ReptiSafe gets rid of it all instantly.
So yes, your box turtle will most likely be fine even if you don’t use this. But adding a couple of drops of ReptiSafe is such a simple thing to do for her, why wouldn’t you? And the 8.75 ounce bottle is supposed to treat 250 gallons, so at a couple of drops per day, it’ll last quite a long time. So it’s less expensive than it might seem at first.
You can also find other dechlorinators (and some may be cheaper), but not all of those remove heavy metals or ammonia. If you’re going to treat your pet’s water, why not use a product that does all it can to keep your pet healthier?
In the end it’s up to you of course, but many reviewers say they have used this product for years and are very happy with it.
Pros and Cons Summary
Pros:
- Makes tap water healthier for your pet
- Removes/neutralizes more than just chlorine
- Safe, organic chelating agent
- Just a couple drops work instantly
Cons:
We found a few comments from people who said they stopped using ReptiSafe because they felt it smelled bad.
But the biggest problem most people noted was not with the conditioner itself, but the packaging. The bottle tends to leak during shipment (a LOT of reviewers had this complaint!). This means not only do you lose some product, but whatever gets shipped with it gets wet.
Retailers do wrap it in plastic or put it in a separate bag, but apparently that is not always enough.
You can solve this problem by ordering it alone, but Amazon appears to sell the smaller sizes only as an add-on product (some marketplace sellers may ship it alone). Another option is to only order other items that won’t get ruined if they get wet.
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Where to Find Zoo Med ReptiSafe Water Conditioner
Ready to make your pet’s water safer for him to drink and soak in? These stores had ReptiSafe in stock as of this writing:
- Entirely Pets was having a sale the day we checked it out
- PetCo, where you can schedule repeat shipments so you know you’ll never run out
- Amazon, which had the second-best price as of this writing