chlorinated water

Question
Greetings!

Just about every google search I've ever done for more rat information has lead me to this site with your advice, and you have been a wonderful help!  Today I read that you have your own site, so I went exploring and found your remarks about the dangers of chlorinated water and fluoride, and was quite surprised.  I never thought it could be an issue, I typically give them filtered water out of a pitcher since it tastes better, but I know that in no way does it remove the chemicals, just heavy metals.

My question is, as a possible money-saver, would it be safe to use de-chlorinating treatments for their water?  I maintain several fish tanks, so the treatment is readily available and it works on the tap water to remove chlorine and many other chemicals.  I'm already skeptical, as most of those treatments contain a small amount of sulfur, but figured it wouldn't hurt to find out.  (My layman theory being that if it's safe for a fish to breathe, it might be safe for other uses.)  If it's not safe, I have no problem spending the little extra for bottled water.  On a similar note, any issues with distilled?

Thanks again for all your past help!

Answer
Hi

First, let me go over distilled water with you. Its not a good idea to  give it to the rats on a daily basis. Distilled water dissolves trace amounts of imporatnt minearls.

Drinking distilled water over a long period of time will deplete the rats body of important minerals and cause an electrolyte imbalance.

I also would not use the de-chlorinated treated water either due to the fact the chemicals used to remove the chlorine may  be harmful to the rats. However, this is only an educated guess.

I know that its safe for fish and hermit crabs (I used the chemical to remove chlorine from water for my hermies!) but the difference between rats and fish are, well..you get the idea. LOL

I use a filter to remove chemicals from my tap water since I also heard bottled water is not the best either due to the fact the plastic material from the plastic bottles the water  comes in are absorbed into the water and this is found to be unhealthy for humans.   Its a no win situation to be honest because some city water is actually very safe and alot of chemicals are filtered out and others are totally disgusting not fit for man nor beast!

I would look into one of those pitchers with the filter on it.  Simply put your tap water in the pitcher and when you dump it, it goes through the filter and thats that.  I have been doing this for a long time now and my rats live to be over 3 years old.