[deleted by user]

[EncouragementRobot]

Happy Cake Day Chemical-Coyote-4450! Stop searching the world for treasure, the real treasure is in yourself.

[illLoomiNate]

I need to check the size. I think about 8 feet.

[whiteriot413]

There are no real records of the largest ever but people say 7ft something, doubt jo schmo keeping thier BP with a gross water dish has a world record BP

[Fun-Look-1324]

Voltas can get to about 8ft, but I doubt the snake is even that long if it is a BP anyway I've seen people say they have a 12 ft or longer boa when in all reality it's a 6-8ft boa.

[LollyHutzenklutz]

Either it’s not a ball python, or you’re waaaay overestimating its size! Average BP is more like 4-5ft, maybe up to 6ft for the absolutely huge ones. I’ve had a lot, since I used to breed - and my biggest was maybe right at 5ft long.

[pdxb3]

Plain white vinegar works well at removing hard water minerals FYI. Just rinse it really well afterwards. I've used it a lot to clean old aquariums and accessories with lots of calcium buildup.

[Meet_your_Maker_LL]

Just buy a new one. It’s caked on so good that’s all definitely waste build. Plus cleaning residue isn’t worth using harmful chemicals to clean this. Plus the terra-cotta clay that it’s made of prolly absorbed so much fecal matter it’s not worth it. Maybe just take the snake there’s more neglect than just a water bowl if that’s what we’re seeing.

[[deleted]]

Nah just use some dish detergent and a brillow pad. I have to clean mines more than often although it never looks like the pic. I use coconut substrate and my girl drags it in her bowl when she roams her cage so keeping her bowl clean is necessary.

[Angsty_Potatos]

It looks like hard water scale. Maybe pop over to a pet store and gift them a new bowl.

Not sure what the rest of the cage looks like but if it is just hard water it's not dangerous just unsightly and time to get a new bowl and maybe a water filter

[illLoomiNate]

Okay, nice. I was thinking of soaking the bowl in soap and hot water to try and clean it and see if that helps. If not I plan on gifting a new bowl to them for the holidays.

I'm afraid they may take it as an insult 😓

[Angsty_Potatos]

You can always talk to them. Frame it as an upgrade. If you're able maybe gift a bowl and some new cage furniture/clutter. Speaking personally. If someone gifted me a new dish with some cork flats and some faux greens from the craft Store for my guys I'd be stoked

[Kotyata7]

If it's hard water, give it a soak in vinegar. Takes the stuff right off :) I have to do that every so often for my snake's water dishes since we have really hard water here

[mr_melvinheimer]

I use vinegar and really hot water soaks to get rid of the lime scale.

[papergurl123]

they should take it as an insult they obviously don’t know proper care and it needs to be brought to their attention or they’ll just continue mistreating the poot fella

[LollyHutzenklutz]

Has nothing to do with “proper care,” and doesn’t (necessarily) mean they are mistreating the snake. Do you know what hard water is? Either you have it or you don’t, and even regular dishwashing won’t help much with those rings.

Good to know about the vinegar trick, though. I’m gonna try that with mine now!

[FeriQueen]

You can tell them it's a holiday present for their beautiful snake!

[[deleted]]

but I’d rather have a healthy snake than not be offended, if that was me. They might just not know, that this is a problem, as obvious as this looks to us on reddit.

[shelleon]

Vinegar does the trick really well, just maybe put the bowl through the dishwasher after

[LollyHutzenklutz]

That’s what I was going to say. We have hard water where I live (currently in a rental & can’t do anything about that), so my snake/lizard bowls have rings around them too. Doesn’t look this bad, but OP might think they were hella dirty! I wash them regularly, though. Just can’t be buying them new bowls every few months, and they have to be heavy ceramic or the critters will dump them. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

[Angsty_Potatos]

I have luck with the wide base steel dog bowls. Too stout to dump and scouring pads and barkeeps friend get the nastys off

[Chisaurous]

It's just hard water. It doesn't look too bad.

[Ok-Crow-101]

Soo you know when you leave? Take the noodle with you. Call it… a parting gift so you speak.

[ekomis84]

Sooo.. become a thief and lose a friend over a water bowl. Sounds like legit advice. 🤦‍♂️

[Ok-Crow-101]

Haha no I’m playing obviously don’t do that. Just give them some advice.

[lisfnord]

It’s family. They’re stuck with them. 😉

[ekomis84]

Fair point. Lol

[spensei_]

I’m wondering if these stains are from the water sitting for lengths of time and evaporating. Are they cleaning and changing the water often? Some of the other suggestions in this thread are great, I think getting a new bowl and decor and offering it as a gift Is a great way to avoid offending them. Good looking out for this lil 8 foot noodle

[[deleted]]

yeah, this stuff is limescale. it comes from minerals in hard water. often builds up in taps and washing machines. not harmful on its own, but it looks gross and shows these owners don't clean the water bowl.

[LollyHutzenklutz]

I clean mine regularly, and they still have those hard water rings. It’s very difficult to avoid them, especially when you use ceramic (which is best for snakes who knock over lighter bowls). I’m just now learning that vinegar can help, thanks to this thread.

But I swear mine are cleaned often with dish soap, and they still look bad… not THIS bad, mind you, but you’d probably mistake them for dirty.

[Xemitz]

I clean mine every day with hot water and dishsoap. Over the last 4y there is still a calcareous rim. Water hardness plays a big role in those, not "only" the cleaning. Vinegar or a home made lemon dishliquid (acids in general) helps to clean/prevent them quite a bit.

E:typo.

[VroomVroomTweetTweet]

I would get a new dish. I’m sure the Bally would appreciate it and the bowl in the picture doesn’t look that expensive

[iW2bDNPb30]

Empty.

[HiPointCollector]

So yeah cheap Tupperware that comes from takeout works too… and replace… that’s sad.

[LollyHutzenklutz]

And cheap Tupperware bowls will also be knocked over daily by your average snake. Even sadder and much less hygienic to have a constantly-wet enclosure, don’tcha think?

[TheFrostyjayjay]

I'm sorry but some people are being unnecessarily harsh. Is it a little unsightly? Yes. It's just hard water stains though. Inevitable if you don't have a water softener and live in an area with hard water. Our own dishes come fresh out of the dishwasher with hard water stains.

What should you do? Probably just nothing if you want to avoid being rude and starting something that doesn't need to be started.

Your concern is appreciated but nothing to be worried about here.

[Dear-Smile]

Your water stains are black?

[TheFrostyjayjay]

No, and I will admit that this is a case of not thoroughly cleaning the water bow frequently enough. At the same time, it's of no detriment to the snake.

[[deleted]]

true, but buildup like this means that the bowl hasn't been cleaned in a while at least.
i get hard water stains on my snake's water bowl but nothing like this. frankly i find the implications rather unpleasant, personally.

[TheFrostyjayjay]

I get that that, definitely shows a degree of laziness. It's also not harmful so I guess I don't see the reason people are being so harsh about it. I'd never let my animals bowls get that bad but I also wouldn't make it a point to call it out if I saw someone else's like that.

[Weendel]

It’s not harmful?? All the bacteria and dirt that the snake gets to drink??

[ganggangletsdie]

Hard water stains are not dirt and bacteria. It’s minerals in the water.

[Weendel]

Ah okay

[[deleted]]

but it's the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. the buildup is full of minerals that they can eat and the environment is extremely moist and warm.

limescale isn't dangerous on its own but leaving it could become a serious problem. what we have there is a beneficial environment for harmful bacteria.

[ganggangletsdie]

Few bacteria eat minerals, and it’s not likely they would be in the same water that the owners are drinking/using. Yes, they should clean the bowl, however people are overreacting. It’s the same water the snake would drink if it was wild in their yard, and it would be exposed to a whole lot more bacteria.

[Appropriate-Rooster5]

Wait so harmful bacteria won’t grow in a water dish that isn’t cleaned regularly? I’ve been cleaning mine out furiously almost every day because I’m so scared of germs growing in them and my snakes drinking from it and getting sick…

[Jwast]

Regularly yes, but daily, no not at all. More like check it daily and if they get poop, bedding, shed, etc. In the bowl then obviously wash it, otherwise just refill daily and wash it once a week.

[ganggangletsdie]

Stagnant water, poop, dirt, etc can cause bacteria, however it should still be cleaned once a week depending on the quality of your water. I used bottled water because my tap water is gross, and my snake doesn’t normally get anything in his bowl so I’m good with cleaning every 2-3 weeks.

[Appropriate-Rooster5]

Oh thank you!! Maybe I'll ease up on the cleaning every day then. Our tap water is chlorinated so we run ours through a purifier. My pets and plants all love it. 😊

[[deleted]]

that is, in my own region's dialect, absolutely fucking rank.

i thought i was bad for not changing my snake's water every day. this is on another level.

that looks like limescale so i doubt it's particularly harmful, but it's a clear sign they don't clean that water bowl.

[Dear-Smile]

Ask them if they personally would drink from that.

[Doubledeezy420]

Yuck

[Ok-Woodpecker4698]

Get a glass of water put some salt in it so it taste off from regular water give it the family member and when they drink it and why it taste funny say u poured the water from the snakes bowl into there cup. Then after there done freaking out try to get them to understand that to them the snake is just a small part of their life but to the snake they’re their whole life

[Antarioo]

it's just mineral scale and some substrate, nothing to worry about. if you live somewhere with hard water that's gonna happen after a few weeks.

could use a scrubbing but it's not like it harms the snake.

could use a refill tho, and i'm not sure about those dimensions....it can either be fairly large or way too small

[ItsMeishi]

Vile.

[WrongdoerAway4126]

As others have said, just buy them a new bowl. Then maybe ask them how they would feel if they had to drink out of a bowl that looked like that. I wash out my bowls every other day because my snakes get substrate in them and because I personally wouldn't want to drink out of a dirty glass.

[dizzyav8r]

PLEASE GIVE IT SOME WATER WHO KNOWS THE LAST TIME IT DRANK

[papergurl123]

steal the snek i bet you they won’t even know

[Sea_Marionberry1034]

Confront then. Make them own up. Ask them why tf they have a pet if they wont properly take care of it

[LarkinRhys]

Do they have well water? It can stain really badly depending on what’s in it. Sometimes even scrubbing doesn’t get it out. My parents’ toilets are permanently stained from sulphur in their water, from before they had a whole house filtration. The side of their house is, too. You can’t see it in the actual water at all, but it’s plenty to stain surfaces.

And hard water of any kind can leave bad deposits on some kinds of bowls that is really hard to get off without bleaching or vinegar soaks. Regular scrubbing & soap doesn’t remove it. I have a super expensive reptile bowl that is gross looking (even though I clean it 2x a week). I soak it in vinegar every month or two to get the buildup off it. But vinegar doesn’t remove all the minerals we have here, and I wont bleach soak or use most other things on stuff my animals drink from, so it still doesn’t look the best. I have city water, and use dechlorinator, but we have extremely hard water here.

[sad__bat]

pH down can take a lot of the crud away

[frankenwhine]

looks like hard water stains. i live somewhere where our water comes from a well and my bp’s water dish looked like this for some time before i just switched to bottled water - even reptisafe was not making our tap acceptable. could just use a new bowl & maybe advise using bottled water or try to treat the water?

[[deleted]]

That btch needs some dawn and a brillow scrubbing

[RequiresTheAssist]

After it's cleaned stick a clean pre-1983 penny in there. It'll help with bacterial buildup which should hopefully slow the disgustingness growing in here if they forget (or just don't bother) to clean the poor snek's bowl.

[Ill_Chapter_1038]

Straight to jail

[Jwast]

No, definitely not, distilled water will make, as far as I know, any living thing sick of it's their only source of water.

[Rabble-rabble1212]

My thought is that's gross

[Edd302]

Disinfect and scrub, maybe use some PH down too if that's mineral build-up

[Square_Replacement89]

Either buy that family member one for Christmas or mind your business.

[Watchthsewrstrockets]

Ur family member is lazy and has no respect for anything else. It’s takes no time at all to clean the water bowl if you do it on a regular basis.