Thermometers

[1234-fishy-freind]

Hello, im in a bit a a situation. I was cleaning out my snakes tank and the thermometer fell from the glass and smashed on the bottom of the tank.
The red liquid in the thermometer didnt come out, all that came out where the little silver balls that where in the bottom of it.
Are these balls toxic in any way?

cheers

 

[Colin_T]

the little grey balls are lead. Just scoop them up and throw away. Wash your hands with soapy water and you will be fine.
The thermometers to worry about are the old fashioned mercury types and they are very uncommon these days. They have a silver liquid going up and down showing the temperature. the newer ones use alcohol with a red dye in.

 

[loachman]

Hello, im in a bit a a situation. I was cleaning out my snakes tank and the thermometer fell from the glass and smashed on the bottom of the tank.
The red liquid in the thermometer didnt come out, all that came out where the little silver balls that where in the bottom of it.
Are these balls toxic in any way?

cheers

If the "balls" are spheres of metallic liquid, then yes they are toxic (mercury). If they're just hard balls, they're fine (although I'm not sure why a thermometer would have hard balls...unless I'm thinking of a different style one than what you had.

edit: seeing Collin_T's response, they could be lead balls to keep it upright. Relatively low toxicity as long as you just don't eat/injest any. Wash your hands.

 

[Tolak]

The red liquid used to determine the temperature of your tank is alcohol. The tiny amount mixed in the tank water will nor hurt your fish.

I checked every thermometer I own that has those little balls in them some time ago when someone asked the same question. They are all magnetic, the oldest is over 15 years old. This means they are not lead, they are steel. Remove them with a magnet.