If you have lived in a newly built community or near a forest, seeing snakes roaming around might be a common experience for you. Similarly, if you go trekking or camping, you may attract snakes towards you in one way or another. You might see snakes coming for drinking water only. It may sound unexpected, but yes, snakes do need water for their survival. The query is, how often do snakes drink water.
Every living creature needs water, and snakes are no exception. However, the water intake requirements will be different from each other. Similarly, how long one can live without water will also be different for all.
A point that needs to be made at the outset is that snakes do drink water. So, if you have any misconception about that, it must get off by now.
The point matters here is how often do snakes drink water, and that is what we are going to see in this article.
How much water do snakes need?
In case you are still wondering how a snake would drink water when they get their portion filled by eating rats and other animals, let us explain how much water a snake needs, and you will understand completely.
The water needs of the snakes mainly depend on the environment and the type of species. For example, wild snakes can go without water for as long as a few months, while other snakes may only be able to go for a few weeks.
Dehydrated snakes
When a snake doesn’t get enough water to drink, it badly affects its health, and the snake might only be able to survive for a couple of weeks. Before that happens, snakes show signs which depict they are dehydrated.
If you want to keep the snakes in good health, keep an eye for such signs and provide them with water whenever needed. The signs include dry skin, lethargy, constipation, eyes receding, and loss of appetite.
Keep a check on these signs, and if the snakes don’t drink water even after you provide, there might be other problems, and you can take help from professional veterinarians.
How do snakes drink water?
Snakes also need to hydrate like other dry land animals on this earth but in a very different way. The way snakes consume water is totally different from how humans and other animals do. It may come as a surprise for many people as it’s a rare scene to see snakes drinking water. But you may have seen snakes eating, right? Water flows down snakes’ bodies in much the same way they eat. If you notice closely, you will see the bottom part of the snake’s mouth has numerous small grooves that act as sponges and help absorb water until it is squeezed down by its jaw muscles.
Having said that, not all snakes are the same, and you may see a slight change in how they consume water. But, the key is that all snakes need to be hydrated to stay alive.
How often do snakes drink water?
You will not see snakes drinking water every day, and it might be for a few weeks too. The snakes do not need water regularly because they get a proportion of it from the animals or other elements they eat. In addition to drinking, snakes have the ability to absorb water into their bodies. This allows them to live without water for a long time.
In a nutshell, snakes may not require as much water as other animals, but freshwater remains vital to their existence.
Nevertheless, if kept in custody, do not deprive them of water for more than a week. The dehydration will cause severe illness and may eventually lead to death.
Misconceptions about snake’s drinking water
Although the information is readily available, there are a few myths that have become so widely accepted that they seem to be true. Let’s burst the air out of them and get to know what is accurate.
- In the first place, the misconception is snakes don’t drink water at all. In fact, we discussed above that snakes do drink water for survival, though the intake frequency may be less as compared with other animals.
- Another related myth is that snakes fulfill their water needs from what they eat, but it is not true again. Though they get a proportion of water from their food intake, they still need water from other sources.
- Similarly, another popular myth is that snakes drink water in the same way as people, but this is not even close to being true. The difference is clear, as we have discussed in the above section. Snakes have their own system of obtaining water, which is based on the folds of the skin and the capillary action by which they draw the water into their mouth.
Conclusion
Whether you own snakes as pets or you live in an area where snakes are common, it is important that we know how often do snakes drink water since water is essential to their survival. As we have seen that snakes have the tendency to retain water for a long time, they don’t need to drink water frequently. Moreover, they also partially fulfill the water requirement by eating water-dense food or animals.