5d ago

Do snakes prefer to drink warm or cool water?

So when I drink water I always like cold water even if I'm in a cold environment. But that makes sense because I'm a warm blooded creature.

On the other hand snakes are cold blooded and they require external warmth so I could see them prefering warm drinking water. At the same time though, in a natural environment any water they drank would be cooler than the air so maybe cooler water would feel more normal. Also in a properly setup terarium a snake has ample access to warmth from other sources so they don't really need the additional heat from warm drinking water so maybe having cool water would be a nice change and allow better temp regulation. But warm water also has the side benefit of helping boost humidity.

Anyways, this is just what I decided to overthink today. I'm also not talking actually hot or cold, just lukewarm or cool. What do you all think? Would my pet snake prefer to have their water dish topped up with cool or warm water?

41 comments

I can see an experiment coming on. Give your snake two dishes and see which it prefers.
- I have been thinking that all day. But to do it properly I need a bigger terrarium and some more supplies. You can't have the dishes be different sizes or that's an additional variable. But I also want to keep a big enough dish that they can soak in it. They never actually do because I keep the humidity high enough but they should still have the option.
  So I need to have a large terrarium with several identical water basins all in the same area. 3 basins would work (warm, room temp, and cool) but ideally I would have several set to various specific temps. Each basin should be able to be heated and cooled to reach a set water temp and which basin has which temp of water needs to be shuffled ocasionally to eliminate selection based on exact basin location or similar variables. That heating and cooling could easily be acheived with a peltier module and a temp sensor on each basin linked to a controller. You would also need a camera to view which basin the snake actually uses.
  Of course I already know what would happen. I would spend a couple hundred dollars setting all that up only to learn that my single braincell possessing snake would only ever use the closest basin.
  
  for the record, if you happen to be near a zoo with a snake house (or that has snakes,) you could probably ask the zookeeper. If they didn't know already they have snakes and probably wouldn't mind setting that up. (they also probably have multiple identical dishes and such like.)
  well. I suppose that could be an email, if you happen to be not close. But if you are, I've never met a zookeeper that didn't love to talk about their animals and answer random questions like that.
  well, there was one awkward moment. suffice it to say, that telling 7 yo's a horse is masturbating is not a conversation anyone wants to have.
  
  OP PLZ
  
  A few more variables to think about is you would have to keep the heated water at that warmer temperature the whole time. Plus also noting the ambient temperature to graph with each event.
- I agree; only one good way to find out.
- Yeha but it would be a sample size 1 study :/. We need more snake owners to chime in.
- Op plz

I don’t really have an answer but I just want you to know you’re my people. I too will overthink random stuff.
- Overthinking has to be my favorite hobby.
  
  Are you sure? Maybe you should reconsider.
  
  Are you sure?
  
  Same, but as a fun bonus, it’s also the constant source of my many anxieties

i know my cats like it when i put ice cubes in their water tray during the summer. shit, one of them comes running every time she hears me open the freezer to get ice because she wants some, and it's winter here. so get your snake some ice and a fur coat?

This is the cutest question I've seen here. I love cute snakes! 🐍🐍🐍
- Snake tax. Here's the little turd the one time they decided to get stuck in my couch. They were perfectly fine but I had to partially dismantle my couch to get them out.

But that makes sense because I'm a warm blooded creature.
It probabily doesn't. Most likely it's because what you grew up with. Like drinking water with ice if you're from the US, or carbonated water if you're from Germany. Anyway, totally off topic.
- That's an interesting point. I grew up with well water in MN where our ground water temp is about 43F (6C) so I am used to practically ice cold water just being on tap. It makes sense that what you like is going to vary based on what you're used to.
- I've discovered that I find drinking hot water to be very refreshing and hydrating. Just sip from a cup of hot water just like coffee or tea.
  Its probably not very hydrating because you can't just chug half a litre like you can room temp.
  Just saying, a preference for cold water even when it's cold is for sure a learned behaviour IMO.
  
  apparently enjoying hot water is common in east Asia
  the folk explanation is that it's a holdover from when water always needed to be boiled before drinking to kill microbes
  the west (mainly Europe) didn't get that message and decided to purify water by making nearly all of it into beer, which explains a lot lol

I don't think your preference for cold water had anything to do with being warm-blooded. I grew up having mostly warm/hot water and still prefer it that way to this day because it's what I'm used to. I think the majority of Chinese people would tell you the same.

I think the reason we evolved to prefer cold water is because warm water is more likely to be stagnant and contain dangerous pathogens. The cold water of lakes, streams and springs was much safer for our ancestors.
- Bro relax, they said "I think"
  
  I believe some eastern cultures prefer hot water for exactly that reason
  
  I'm not claiming it's for sure an evolved trait, but most people do prefer cold water (and hot water) over lukewarm water. Here's a paper if your curious: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41266787

I always refill my snake's water dish with cold (so like 10°C) water, just so that she has the option to drink it cold if she wants to, or wait for it to get to room temperature.
Usually, she just goes up to the fresh water, tongue flicks on the surface, then ignores it for several hours. No idea if that means that she doesn't like it cold. She could just be not thirsty at all but intrigued by the dish moving back into her space (I always change it while she's looking, so that she knows what's going on and isn't startled by me moving it in or out).
- Please continue blessing us with pics on !royalpython@lemmy.world (or !snakes@lemmy.world :)
  
  Thank you for those!!
  
  Sure, I'll snap a few if Revy wants to hang out with me tonight! :)

Idk I'll ask my ex

Would my pet snake prefer to have their water dish topped up with cool or warm water?
This calls for an experiment!
I hypothesize warm water. Lowering their temp just to warm back up is probably hard on their system. However, warm tap water sits in the water tank and the old adage is that you're not supposed to drink it. So warm up cold tap water.

My pet snake likes to take a nice long soak after she eats. She also likes to take massive shits in her water. My hunch is that she prefers lukewarm, but too warm makes her freak out. California Kingsnake.
Overall, I'd imagine it depends on the species. A desert snake will be pickier than a snake in more moderate regions.
- Mine is a ball python. They seem to prefer basking under the heat lamp after eating. Also they haven't ever pooped in their water dish that I can remember, but I have had them horf up a partially digested rat in there before. That incident was made even more pleasant by the fact that I had their heat lamp positioned over the water dish at the time (to try and keep humidity up) and it happened while I was sleeping so I didn't catch it for several hours. So I awoke to my entire house being filled with the miasma of a partially digested rat which had been stewing under a heat lamp for several hours. The smell was indescribable and beyond the imagination of any sane individual.

It's not really about warm or cold, it's about how they get the bottle lid off, a snake not being an octopus.Especially now they have those lids-attached set-ups.

41 comments