Interesting drinking behaviour

Yesterday while putting my BP, Noodle, back I misted the enclosure. This left lots of water droplets on top of his hides. To my surprise, instead of going into a hide, he slithered up to his cool hide and pressed his nose against it with his head at a roughly 45 degree angle. I realized that he had his face up against some of the dents that are part of the hide's rock design and was drinking the water out of them! I could see him sort of "absorbing" water droplets from the surface of the hide into his mouth which was really cool, I'd never anything like that before! Pretty funny too because he has easy access to two bowls with fresh water in his enclosure (there are two because that helps keep the humidity up).

I guess it makes sense that he'd take a sip of the "rainwater" like that, in the wild ball pythons are probably more likely to come across dew or moisture on plants and rocks than large bodies of water, and also it would be safer for them to drink from sources like that than it would be to try to go to a watering hole where many other animals are also trying to get water.

Anyway, even though that was basically just Noodle having a drink, it was pretty cool to see. It's fun to observe snake behaviours when you're lucky enough to get to see them.

I agree. When I lived in the desert & re-habbed local snakes, they had no nearby watering hole. It was rather comical to watch them drinking drops of water
off the sides of the bowl of water I'd just filled for them, instead of knowing how to reach over the side of it for a bigger drink. Shows you how much snakes
rely on scent over sight, also. Another thing I've seen quite often is that if you mist them, they'll drink droplets of water off their own coils, as if they'd gotten
rained upon. It's not an easy life, their instincts are essential to survive.

That is very cute, thanks for sharing your story. My little guy has never done that but he is still adorable when he drinks from his water bowl, even that is a rare enough sight so seeing a snake drink droplets from its stuff must of been awesome to catch in action. :)

mine does the same. I've seen him drink the condensation that builds up on the sides of the tub, he drinks off his hides after I spray, and drinks off his scales if I accidentally spray him....I've seen him drink from his bowl maybe 3x in 6+ months.

I've seen my little one doing that when there's condensation! I guess sometimes it's easier to lick the droplets instead of drinking straight from the bowl.

Many times I’ve seen deer and other critters in the woods drink from puddles in tracks and such when the pond or water hole was just 20-30 feet away. My guess is that they would rather not expose themselves unless totally necessary.

Not that this relates to snakes, just an animal tidbit. :)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I agree. When I lived in the desert & re-habbed local snakes, they had no nearby watering hole. It was rather comical to watch them drinking drops of water
off the sides of the bowl of water I'd just filled for them, instead of knowing how to reach over the side of it for a bigger drink. Shows you how much snakes
rely on scent over sight, also. Another thing I've seen quite often is that if you mist them, they'll drink droplets of water off their own coils, as if they'd gotten
rained upon. It's not an easy life, their instincts are essential to survive.

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Originally Posted by Andiamo

mine does the same. I've seen him drink the condensation that builds up on the sides of the tub, he drinks off his hides after I spray, and drinks off his scales if I accidentally spray him....I've seen him drink from his bowl maybe 3x in 6+ months.

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Originally Posted by squidwardtortellini

I've seen my little one doing that when there's condensation! I guess sometimes it's easier to lick the droplets instead of drinking straight from the bowl.

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Looks like it's a pretty common behaviour for snakes! Aww, it's actually really cute that they drink from their own coils or go for drops of condensation instead of a big bowl. Agreed that the instinct to do that probably helps keep them alive in the wild, especially for desert snakes, as any bit of moisture is precious when water is scarce. In captivity it's a bit comical to witness though :)

I did some research and found that many snakes use a "sponge-like" action to drink, where folds of skin around the mouth use a sort of capillary action (water is drawn into tight spaces with no suction or gravity) to draw water into the mouth. This sounds like it would be useful for absorbing droplets of condensation.

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Originally Posted by Valyndris

That is very cute, thanks for sharing your story. My little guy has never done that but he is still adorable when he drinks from his water bowl, even that is a rare enough sight so seeing a snake drink droplets from its stuff must of been awesome to catch in action. :)

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Snakes are so cute when they drink from the bowl too! Yeah it's pretty rare to catch them doing that as well, I think I've only seen mine drink from the bowl 2-3 times and I've had him for 5 months.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Many times I’ve seen deer and other critters in the woods drink from puddles in tracks and such when the pond or water hole was just 20-30 feet away. My guess is that they would rather not expose themselves unless totally necessary.

Not that this relates to snakes, just an animal tidbit. :)

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Very cool observation, thanks for sharing! I used to have pet chickens and I remember they would sometimes do something similar. When I'd fill up a fresh container of water for them with the hose, I had this one chicken who loved to drink the muddy water that had accidentally spilled on the ground, while the clean water sat in front of her... We always used to joke that she liked the extra "flavour".

That must have been so cute to witness from Noodle! I have not seen either of my boys do something like that. However, Iggy is occasionally willing to drink from his water bowl while I'm still holding him. I discovered this quite by accident when I was lowering him back into his enclosure after a handling session, only for him to stay anchored to my hand while his head craned over to the water and started sipping. I did my best impression of a statue while watching him with mute excitement, haha.

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

That must have been so cute to witness from Noodle! I have not seen either of my boys do something like that. However, Iggy is occasionally willing to drink from his water bowl while I'm still holding him. I discovered this quite by accident when I was lowering him back into his enclosure after a handling session, only for him to stay anchored to my hand while his head craned over to the water and started sipping. I did my best impression of a statue while watching him with mute excitement, haha.

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Ive done that too. And that’s hard to stay in that position for a few minutes. Lol

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

That must have been so cute to witness from Noodle! I have not seen either of my boys do something like that. However, Iggy is occasionally willing to drink from his water bowl while I'm still holding him. I discovered this quite by accident when I was lowering him back into his enclosure after a handling session, only for him to stay anchored to my hand while his head craned over to the water and started sipping. I did my best impression of a statue while watching him with mute excitement, haha.

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Originally Posted by Danger noodles

Ive done that too. And that’s hard to stay in that position for a few minutes. Lol

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Wow that's awesome! Must have been pretty exciting to watch, and your snake must trust you a lot if they're willing to drink while perched on your hand. Maybe they like having a comfortable warm tree to sit on while drinking :D