Providing Water?

Ok this may seem a stupid and its against all that i have been told and read about but here we go. Should i provide my snake with a bowl of fresh water at all times? Everything i have ever read about ball pthons and snakes generaly says i should. The reason i ask i because a friend who has had alot of experiance with snakes came round a few days and commented on my having water bowles in my vivs saying it can cause problems to the snakes such a infections and saying he never gave his snakes water. He also said that snakes get all the water they need from their food. This seems wrong to me! Admitadly he hasent had snakes for about 20 years and things may have changed in that time but i wanted to just make sure that i was doing the correct thing by providing water. Clarification on this matter would be very much apreciated!!!!!

He's wrong - at least for balls, I can't comment on any other species but I suspect most if not all are the same.
BPs do get a lot of water from their food but they still drink from the bowl too - I see Monty do this at least once a week which msut mean he actually does it far more often.
Also your humidiity will be atrocious without one leading to stuck shed etc.

You can believe that they get all the water from their food if you want to. But you'll have a dead snake in two - three months.

Everything should have water. The only possibility of a snake getting infection from water was if it wasn't changed regularly :( I have a BP, a boa and a Western Hognose - and they all drink out of their bowls regularly.

K tnks 4 the info ppl. As i suspected. Just wanted to make sure i wasnt doing anything wrong!

I think what you friend might be meaning is the snake being in water too much. Like, if your substrate was too wet, your snake could get belly rot... or if your snake was constantly in the water, there could be a problem. I could be miss interpreting it though.
and yes, water at all times! lol

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Originally Posted by Mytob

Ok this may seem a stupid and its against all that i have been told and read about but here we go. Should i provide my snake with a bowl of fresh water at all times? Everything i have ever read about ball pthons and snakes generaly says i should. The reason i ask i because a friend who has had alot of experiance with snakes came round a few days and commented on my having water bowles in my vivs saying it can cause problems to the snakes such a infections and saying he never gave his snakes water. He also said that snakes get all the water they need from their food. This seems wrong to me! Admitadly he hasent had snakes for about 20 years and things may have changed in that time but i wanted to just make sure that i was doing the correct thing by providing water. Clarification on this matter would be very much apreciated!!!!!

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Wow i am very glad you asked this question instead of following your freinds advice:eek: .Next time you see that freind please ask him to become a member here if he ever gets any snakes in the near future.The only thing that would cause your snake any problems would be if it tipped over its bowl and set in the water for a length of time.This problem would be scale rot,your snake would have to be in the water for at least 3+ days.Your snake does need water every day;)

Water could be a problem if it's a huge bowl and the snake lays in it, poops in it and it's never changed. Standing water in a warm environment can get gross pretty fast under those conditions. A nice small, heavy bowl that's changed often is perfect for your snake.