How much water do balls drink & how do they do it?

Sorry I'm curious & haven't caught mine in the action yet.

How much would the average 100 gram bp drink & how do they drink, with their tongue like a cat or dog or do they stick their entire mouth in the water dish? :8:

I can't tell you how much they drink, but they basically put the very tip of their nose on the surface of the water and if you watch closely (when catch them drinking), you can see them swallowing (you'll see the swallowing motion just under their chin) as they are drinking. I believe they simply sip the water, and don't use their tongues at all for drinking.

I love watching a snake drink. To me it's just such a lovely, graceful posture.

Ours always seem to have a good big drink after eating. Swallowing your meal whole must be thirsty work. :)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

I love watching a snake drink. To me it's just such a lovely, graceful posture.

Ours always seem to have a good big drink after eating. Swallowing your meal whole must be thirsty work. :)

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I remember the first time I caught my first BP drinking, it was a magical moment. I took about 30 photos and wouldn't stop staring for about the 15 minutes he drank because it was such a rare and awesome thing for me to see. Us keepers can act like such wackos some times lol.

Yeah we can but in this world of ours where so many people seem to need so many things to just be even remotely happy, I think it's pretty darned cool that we snakekeepers can enjoy such a simple thing as a snake sipping water and find it wonderous. :)

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Originally Posted by eMonk

Sorry I'm curious & haven't caught mine in the action yet.

How much would the average 100 gram bp drink & how do they drink, with their tongue like a cat or dog or do they stick their entire mouth in the water dish? :8:

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If you want to read it here's a study on exactly your question so obviously somebody else got pretty curious too. :)

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/203/14/2171.pdf

Basically what it comes down to in this study is that it says all snakes are suction drinkers rather than lapping up water as a dog does.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Yeah we can but in this world of ours where so many people seem to need so many things to just be even remotely happy, I think it's pretty darned cool that we snakekeepers can enjoy such a simple thing as a snake sipping water and find it wonderous. :)

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Yep yep. The smallest things are the most rewarding to all of us...cleaning poop, weight gain on the scale, an end to a hunger strike, a lock up, a perfect shed. I live for my family and my snakes. Everything else dont matter. =]

Mine doesn't seem to drink for very long, maybe just a minute or 2 tops.

Yes it is pretty strange at the things we get happy about. I was actually happy the first time my snake pooped. Just glad he didn't end up backed up after 6 weeks and 6 meals.

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Originally Posted by pavlovk1025

I remember the first time I caught my first BP drinking, it was a magical moment.

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I totally agree! That first, magical moment happened here on 4th of July after we'd held Patriot out in the sun for nearly an hour. I'm guessing a lot of sunshine made it thirsty? Or perhaps that was the first time it had moved out of its hide after eating 3 days prior? I don't know, but it didn't dunk the front part of its head into the water like it had done before. This time it held a beautiful pose, and yes, looked to be sucking. You really couldn't tell if the mouth was even touching the water until you got down to its level to see. Here are a couple of pictures I took:

Blowing bubbles?
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...00_3015-Cr.jpg

View from mouth level. It stayed like this for over a minute.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...00_3014-Rd.jpg

I believe I caught my normal in the act from a distance with her back facing me but when I got up closer she turned around, looked at me, then went back to her hide lol.

The snake will usually go out during the night and drink some water, or when you aren't around. I'm not sure how much they drink, but I believe they drink it 1-2 times daily as I have seen my BP drink from her water dish.

When they drink from the water dish, they put the front of their head in (where the opening of the front of the mouth is) and suck in the water. You will notice their jaw going back and forth too so they can drink. Since snakes' tongues are split like this "Y", they cannot scoop up water like dogs and cats. Their tongues are too skinny and is only used to smelling the area around the snake.

I usually catch all the babies/juvies drinking water when I'm cleaning their rack. As soon as I put them back into their clean little tub with fresh water, they all seem to have to "approve" the water situation by taking a sip! LOL

I just had my snake out and when I put him back he went into his hide and then moments later he came out and got a drink. I have witnessed my BP several times now getting a drink of water.

Here are a couple more photos I took of that graceful moment. And yes, on 2 occasions immediately after eating, Patriot drank for about 5 minutes. One time I counted 70 swallows in a row. It would drink, move around, go back to drinking, move, drink, etc.

The motion is too slight to film -- at least for my digital camera -- but there is the slightest bobbing/motion of the head.
1) Slit of mouth widens by the tiniest bit
2) Tip of fork flicks down into the water
3) Tongue retracts and mouth closes
4) Swallowing action
All with that almost imperceptible bob of the head, and all done within a fraction of a second.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...MG_0534-Cr.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...00_3085-Cr.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Here are a couple more photos I took of that graceful moment. And yes, on 2 occasions immediately after eating, Patriot drank for about 5 minutes. One time I counted 70 swallows in a row. It would drink, move around, go back to drinking, move, drink, etc.

The motion is too slight to film -- at least for my digital camera -- but there is the slightest bobbing/motion of the head.
1) Slit of mouth widens by the tiniest bit
2) Tip of fork flicks down into the water
3) Tongue retracts and mouth closes
4) Swallowing action
All with that almost imperceptible bob of the head, and all done within a fraction of a second.

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The tongue flickers naturally because they are alert, I don't think it has anything to do with the actual drinking/suction process.

But it's curious. I see garter snakes will flicker their tongues under water when feeding on fish. Now, the real question is..
Can snakes smell underwater?