Can you tell if a snake is sleeping?

[MalachiJ]

Can you tell if a bp is sleeping? They don't have eyelids so I would imagine it's pretty hard to tell... Do they sleep at all?!

[DVirginiana]

All animals with brains sleep. Don't really know about invertebrates. Some don't shut down as completely as mammals do; for example, frogs have been known to hop off the operating table while under anesthesia that would render mammals immobile.

The most obvious giveaway for if a snake is sleeping is that they won't be tongue-flicking. It's hard to tell unless they happen to go to sleep while being handled (had it happen a couple times) but their breathing also seems to slow down, and they won't really be responsive to, say, something happening across the room that they'd normally be looking at.

No 100% way to tell if they're truly asleep though lol.

[BCS]

Some animals (like the dolphin and even the lion) sleep only half their brain at a time. Giraffes only have deep sleep for a total of 5 minutes in a 24hr period!

I am not really sure how snakes do it, but I can guess that if they are not moving at all, and their breathing is much slower then usual, they are probably sleeping.

[sho220]

Listen for the snoring...

[Adamrhh]

One easy way I find is I've taken my snakes hide off and it'll kinda do a delayed jump. Not a head twitch that they do but like a startled motion that's delayed.

[KitaCat]

After having them for a while, you start to notice subtle signs of them being awake or asleep. Or at least, I can tell with a few of my snakes that are in tanks. It's difficult to explain, but they tend to lift their heads just a little bit when they're awake, and are usually fully relaxed when asleep. Ball pythons also tend to lean a little bit on their sides while sleeping, so you see part of their belly.

With those in the rack, they generally are woken by the motion of the bin being pulled out.

[Lizardlicks]

If I lift the lid and they don't poke their heads out of their hides, probably asleep. If I pick up the hide and the snake doesn't immediately tongue flick or turn to look at me it's probably asleep. If it's the middle of the day, it's probably asleep.

[MarkS]

What I've noticed is that The irises of their eyes are as closed as they can get, you can tell when they become alert because their irises will suddenly open up