Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Quick question about my brumating milks. I keep them at about 60 degrees and sometimes they coil up in thier water dishes. Should I be concerned about this ? Can it harm them ? Thanks in advance, Joe

A lot of my snakes do that, I think it is good that you have given them the choice to do so with a large water bowl. I see it in my rats and kings more often than my milks, but they do it too, especially when the temps outside drop very low.
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Todd Hughes

Isn't that the weirdest thing?
My cold room can be 50 degrees and I find snakes submerged in the waterbowls and stiff like cardboard. What's more, they'll stay there for several days until I pull them out. Other milks seem to be unaware that water is available and drink furiously when warmed.
BTW, it's much easier photographing a snake that's stiff from cooling.
Jeff

My response is similar to both Jeff and Todd's responses in that I too have animals that will occasionally do this from time to time during brumation. Although I have never experienced any health issues with them staying submerged in their water bowls at such cold temperatures, in recent years, I have began using very small delicups as their water sources. I cut a small hole in the top of the dish and only put about an inch of water in. I have found that this sometimes eliminates the chance for them to completely coil up in the water bowls. Hope this helps.
Nathan

Is something alot of people don't really think about, and that is that we tend to picture how cold the water would be to US!. And being warm blooded, the cool water would quickly dissipate the warmth from our bodies, soon resulting in hypothermia.

Snakes on the other hand, are "cold-blooded", and whatever the ambient temperature is, from the air OR water they might be basking in would be the exact same. In other words, the snake's temp would still be the same either way.

So with that being said, there is really only one major concern, and that would be only if the snake stayed submerged in the waterbowl excessively. Then the animal might be at risk of acquiring a fungus underneath the scales. But as many other posters have found, myself included, don't find this to be a concern in most cases, and as Nathan mentioned, all it takes to prevent the possibility, is to "shrink" the size of their water source.

In other words, don't be too concerned.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"