How Do You Keep a Snake?

Part 4: Water Bowl

Your snake should have clean, fresh water to drink and soak in at all times. This is pretty simple, but I've learned a few things when it comes to snakes and their water bowls. First, I've tried a number of different types of bowls and some work better than others. I've tried everything from simple plastic butter tubs to the fancy fake rock pools that they sell at pet stores. For a while, I used ceramic dog bowls.

As my collection grew, I determined that I needed something that was inexpensive, easy to clean, hard for the snakes to tip over (which they will do!) and available in a variety of sizes. I finally settled on Van Ness crock-type bowls. You can order them from the Bean Farm or other online sources, but I've found that the prices at Wal-Mart were just fine.

Sometimes a snake will insist on tipping over the water bowl or repeatedly defecating in it or even pushing it's bedding into the bowl. For these stubborn snakes, I like to use a small plastic container, such as an empty butter tub, dip container, sour cream container, etc. I cut a hole in the lid about twice as big around as the snake's body, snap it onto the container and fill the container about half way with water. The snakes can easily drink from this setup, but they almost never spill or mess up their water when the lid is on. Another advantage: they're free.