Yes, all snakes can swim — here's how they do it

Can snakes swim? Here’s what you need to know about how these legless creatures move through water
Yes, all snakes can swim — here's how they do it
Love snakes or hate them, they’re fascinating creatures. Unlike other reptiles, snakes don’t have arms or legs. Yet, even without appendages, these slitherers can move across many different types of terrain, often very quickly. They can make their way up mountainsides and climb to the tops of trees. Some even leap and glide from branch to branch!
But have you ever wondered, “Can snakes swim?” — and which snakes can swim? Well, the answer, interestingly, is all of them.
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And no, swimming ability doesn’t depend on whether a snake is venomous or not. Some swim partially submerged with only their heads above the water, and others with practically their entire bodies gliding on the surface.
In the article below, we’ll discuss exactly how and why some of these serpents go for a dive and others ride the waves.
Snakes move in four ways
To understand how snakes can swim, you need to know how they move at all. A snake’s entire body is lined with muscle underneath its scales, and it uses those muscles and scales in combination to progress across the landscape. Here are the four ways snakes move.
Concertina method
In tight spaces, one might observe a snake using the concertina method to propel himself forward. It’s a bit like how an inchworm moves, actually. First, the snake anchors the rear of its body by pressing against the ground or an object. It then pushes forward with the rest of its body. Then it drops its head and sort of hangs onto the ground with its chin while skootching the rest of its body forward.
Rectilinear method
In this method, the snake creeps forward in a straight line. It’s a slow crawl, and the snake basically uses the broad scales on its stomach to clutch the earth and push itself forward.
Serpentine method
This is the kind of movement that you normally think of when you picture a snake slithering across the ground — wavy. The snake pushes off from a resting state from just about anything next it. It then uses momentum to stay in motion, undulating its body and using its belly scales to push itself forward.
Sidewinding
Snakes primarily use this type of motion when they’re on a surface that’s hard for their stomach scales to grip, such as mud or sand. The snake will throw its head forward and wriggle its body in the same direction. As its body moves, the snake throws its head forward yet again, so its motion continues.
How do snakes swim?
The answer is that snakes use nearly the same motions in water as they do on land. When you see a snake essentially bodysurfing across the top of the water, it’s most often using the serpentine method discussed above. That’s true whether on a pond, a lake, or the sea
The snake uses the surface tension of the water combined with its movement to stay afloat. When a snake undulates in the water, drawing what amounts to an “S” with its body, it applies force to the water behind it. That force propels the snake forward through the water.
Not all snakes swim as well as others
Although most snakes move quite well on land, the same cannot be said for moving in or across the water. Of course, certain snake species have adapted to an aquatic environment, such as sea snakes. These guys are expert swimmers. Certain freshwater snake species are also better swimmers than their mostly terrestrial counterparts.
Snakes that have adapted to a life near or in water have bodies that are a little more flattened, and some even have tails that may remind you of a paddle. Of course, this helps them dart forward and move faster and more efficiently than land-based snakes.
Additionally, some sea snakes are known to travel great distances, sometimes from island to island!
So, water is no barrier to snakes. All of them can swim using the same four movements that propel them over land (and trees and mountains) even without limbs. Some snakes skim and some submerge to get through water, but all of them can navigate this challenging part of their environment.
It was a few weeks after adding live rock to his saltwater aquarium that longtime aquarist Jeff Kurtz noticed rust-colored flecks on one of the rocks and the glass nearby. In a Tropical Fish Magazine article, Kurtz writes that at first he thought the flecks were just a form of coralline algae. Then he realized that they were all the same shape and moving. Flatworms had invaded his fish tank. Flatworms can become a problem in any home aquarium. They typically hitch a ride into the fish tank on new materials like plants and rocks and can also be attached to fish or invertebrates introduced to the tank.
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Types of flatworms seen in fish tanks
Several different types of flatworms can be found in home aquariums.
What you can learn about your guinea pig from watching their body language
Believe it or not, our animals communicate with us almost constantly (even if we don't always understand). We may pick up on their barks, meows, chirps, and tweets after a while, but they also try to talk to us using body language. Your guinea pig will make a few noises that are worth learning, like his purr, whistle, and coo. However, you need to get used to his other methods of communication as well, which will often be his preferred ones. Take the time to learn his various behaviors -- everything from the delightful popcorning to the warning signs, like biting (that one is pretty obvious). Use this guide to guinea pig body language to help you decipher your sweet new pet.
Popcorning
We'd like to start with the happiest, and cutest, of guinea pig postures. As the name suggests, your piggy will often resemble a piece of popcorn by bouncing up and down repeatedly. You probably already guessed that this means your pet feels overwhelming happiness and excitement. You'll mostly see him do his joyful jump when he's young and has newly joined your family, but it might happen later in life as well.
Backing away or freezing
Likewise, you can probably surmise that these movements typically indicate your critter's nervousness or fear. When you first bring your new rodent home, it'll take a while for both of you to get used to each other. During that time, you should tread carefully and let him come to you rather than picking him up when he's frightened. Don't make any sudden movements if you see him freeze as that will just startle him further.
Strutting and yawning
Well, this one's tricky. It might look cute and funny, but shuffling side to side or showing his teeth actually means your guinea pig is going into fighting mode. Your animal won't usually do this to you but likely to another guinea to assert his dominance. Watch out! This could mean a scuffle is on the way and you need to be aware.
Can snakes hear? Pet owners and reptile enthusiasts have asked this for a long time. It's been thought that these slithering creatures don't hear anything at all, in part because they don't seem to have ears and don't respond to noise the way humans do. But that doesn't mean they have no ability to recognize sounds. Instead, they hear and feel differently than us in a few key ways. This will be important to know so you can understand how your snake experiences the world around you and how she senses the things you do.
Do snakes have ears?
You'll notice that while your snake doesn't have ear flaps, she does still have two holes in her head just behind the eyes. Inside is a partial ear that allows her to register at least some sounds. However, she doesn't have eardrums, just bones that resonate and send information to her brain. That has a distinct impact on which noises she will pick up—very different ones than you'd recognize as a mammal with much more developed ears.
How do snakes hear?
Our outer ears help direct noise, and you'll see this in action if you watch your dog perk up or rotate their ears to better hear something. Your snake lacks this ability, so she needs to rely on other ways to pick up audio cues. In fact, snakes don't so much hear sound, but they feel it through vibrations. The lower jaw helps the snake receive these waves, and by placing her head on the ground, she can determine the direction of the waves. Therefore, snakes detect soundwaves that move through a solid material rather than the air (though recent research indicates they do hear a little bit through the air as well, just like mammals). Experts believe that detecting vibrations helps snakes catch prey by feeling where it's moving.