Another advantage for including a relatively large water container is that water evaporation contributes to the relative humidity of the enclosure. This is especially true if the enclosure is glass or Plexiglas-lined. The water container should be roomy enough to allow adequate soaking and heavy enough so it can not be easily overturned. Water containers must be thoroughly and regularly cleaned. Failure to do so encourages bacterial proliferation.
Snakes drinking and soaking in the water soon become ill.
Before specific feeding recommendations are made, it is important to make several points and cautions regarding the feeding of captive snakes. The most respected herpetologists and experienced snake hobbyists all agree that captive snakes should be fed dead or incapacitated prey whenever possible. This is because such prey cannot injure the feeding snake. Providing killed prey that has been frozen is convenient and economical for the hobbyists. Snakes may be induced to eat thawed, frozen prey animals by clipping hair from the coat of a live rat and rolling the proposed food in it just before feeding.