# How Long Can Snakes Hold their Breath?



## NicG (Nov 7, 2008)

Hi guys,

Whilst my Common Tree Snake was 'fishing' the other day, I noticed that after a while he seemed to give up and just remained under the water. It was just a small container (on this occasion) and he had his head and half of his body submerged, motionless. I'm guessing that he was in ambush mode and was waiting for the fish to forget about him and move into the perfect position for him to pounce. He had spent the previous few minutes striking and missing.

But it did raise a couple of questions that I hadn't really thought about before:
a) how long can tree snakes hold their breath under water?
b) how long can pythons hold their breath under water?

Thanks in advance,
Nic


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## MatE (Nov 7, 2008)

I once scared a large carpet,he just took of for the creek.He stayed submerged on the bottom for what i thought 10 minutes or so.They have pretty big lungs for the size of them and dont have a fast metabolism,and being a free diver myself that would come in handy lol.


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## Joshua VW (Nov 7, 2008)

Is it possible MatE that the carpet came up without you seeing it? I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just asking.


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## MatE (Nov 7, 2008)

Joshua VW said:


> Is it possible MatE that the carpet came up without you seeing it? I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just asking.


Actually i watched him the whole time as he was sitting on the bottom.


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## Wildcall (Nov 7, 2008)

i was watchin animal planet the other night and they were saying that anacondas hold their breath for 20mins. i know they are built for it but they went on later saying that pythons could "POTENTIALLY" stay submerged for 15mins if need be. But who believes what they see on TV... obviously me LOL


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## craig.a.c (Nov 7, 2008)

I have never timed it but my stimmie was under for what seemed to be around 5 minutes.


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## McBoob_Inc (Nov 7, 2008)

I am holding one of my snakes heads under water now...........get back to you soon


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## disasterpiece7.0 (Nov 7, 2008)

McBoob_Inc said:


> I am holding one of my snakes heads under water now...........get back to you soon



It's been nearly an hour, stopped struggling yet?


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## cris (Nov 7, 2008)

Being almost semiaquatic i would imagine they could hold their breath for a long time, i have seen wild tree snakes hide under water for many minutes although i havnt timed it, it got very boring the time i waited for one to come up though.


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## mebebrian (Nov 7, 2008)

McBoob_Inc said:


> I am holding one of my snakes heads under water now...........get back to you soon


 
Crikey, been 2 hours now..... It dead yet? Or have you fallen asleep?


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## NicG (Nov 12, 2008)

So potentially 15-20 minutes for pythons and possibly longer for tree snakes. Anyone have other examples to add?


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