can a python tell whos its owner is?

[herpmajor]

I think so.

[RobbinRN]

I am of the school of thought that most animals have a sixth sense about other living things, including human beings. I love all animals and have owned many different types of pets. I have come in contact with lots of animals and have seen nervousness in certain animals when being held or touched by one person that vanishes when held by another. On a recent visit to the Dallas World Aquarium, there was a bird on the handrail in the rainforest area. A gentleman in front of me kept attempting to pet this bird and it kept ducking its head and inching away. I reached out to pet it and it actually leaned into my touch.

With regard to our pet snakes, here's something that I've discussed with my husband yet have never seen it addressed in this forum. Snakes do not have ears and don't "hear" the way other animals do. However, they are aware of vibrations. Our voices reverberate from our larynx down into our chest and out into the air when we speak. Different voices carry different patterns of vibration. I believe a snake can "recognize" it's owner's voice by its distinct vibratory pattern, i.e. frequency.

Call this far-fetched, but that's my opinion. I truly believe that Alice knows me by my scent, by sight, by the method in which I handle him, and by the "sound" of my voice.

Not necessarily scientific, but definitely hypothetical!

Robbin

[Skiploder]

I've been keeping snakes for a long time, and as I approach my third decade of association with them, I am starting to change my perception of how we interact with them.

Yesterday I had to take my oldest children's python (17 years old!) to the vet.

She hasn't eaten for 8 weeks and is starting to lose a bit of mass. She is shedding perfect and behaving normally - but she just won't eat.

Anyway, we were at the vet's for about 2 hours. She was an angel through the exam and then she had to endure a blood test for a CPC, an antibiotic injection and a force feeding.

She took it like a trooper and at one point, I looked into the back room and saw two techs holding her body down while her head poked up and calmly surveyed the scene.

I've been around her for a long, long time and could tell that as they brought her back - that she was agitated. She was rigidly coiled around the tech's arm but as I went into the hall to greet her, she must have caught wind of me because she almost jumped right of the tech's arm to get to me.

We had to wait about 15 minutes for the vet to come back in and explain her course of treatment. The whole time, she coiled her tail around my index and middle fingers and laid placidly on my chest - no nosing around - just contentedly laying with her head on my heart.

We can go around and around on how cognitive snakes are. I can tell you this -and you can ascribe any explanation you want to it - that animal took comfort in my presence after a tough ordeal. When she refused to cooperate with the vet for the mouth examination, it was me she let open her jaws up so they could have a look inside.

Over the years I've taken snakes in that were deemed "mean" or aggressive and with a little patience and respect, have turned them into wonderful pets. Maybe snakes have pea sized brains incapable of computing anything but eating, drinking and making more snakes, but I have seen enough examples of them taking comfort in their owner's presence and repaying respect and patience with calm behavior to think that they can be neatly labeled.

Yesterday was the kicker for me - I have a large collection of pet snakes that I actively spend interacting with. Whether my little children's girl makes it or not, she and I got a bit closer yesterday. It saddens me that I may lose her, but at the same time I can let her go knowing that after 16.5 years - pea sized brain or not - she knows who I am and associates me with comfort and security.

[blackcrystal22]

I've been keeping snakes for a long time, and as I approach my third decade of association with them, I am starting to change my perception of how we interact with them.

Yesterday I had to take my oldest children's python (17 years old!) to the vet.

She hasn't eaten for 8 weeks and is starting to lose a bit of mass. She is shedding perfect and behaving normally - but she just won't eat.

Anyway, we were at the vet's for about 2 hours. She was an angel through the exam and then she had to endure a blood test for a CPC, an antibiotic injection and a force feeding.

She took it like a trooper and at one point, I looked into the back room and saw two techs holding her body down while her head poked up and calmly surveyed the scene.

I've been around her for a long, long time and could tell that as they brought her back - that she was agitated. She was rigidly coiled around the tech's arm but as I went into the hall to greet her, she must have caught wind of me because she almost jumped right of the tech's arm to get to me.

We had to wait about 15 minutes for the vet to come back in and explain her course of treatment. The whole time, she coiled her tail around my index and middle fingers and laid placidly on my chest - no nosing around - just contentedly laying with her head on my heart.

We can go around and around on how cognitive snakes are. I can tell you this -and you can ascribe any explanation you want to it - that animal took comfort in my presence after a tough ordeal. When she refused to cooperate with the vet for the mouth examination, it was me she let open her jaws up so they could have a look inside.

Over the years I've taken snakes in that were deemed "mean" or aggressive and with a little patience and respect, have turned them into wonderful pets. Maybe snakes have pea sized brains incapable of computing anything but eating, drinking and making more snakes, but I have seen enough examples of them taking comfort in their owner's presence and repaying respect and patience with calm behavior to think that they can be neatly labeled.

Yesterday was the kicker for me - I have a large collection of pet snakes that I actively spend interacting with. Whether my little children's girl makes it or not, she and I got a bit closer yesterday. It saddens me that I may lose her, but at the same time I can let her go knowing that after 16.5 years - pea sized brain or not - she knows who I am and associates me with comfort and security.

That is a wonderful and sweet thing to have happen. You have my wishes to her good health.

[flyingtigress]

Anyway, we were at the vet's for about 2 hours. She was an angel through the exam and then she had to endure a blood test for a CPC, an antibiotic injection and a force feeding.

She took it like a trooper and at one point, I looked into the back room and saw two techs holding her body down while her head poked up and calmly surveyed the scene.

I've been around her for a long, long time and could tell that as they brought her back - that she was agitated. She was rigidly coiled around the tech's arm but as I went into the hall to greet her, she must have caught wind of me because she almost jumped right of the tech's arm to get to me.

We had to wait about 15 minutes for the vet to come back in and explain her course of treatment. The whole time, she coiled her tail around my index and middle fingers and laid placidly on my chest - no nosing around - just contentedly laying with her head on my heart.

What a beautiful story. It reminds me of the story a co-worker told me about the bp he used to have. He used to let it free-roam and started vacuuming and the snake bolted across the room and wrapped itself around his leg. While this does not show the best judgement (considering how snakes can sense vibration, he should have realized the vacuum would scare the snake), it does show that the snake took comfort in being close to his owner.

I definitely think my snake recognizes me, just like she recognizes her mouse when it's feeding time. My version of pre-scenting is that I hold up the mouse and blow into the tank past the mouse - her tongue flicks furiously and she immediately goes into strike mode and it's very obvious.

Conversely, when I open the top of her tank and reach in for her, she flicks that tongue and seems to relax so I can lift her out. She never goes into 'strike mode' when my hand is in the tank. So this being so obviously different from feeding - in my mind there is no doubt that she recognizes me.

Also, I firmly believe they can differentiate between me and my hubby - their sense of smell is to good for her not to be able to do this.

Therefore, she can tell who her owner is.

[Daemonicus]

I put yes just because it makes me feel better to think all my snakes know and love me....they at least seem calmer when I handle them and they consistently try to come back to me if I hand them off.

[scarface2jz]

after helping my pastel with his first shed hes very comfortable with me, hes only 6.5 months old and hes curled around my neck as im typing this just chilling, sleeping, taking in the heat i guess, lol... but whenever my friends hold him he just keeps looking at me till i take him back... he always sleeps on me, sometimes i go out driving with him chillin on my wrist like a bracelet... hes really cool like that, never struck at me, never shown aggression, or even hissed... even when i screw around with his cage he could care less, but whenever my friends reach in to grab him (even my friends who also have snakes) he will ball up or slither away... since the 2nd week i got him he hasnt balled up once while i hold him... so i guess i got a trusting snake