Snakes/Reptiles and their Emotions The argument

[The_Argument]

I once stumbled upon a threw with a poll Does your snake love you?
Alot of the responses where it's imposable for a reptile to you love you,they lack the brain power to do so,So if your theroy is that snakes/reptiles are creatures of instinct and don't give two [flips] who handle or care for them because they can only feel pleasure fear pain,That being said my theory is a snake in particular doesn't care who cares for it who provides for it that if say a ball python was with me for 10 years that we would have no connection what so ever that that snake could be passed from person to person care and it would not know the difference,i find it insane to think that a snake does not come accustom to one person or crave attention,


Discuss

[Nate]

I can't quite make sense of your thread.

Can you please slow down your fingers, and clarify your post please? Thanks.

[Monty]

its a good point you bring up and i see it once in a while with one of my females ill go to handle to her tub and when i open the cage she comes right out if its one of my friends she stays where she is but they. lack the part of the brain that shows emotion. and i think its more of it knows its safe with the person who cares for it.

[xdeus]

Discuss

I'm not sure about the rest of your message, but I definitely agree with your last two emoticons...

[straydog1980]

I don't think my snake shows affection so much as he acts very secure with me. He won't ever go over willingly to someone else when I'm holding him.

The latest proof of this (in my mind) is his second shed since I have had him. The first shed went beautifully but this one has been a real problem.

I soaked him for about 45 minutes a couple days ago... he did not like it, but it helped some of the shed work loose. After I let him out I tried to pull some of the shed off with a rag and he was not having it. He made it clear he wanted out of my hands.

I tried soaking him again yesterday, and again he didn't like it. This time when I pulled him out, however, he let me hold him and peel more shed off. It's like he realized that I wasn't going to hurt him, and that when I was finished he would feel better for letting me do it. So he didn't give me any trouble about pulling the shed off all the way up to within an inch of his head!

I seriously doubt he would have let anybody else do that.

[Kaorte]

Lol that was my thread

Yes, I believe that my snakes share no connection with me. At the most they recognize my smell and realize I am not going to eat them, but that is about it.

The main deciding factor in my opinion is the fact that ball pythons are not social animals like dogs, birds, rodents, stuff like that. If they were social, I would have a different opinion.

[RockyTop]

I once stumbled upon a threw with a poll Does your snake love you?
Alot of the responses where it's imposable for a reptile to you love you,they lack the brain power to do so,So if your theroy is that snakes/reptiles are creatures of instinct and don't give two s@$# who handle or care for them because they can only feel pleasure fear pain,That being said my theory is a snake in particular doesn't care who cares for it who provides for it that if say a ball python was with me for 10 years that we would have no connection what so ever that that snake could be passed from person to person care and it would not know the difference,i find it insane to think that a snake does not come accustom to one person or crave attention,


Discuss

Don't fret. I shall translate, for I have just returned from a Bloodpython19 thread and can decipher these types of cryptic messages.

Translation into English:

I once stumbled upon a poll that was titled "Does your snake love you?"

A majority of the responses stated that it was impossible for a reptile to love you due to the lack of brain power. That particular theory is based on the argument that snakes are creatures of instinct and possesses no preference over who provides for it because they can only feel pleasure, fear, and pain.

However, I disagree. My theory is that a snake would care for who provides for it. It is insane to think that a snake I have spent 10 years with would not develop some sort of connection with me, and become accustomed to my interactions with it and crave my attention.

Please provide your own theories and your reasoning behind them.

Now, to shorten it up, I think this is what he really meant to say:

Although it has been stated over and over that snakes lack the ability to love me, I still want to believe it. I find it impossible that snakes can't feel this emotion, simply because I feel this emotion for my snake.

And to answer that... nothing wrong with pretending, or developing an attachment to your snake. However, realistically your snake doesn't share the same emotion you feel towards it.

[Danounet]

But my spider told me she loved me last nite!! and my pastel got super jelous! I dont believe this non sence!!

[Elise.m]

Bad troll is a bad troll.

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

My snakes (including the one I'm snake-sitting right now here) do not love me. One actively dislikes my presence. The other two do are neutral...they do not perceive me as a threat, nor am I anything that merits much attention. I'm pretty sure my Ball Python, Macchiato, views me as nothing more than the Largish Warm Perch/Branch I Sometimes Occupy That Makes Heartbeaty Sounds And Might Possibly Be A Large, Harmless Animal Of Some Kind.

And I am fine with that.

I did not get my snakes with the desire or need for them to love me, or like me, or know I exist as an entity all my own. I love THEM, and name them, and sing to them even though they can't hear me (little Neheb, the charcoal Corn Snake I'm snake-sitting for, has his own theme song now: "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...you make me happy, because you're gray...yer a snake an' can't hear me say I love you, but I sing it to you anyway!") and otherwise slather them with affection and consider it a major breakthrough when Bowline, my Pueblan Milk Snake, doesn't musk at the mere hint of my presence.

I am emotionally mature enough not to NEED my pets to love me. I love them unconditionally, and that means I require nothing more or less of them than for them to be content, comfortable and well-cared-for.

Anyone who gets a snake expecting it to love them is in for a shock, they aren't mammals and unlike a dog, who modifies it's behaviour (for good or ill) based on what it thinks it's human companion wants, my snakes will take no action to express affection...and likely can't feel affection as we know it.

However, being human, I felt an emotional response when I re-designed Macchiato's enclosure, gently set him inside it, and watched him look around, tongue-flick for two seconds, then zoom back into my hands and up my arm with a supprising ammount of speed.

I felt emotionally as if he were saying, "I like you." Intellectually, I know the truth: he was just opting for a familar perch/branch (MY ARM) than what had become an unfamilar place to be.

And, again, I'm totally okay with it being a very one-sided relationship.