I think my snake loves me

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Here are my thoughts, Ive only had a snake for 2 weeks but bare with me. I believe if it can show a preference of what it likes and doesnt like, and also get pissed off and annoyed which are emotions, then I can guarentee that it can love. Anger, hate, and fright are all emotions, if you can feel one then I think its safe to say you should be able to feel them all. Just my 2 cents.

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Our snakes are not getting pissed off, but are defending themselves which is instinct. When feeling threatened they show behavior which many people are portraying as emotions. This is anthropromorphising and this has caused dangerous situations with wildlife in the past. I am not claiming that it will with our herps, but it could.

The bottom line is they are not feeling emotions. They are acting on instinct.

As for recognizing certain people. This is easily explained. Each of us have our very own unique chemical scent, that only our herps will pick up on. If you are regularly in contact or near your snake, they may eventually realize you are not a threat. Though if another person, which will have their own chemical scent and would be foreign to the snake, the snake may act in a defensive behavior, which some have marked as an emotion.

in my humble opinion, i believe any of Gods creatures have the ability to bond with humans. I believe that it all depends on how the creature is handled from birth, and throughout their upbringing.

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Originally Posted by Shaun J

Snakes don't understand emotion other than "I'm gonna eat you!!!"

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HAHAHAHAHA:colbert::taz::rofl:

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Originally Posted by Maverick67

But do snake show preference over their handler? If my wife is holding Scarlett she will crawl off of her and to me if I am nearby.

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I would think this might have to do with the snake attempting to find a warmer place to be. Take my husband and I. Our house sits at around 75, which is a bit chilly to a ball python. If we were to take out a ball python and sit next to each other. I would not be surprised in the slightest if my snake preferred my husband to me. I run at a lower body temperature. My hands and feet tend to be cold if I'm sitting for long periods of time without socks on. My husband on the other hand, is a furnace. He gives off tons of heat. A snake will naturally try and find the warmest person.

Also on the subject of your snake turning to you because you laughed at it. They do not understand what a laugh is. They might sense the vibrations and turn to you because they are in hunting mode. I've had snakes protect their "kill" from me. If they had just constricted food and I move near their cage, they will let go and get into striking position. Its not emotion. It is instinct.

i think that snakes run almost exclusivly on instinct, and as such do not show anything we can precieve as love. i think it is all to do with humans easily anthropomorphising things. saying the snake feels sad or angry is a form of Anthropomorphism. I dont doubt for a second the snakes are able to recognize certain people with whom they have had past encounters, but i highly doubt the can show, or feel some kind of "love". in nature there are few forms of love which i know people will beg to differ about but when it comes down to it only a very few animals can show "love" and snakes are not one of them.

I think what matters most is how much you love your snake. They don't need to love you back.

I think snakes (along with other reptiles) are opportunistic. They "lick" you because you smell, not because they're kissing you. They sit on you or crawl about on you because you're warm. They accept you because for the most part, they get used to being handled and realize you aren't going to hurt them, therefore you are not a predator they need to worry about. Maybe they're smart enough to understand you bring them food...who knows? I don't think any of us are mindreaders here :P

I believe that snakes are smarter than some give them credit. They use vibrations, heat, scent, vision and pick up our attitude to form a decision of if we are a threat or not. They constantly evaluate their surroundings. Over time they remember those set of senses and associate them with individuals.
I believe they can feel calm, frightened, angry, hungry..etc.

sent from my EVO , with Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by JeffD

I believe that snakes are smarter than some give them credit. They use vibrations, heat, scent, vision and pick up our attitude to form a decision of if we are a threat or not. They constantly evaluate their surroundings. Over time they remember those set of senses and associate them with individuals.
I believe they can feel calm, frightened, angry, hungry..etc.
sent from my EVO , with Tapatalk

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Reminds me of my ex.....and he sure was a :snake:

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

As for recognizing certain people. This is easily explained. Each of us have our very own unique chemical scent, that only our herps will pick up on. If you are regularly in contact or near your snake, they may eventually realize you are not a threat. Though if another person, which will have their own chemical scent and would be foreign to the snake, the snake may act in a defensive behavior, which some have marked as an emotion.

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That's like the viper boa I have...when anyone other than my gf or myself tries to hold him he does everything he can to get away and then poops on the person. Never does that with us.

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Originally Posted by llovelace

Reminds me of my ex.....and he sure was a :snake:

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:rofl:

Everyone is forgetting about Retic's though... Anyone who has owned one knows they show a recognizable intelligence over most other snakes. They also hold grudges, never forget bad experiences and show a strong preference towards certain people. I know I've said this before but it's very cool to observe.

Some of my snakes tolerate me, others relax with me and yet others seem to show a distinct "want" to come out and just sit with me.

Love? I doubt it but the brains these snakes have is not as simple as some may think.
By the way, they can't hear, therefore they can hear you laugh. You probably blew air on the snake while laughing or caused the floor to vibrate or something. Yes this would put it in defense mode.

By the way, they can't hear, therefore they can hear you laugh. You probably blew air on the snake while laughing or caused the floor to vibrate or something. Yes this would put it in defense mode.[/QUOTE]


they lack external ears, but are, in fact, able to hear. they are much more attuned to vibrations (like people walking), but they can still hear sound traveling in the air. Not as well as we can, but still, they hear. it is not something that they rely on, though.

ok this is ticking me off aloota ppl think snake's are emotionless. if that's the case then y do they get scared? why do the get mad or deffencive if they dont feel any thing? if snakes cant feel then how can they even react the way the do when they FEEL threatened? every living thing can feel emotion's includeing snake's. my snake's all show they can feel emotion's wither they be their own or thier owner's. they just can show it as easily as other animal or u ppl. my snake reno may be laid back but when ever i am upset i go to the snake room and hold him. i will be totaly silent and he will try to comfert me by wrapping around my neck and rubbing the side of my face. and when i am away for too long he get's depressed and inactive which is unlike him. when ever i am pissed off he will wrap around my neck and hang off my shoulder and strike at everyone with all his force that i dont want near me. he even get's jealous when i hold other snake's. he will get more aggressive and try to get outta of his tube untill i put the other snake away then he will mello out as if nothing happened. he even get's excited when i come into the room, he will be moving very quickly trying to get out and as soon as i open the tube he will wrap around my arm and rub his head in the palm of my hand. snake's have emotion. it's just thire chose weither or not they show it. saying snake's have no emotion's is like saying human's cant feel anything. think about it.

i dont really know

I've had this debate many times before. I know a snake's brain isn't advanced enough to show affection (though we can't really tell if they feel it now, can we?). I do, however, think it is advanced enough to recognize me. I know this because my python is always more nervous and jumpy during feeding when someone else does it, but with me it's just routine for him.

People are free to think whatever they want. I know my snake loves me, and I don't care what science or if anyones factoids state otherwise!

How can snakes have no minds or emotions if they get used to handling? Something has to evolve or change in that little head of theirs to do this.

Same as what the guy above me said... miine is shy with people besides me... balls up and tenses her muscles... but with me, i put my hand in the tank and she'll come out to me.

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Originally Posted by Kilo

Vote wether or not you believe your snake knows and show affection in odd noticable ways.

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Idk, but I do love it when he nuzzles me under my ear.....so cute.:)

if you think a snake doesn't feel emotion, or bonds etc, get an indigo or a retic. it'll teach you other wise ;)

If they have no minds then what allows them to gradually get used to handling? I don't care what anyone says, you are free to love any reptile you wish! Just because you don't get a sense of a connection with yours, doesn't mean others don't.

kalmah escaped 2 times before, now i can put her on the bed and she'll stay

i don't think the argument was about them not having minds, it is if they feel emotions which imo they do not. im not saying they dont have personalities because and individual is just that, an individual which will react to stimuli in its own way but thats all it really is, its a reaction not an emotion.

So I only read the first and last two pages but to add to what I've read, I don't see how it is a fact that they are mindless, because the mind is not and actual organ or thin you can see but a state of mind, you will not find it in any anatomy book, so what's to say they actually don't have a mind, it might be true that they don't love but they don't talk, so the best you could say, is that the either can or can not be fond of and object, area or maybe even a person, being as they are instinctual, as all animals are in some form or fashion, or atleast can be. I would also like to add that it is possible that animals can be sensitized to things such as handling, and since you can not see a snake smile or frown, it's basically defense mode and bite, jumpy, or relaxed and not bite. Do you think your snake know if they are eating prey that is already killed if u feed ft, maybe, maybe not, I believe that the ones of us who consider our snakes as pets, most of them would like to think we have a connection with our pets, those that collect may be more apt to say they don't. The fact is unless you can speak snake or they learn English there is no factual way to tell if they do feel affection for things or people, only studies. Lastly I am no way an expert on the matter this is just how I feel about the matter, and what I have concluded. Like is an emotion, why do some snakes like mice better then rats, and vice versa?

I think this is tricky.. They might not be as advanced as us, but you know.. Some scientists will tell you we humans don't feel emotions either, it is all just hormones oozing things out telling our brain signals that we percieve as emotions.. The feeling of 'love' can be seen in a scientific way as the brain reacts chemically! That's all it is really, a bunch of chemicals, hormones, and instincts. Why do we blush when we are embarrassed? It is the flight or fight instinct, preparing our body to react to the whatever caused the feeling. It's instinct!

If another creature that looked different than us, had different methods of showing emotions, maybe was more advanced than us were to view our brainpatterns..they might dub us as emotionless as well, really. Or at least only full of instinct.

But its all about what's inside I think. It may be a bunch of chemicals to a scientist, but to me, I know I love my boyfriend with all my heart! Instinct to mate? Sure thing.. But doesn't mean it's less enjoyable to us right? ;)


yeah, they have less complex minds, less complex reactions to things.. But we don't really know what it's like to be inside a snakes mind. Maybe the same scents, appearances, and movements of an owner is similar to the similar smells and body language of two friends..making us comfortable. It all boils down to instinct, we just have the words to describe it, that's the biggest difference. :snake:


Now not saying my snake is going to sit and watch chick flicks with me and get all emotional, but I think that the fact that they can show fear, remember fear, and go as far as to hold grudges.. Hey, I think there is something to that. Why would an animal only seem to have negative emotions? Lol!

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

I think this is tricky.. They might not be as advanced as us, but you know.. Some scientists will tell you we humans don't feel emotions either, it is all just hormones oozing things out telling our brain signals that we percieve as emotions.. The feeling of 'love' can be seen in a scientific way as the brain reacts chemically! That's all it is really, a bunch of chemicals, hormones, and instincts. Why do we blush when we are embarrassed? It is the flight or fight instinct, preparing our body to react to the whatever caused the feeling. It's instinct!

If another creature that looked different than us, had different methods of showing emotions, maybe was more advanced than us were to view our brainpatterns..they might dub us as emotionless as well, really. Or at least only full of instinct.

But its all about what's inside I think. It may be a bunch of chemicals to a scientist, but to me, I know I love my boyfriend with all my heart! Instinct to mate? Sure thing.. But doesn't mean it's less enjoyable to us right? ;)


yeah, they have less complex minds, less complex reactions to things.. But we don't really know what it's like to be inside a snakes mind. Maybe the same scents, appearances, and movements of an owner is similar to the similar smells and body language of two friends..making us comfortable. It all boils down to instinct, we just have the words to describe it, that's the biggest difference. :snake:


Now not saying my snake is going to sit and watch chick flicks with me and get all emotional, but I think that the fact that they can show fear, remember fear, and go as far as to hold grudges.. Hey, I think there is something to that. Why would an animal only seem to have negative emotions? Lol!

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i don't have much to say to this other then BOOM HEADSHOT! you hit the nail on the head i agree 110% with you us humans are dumb and there is no way we understand all of the world and its creatures so we can't just assume we are the strongest fastest best because we don't fully understand everything out there!

First and foremost with a minor in psychology let me tell you all animals that have brains, including humans, get their "emotions" from physical parts of the brain. Some people tend to think that humans are the only ones with "feelings" but this is absurd. Humans have more complexly developed brains than snakes do, but to see all these people handling their snakes, that means there is something going on.

Go to the wild and pick up a corn snake and see if it bites you.
Taking decent care of a corn snake (or any snake for that matter) and handling it regularly allows it to become accustomed to and feel safe with you. And as for "love", that's such an ambiguous term anyways....bottom line, snakes are awesome.

It's hard to say because if I was to put my snake on the table it would come towards me before it would someone els... I dont know if that would be affection or some time of comfort

I'm just going to put my input. Believe what you want.

My female Granite (she's got an RI right now :( ) has been mine since she was a an adolescent. She's going on 5 now...

I've always instilled the name "Basil" into her mind, and she seems to take up on it. You say "Basil" and she will react to it... Whether it's perking her head up, or moving in a different direction that she was before. She always reacts to it.

When we take her out, and we've played with different scenarios, she'll look for me. My friends who handle her daily with me don't get that favoritism. You place her out in the middle of the floor, eliminate all shadows, she'll have four people to choose from and it's me. Always me. And she'll ball up at my feet or wrap herself around my ankles.

For a snake that doesn't whimper or bark like a dog, doesn't have any means by which to show emotion except for anger/frustration... Do you think that constitutes as "love"?

this thread is very interesting..i will say though i wish my snake could love me..it doesnt matter cus i love them enough for all of us ^-^; so much sometimes i tear up (im such a girly girl!!) the provide me with a feeling of comfort and relax me into knowing im not the only living thing alone in this house..(am alone alot)

so no..they dont love me! but im glad they are here!

then again..who really knows..its not like they can tell us or talk and say they do or do not..

Trust is a function of love, therefore the animal must love you to have the capacity to trust you.

It is the human connection to intimacy that makes love out to be all that much more.

If it did not love us, it would not trust us, and it would not get comfortable with us ever.
Even if you could argue that, like a cat it merely associates us with being comfortable and fed, the fact that it makes that association suggests that it loves itself, beyond the mere response to feed.

Any animal that feels fear, is capable of feeling love, as fear is in a lesser sense, the cousin to love. Where fear is only felt in the absence of love, or in its own complex of losing its own life, which in turn resuggests the animal is conscious of itself.

Evolution is only found in the love of lifes absolution, and in that absolution, life loves itself, as that is how it becomes recreated, allowing any conscious living entity to develop love, and in that entities ability to trust, a conscious beyond subconscious, super ceeding primal instincts to merely care for oneself, has developed.

Do my animals love me...? yes.
Do my animals love me to the extent an intelligent being can? No.

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Originally Posted by 'SiQ'

It's hard to say because if I was to put my snake on the table it would come towards me before it would someone els... I dont know if that would be affection or some time of comfort

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The whole "my snake recognizes me so it must love me" argument is not a very strong one. I could argue that a snake recognizes your scent as something that is non-threatening. Much like if it were in the wild. It it smells or detects no threats in an area, it will seek out the most comfortable spot. In captivity it does the same thing. Your scent is something they associate with no threats. While they may not associate you as an individual person that they become attached to, they do understand that with your smell comes no threat of predation. You are also warm, which in a home that is sitting at room temperature (72), they are going to seek out something that is radiating heat to be close to. That is often why some snakes will prefer to stay on you rather than roam the room. You are warm and they sense no threats. This does not mean they love you. It just means you are a comfy, warm, rock which no predators around.

It would be interesting to have a thread debating the opposite: Can a snake hate someone?

Sometimes a snake just can't seem to stand a specific person. Why does that happen? How is that possible if they're emotionless robots?

Yes, a snake can hate someone. A few other individuals on this site work with me on the Reptile Rescue team. A few weeks ago we picked up a redtail boa BCI.

It's been a while since he has moved locations. He still hates everyone. He hisses, throws a fit, and if you walk within visual range of him he strikes the glass or the mesh top. He got exceptionally upset with me for taking a picture of him.

Go figure.

Everyone could make sense if a snake has been abused by humans and has learned to expect them to inflict pain.

But what if a snake reacted that way only towards some specific individual who had never done anything to "get off on the wrong foot"? If a snake hates one person for no apparent reason, and tolerates being around everyone else; surely something is responsible for the personality clash.

some of my snakes difinetly recognize me and can differentiate me from other people. one of my corn snakes who is very chill and tame when im holding him absolutely freaks out when i hand him to anyone else. bites poops pee's etc..then calms right down when i take him back....i dont think he loves me or feels emotion....i just think he has trust in me ( as much trust as an animal with a brain the size of a grain of rice can have) and feels safe when im holding him.

I cant believe 47 % of people really think there snakes love them....every action made by a snake is pure instinct. The only things they feel are the need to eat, reproduce, and feel secure.

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Originally Posted by nor_cal1980

i cant believe 47 % of people really think there snakes love them....every action made by a snake is pure instinct. The only things they feel are the need to eat, reproduce, and feel secure.

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x2

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Originally Posted by sgath92

Everyone could make sense if a snake has been abused by humans and has learned to expect them to inflict pain.

But what if a snake reacted that way only towards some specific individual who had never done anything to "get off on the wrong foot"? If a snake hates one person for no apparent reason, and tolerates being around everyone else; surely something is responsible for the personality clash.

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I have never seen a snake react differently toward a person. It could be a matter of if you are trying to hand an already stressed out snake (handling=stress) and hand them off to someone who is perhaps not as comfortable with snakes or smells of a predator (dog, cat, etc) then the snake might react defensively, but a snake isn't just going to start hissing and biting because "Hey, I don't like the way that dude looked at me. Take that, Hand!"

Snakes cannot hate. They can feel uncomfortable around someone who is less experienced in handling them. A nervous person is going to be a bit more rough and jerky, which causes the snake to stress out. If you were in a tree and suddenly the tree hands you off to a tree that kept shaking you or moving branches really close to your face, you'd be scared too.

This debate on whether or not snakes can love or hate is getting really old. Its like debating whether my dog can do algebra. Emotions are not intelligence, I understand that, but it is comparable. Reptiles lack the mental capacity to form complex emotions. Can they trust that this warm rock (you) won't move out from under him..maybe. Can they love you...no.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I have never seen a snake react differently toward a person. It could be a matter of if you are trying to hand an already stressed out snake (handling=stress) and hand them off to someone who is perhaps not as comfortable with snakes or smells of a predator (dog, cat, etc) then the snake might react defensively, but a snake isn't just going to start hissing and biting because "Hey, I don't like the way that dude looked at me. Take that, Hand!"

Snakes cannot hate. They can feel uncomfortable around someone who is less experienced in handling them. A nervous person is going to be a bit more rough and jerky, which causes the snake to stress out. If you were in a tree and suddenly the tree hands you off to a tree that kept shaking you or moving branches really close to your face, you'd be scared too.

This debate on whether or not snakes can love or hate is getting really old. Its like debating whether my dog can do algebra. Emotions are not intelligence, I understand that, but it is comparable. Reptiles lack the mental capacity to form complex emotions. Can they trust that this warm rock (you) won't move out from under him..maybe. Can they love you...no.

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On the contrary.. Retics have been known to show a preference to one person and aggression or fleeing reactions toward another.

Different species have different intelligence levels. Some operate on instinct alone, while others demonstrate a level of recognition and memory that others don't.

Agreed. Reptiles do have the right brain structures to have some form of emotions. I'm not saying they have the same range of emotions and cognitive ability that you'd find in a more advanced brain like that of an African Gray but the prerequisites are there for some basic emotion-capabilities.

There have been experiments where radioactive dyes have been bonded to GnRH's in snakes which allow you to see brain functions, structures and fibers under imagery. Using colubrids they've seen the amygdala [the brain structure that serves as the "emotions computer" in mammals including humans] doing things during their mating process, during fear responses, etc. which implies something is going on in there deeper than impulsive reflex responses to real-time stimuli.

For years there was this theory in evolutionary sciences that mammal brains were simply built-up "reptilian brains" that were given additional structures by the evolutionary process. It's long been shown that birds have brains that structurally look like reptile brains with the addition of more things we know little about and that mammal brains are like bird brains with yet more things that we know even less about added onto them.

So maybe, just maybe, what's going on in there is they have a bad or good experience with something and that triggers a basic emotion that's either good or bad. As a result of that, when a future situation presents itself the snake's amygdala starts sending "good" or "bad" vibes using basic, primitive emotions instead of using a higher cognitive process like the way our brains use memory recall.

i.e. a human might think upon walking into a dentist office about the time they went to the dentist at 5 and how they forgot to use Novocaine and started drilling into a cavity without any painkillers and that hurt really bad yet despite that a human could use reason to overcome that and conclude "but I rather not loose all my teeth" whereas a snake might only get a primitive "I hate this" feeling followed by defense mode without any overriding logic.

god this thread was a good read.


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i think a snakes level of love is basically trusting that you won't attack it and knowing you're not food...

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

The whole "my snake recognizes me so it must love me" argument is not a very strong one. I could argue that a snake recognizes your scent as something that is non-threatening. Much like if it were in the wild. It it smells or detects no threats in an area, it will seek out the most comfortable spot. In captivity it does the same thing. Your scent is something they associate with no threats. While they may not associate you as an individual person that they become attached to, they do understand that with your smell comes no threat of predation. You are also warm, which in a home that is sitting at room temperature (72), they are going to seek out something that is radiating heat to be close to. That is often why some snakes will prefer to stay on you rather than roam the room. You are warm and they sense no threats. This does not mean they love you. It just means you are a comfy, warm, rock which no predators around.

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Wouldn't the mere fact that a snake associates your scent with safety represent atleast a primitive form of love? You're contradicting yourself my friend. If a snake was only seeking warmth and security I'm sure the seemingly unnoticed by us, vibrations of the human body would be enough to throw it off. The problem is that you're being far too closed minded in your concept of love. A snake is not a human being, therefore it cannot love in a human being manner, though the snake is living so it is capable of loving in such a way, regardless of wether the snake does love in that way, does not change the fact that it is capable, in one way or another of loving. To assume that it is a simple being that merely succumbs to a genetic code, that instinctively determines it's actions would be the same as assuming that human beings are built much the same, but have evolved to such a level that our minds convince ourselves we have a purpose, so that we continue to follow our own base instincts, due to becoming too aware of ourselves as an existence. So think about the implications of your words before you voice them.

What it comes down to, is wether you believe in god. Which provides a rather mixed perspective, as one who does not believe in god, must believe that all animals are capable of what we perceive as love, as all animals are capable of evolution. If one believes in god, then we are the mere shepards of a world of absent minded primitives that may only base their lives off of instinctive associations.

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Originally Posted by DarrinLowe

Wouldn't the mere fact that a snake associates your scent with safety represent atleast a primitive form of love? You're contradicting yourself my friend. If a snake was only seeking warmth and security I'm sure the seemingly unnoticed by us, vibrations of the human body would be enough to throw it off. The problem is that you're being far too closed minded in your concept of love. A snake is not a human being, therefore it cannot love in a human being manner, though the snake is living so it is capable of loving in such a way, regardless of wether the snake does love in that way, does not change the fact that it is capable, in one way or another of loving. To assume that it is a simple being that merely succumbs to a genetic code, that instinctively determines it's actions would be the same as assuming that human beings are built much the same, but have evolved to such a level that our minds convince ourselves we have a purpose, so that we continue to follow our own base instincts, due to becoming too aware of ourselves as an existence. So think about the implications of your words before you voice them.

What it comes down to, is wether you believe in god. Which provides a rather mixed perspective, as one who does not believe in god, must believe that all animals are capable of what we perceive as love, as all animals are capable of evolution. If one believes in god, then we are the mere shepards of a world of absent minded primitives that may only base their lives off of instinctive associations.

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this was a phenomenal argument to the opposing side of this theory and I have to say that it does make you wonder if a humans perception of love could not be attained but rather the animals own distinction of love. ball pythons can surely fear someone or something, wouldn't the flip side of that be associating love-like characteristics with someone or something?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Xan Powers!

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Originally Posted by celine4bakers

Snakes are the most Human friendly animal on this earth.They attack only if they are Hungary or when they feel threatened.

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Or if they are conditioned to feeding and someone didn't hook train 'em.

I am not contradicting myself. It has to do with how you are defining love. In this discussion people seem to be associating love with affection, which a snake cannot demonstrate. If we are speaking of love as simple trust that an object or lifeform will not cause oneself harm, then yes, snakes are capable of "love". When someone strikes up conversation about their snakes loving them because the snakes kiss them with their tongue flicking or "cuddle " around their necks this is not an emotional display of love. Perhaps trust they will not come to harm but certainly not an intended expression of affection that people term as love.

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Originally Posted by DarrinLowe

What it comes down to, is wether you believe in god. Which provides a rather mixed perspective, as one who does not believe in god, must believe that all animals are capable of what we perceive as love, as all animals are capable of evolution. If one believes in god, then we are the mere shepards of a world of absent minded primitives that may only base their lives off of instinctive associations.

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Now that's not necessarily true here. I agree with your argument actually, but as someone who believes in both science and God, I see a little different picture. I'm not crazy, I know that our emotions we feel are caused by hormonal and chemical changes in our body in reaction to sight, scent, movement, color, sound, etc. I believe that humans have instincts as well, and honestly, without being an animal how can we know that a human's feeling of just wanting to ah... :rolleyes: "Mate" with the next hot babe he sees is that much different than the chemicals and instincts telling the same thing to a snake or a dog! I think it's far less advanced, but instincts and hormones create some sort of effect on an animal, and how it is interpreted in their mind is unknown to us!

But just cause I believe in God doesn't mean I believe animals are mindless... :gj: "God is Love" and all that!

I know for a fact that not only my snake loves me, but that it takes time for them to grow an attachment to their owners. I have a ball python (Ezio) I have owned for about a month now, and ever since I got him from my roomate he was VERY sick. He had severe upper resp and seemed like he was not going to make it. After weeks of TLC (and some baytril) he is well on his way to being all better. Over these last few weeks he has gotten to where not only does his attention perk up when I hold him, he even does a "trick" of sorts. If you make the kissy noise he will (NO LIE) raise his head to your lips and lean in for a kiss. No matter where he is he always comes for that kiss. He has also gotten to where he will be laying on my chest and crawl up to my cheeks and nuzzle them like a cat.

My proof it takes a snake time to grow this bond. My fiance just bought a Columbian redtail Boa (named Rosa) about 3 days ago and up until today she wanted nothing to do with him, but today while he was holding her, she actually fell asleep on him and when it was time to go back into her cage, she hugged him tight, and nuzzled his face. While before she fought to stay away from him at all costs, hissing,biting etc.

I do not care what any official or anyone says I fully believe my snake loves me and we have a very strong bond to one another. :snake::oops:

I'm not sure why you're bringing religion into this discussion. A belief in a higher power does not automatically mean someone believes all lifeforms are capable of displaying love. I'm sorry but while snakes can form a TYPE of trust with their caretakers they most certainly do not have the capacity to love on a level that involves open displays of affection towards a particular person.

I believe in a deity but I understand that many animals are not on the same level emotionally. Understanding they will come to no harm is one thing. Even recognizing their caretaker is believable but I'm sorry. My snakes and no snake I have ever had the pleasure of knowing has EVER muzzled me, given me a kiss, or sought me out for attention. They are not capable of such actions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaun J

Snakes don't understand emotion other than "I'm gonna eat you!!!"

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Yea, my snakes look at me like they are thinking, how an I gonna fit that in my mouth?