I think my snake loves me

The truth is we love our snakes, but they dont love us. My herps, and the rest of my pets, would be some of the first things i grab in an emergency, but i know if there was a fire and their cages were open, they would come and wake me up to make sure i get out, they would get out because they want to survive. Our snakes act on instinct, and instinct is selfish. Our instincts, as with almost all living creatures, tells us to save ourselves.

The fact is our snakes dont love us, no matter how much we want them too. Some keepers give them names, talk to them, and treat them as other humans. But they will never return the favor, not because they dont want to, but because they cant. Personally i dont keep snakes to talk to them, give them names or treat them like humans, but to observe them and truly respect them. They are magnificent creatures, and to just watch them behave in a natural way gives me my satisfaction.

MY SNAKES MIGHT NOT LITERALLY LOVE ME, BUT THEY FEEL SAFE & SECURE WITH ME, I THINK THEY'RE HAPPY WITH THEIR OWNER :snake:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by arsinoe

what if your snake behaves in a way that indicates a 'want' or in this case a non want.........example i had alexander out for about 2 or 3 hours this morning. He started to be a butt head crawling all over the keyboard. I got the feeling he was getting tired and wanted to get a nap. So i took him to his home and he clearly wanted to stay out. But i made him go in and the first thing he did was go get a drink and he's napping now. This tells me he wanted to stay with me, even though he was tired and thirsty. Is this not an emotional want on his part? If he was just driven by self preservation, he shouldn't have balked at going in.

---

lol

I don't think that snakes can "love" or "hate" you. But I do feel like they can get used to you and get more used to you handling them and being around them, and eventually be very comfortable being held by you. Technically that is somewhat learning to trust.. so is trust an emotion? hmmmm....

I dont see why people are saying snakes are stupid and emotionless, bassicly degrading an animal they have many of and like very much. If they are so stupid then why do people who think theyre stupid keep many many of them? Every animal is diffrent. There mind might not be like ours but id imagine there is some sort of equivalent to love. If somone can make a connection with the snake i think its possible to bond with it to some extent. Every animal is diffrent so throwing them all in one group and saying something isnt possible doesnt seem right to me. The impossible happens ALL THE TIME. Saying they cant feel emotions just seems like your trying to make yourself feel like a higher being than them. But thats just me. Here is an odd story though, a couple years back at my old house there was this girl in the area who owned a pretty big albino burm. It was her baby, she did everything with it. The odd part was that is was a "mood" snake. It reacted towards other people by how she felt towards them. Her friends would come up and it would be calm and friendly, a person she didnt like it would begin to hiss and get into striking position. Once the person she didnt like left he immidiantly became placid and friendly. I believe she made that connection with her snake.
Snakes might not have the same emotions as us but i think they can care and feel atleast to some extint in there own way. I wouldnt expect a snake to show me he cares the same way a dog would. It might not even be a love just a neutral respect, but i think they can feel in there own way.

Maybe the word stupid isn't being used right. Snakes have a primitive brain, therefore, they are less intelligent and less advanced in the thinking areas compared to other animals.

Instinct tells them to remember who is safe and who is not, who possibly poses and threat, and who does not, what situation benefits them, and which does not.

The corn snake here recognizes her owner and acts calm and lazy with him, but the second I hold her, she gets nervous and finicky and tries to get back to her owner, because I haven't held her more than once or twice, so she still possibly sees me as a threat.

We know they don't have complex emotional systems by studying their brain and which parts it has, and which parts it doesn't have developed.

If you love your snake(s) you shouldn't worry about if they love you, just if they are happy.

And if they are eating, shedding, and pooping I consider that happy.

With all the research we have recorded about these animals, we still cannot say EXACTLY how they feel, for we have never lived as a snake. Therefor, we wouldn't know how they feel.

I believe that somewhere deep in their minds, my snakes know who I am (That I feed them and keep them clean, etc.), and have some sort of affection for me. I won't come out and say that they definitely love me and appreciate what I've done for them, but I think they have some idea of who I am.

Either way, I still love them!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rwillinnable

so, you are saying that love, whatever that term may mean or whatever you think it means, is incapable of emerging from any lower level functioning area of the brain. Or if you prefer freudian terms, love can only spring from the ego. I disagree.

I think the main problem with this discussion, other than the sophomoric glee people are extracting from their feelings of supposed superiority to others, is that the word love is by far the most overly used word in the english language. Do i think a snake is capable of love like romantic love? Of course not. Do i think a snake is capable of love like the love that the christ or the buddha had for the world? Absolutely not. Do i even think that a snake can feel empathy? Again, no. But can a snake feel safe, secure, emboldened, and not threatened by another being living in close proximity to it? Yes, i do. And those feelings are some of the feelings that i ascribe to the word love.

The idea of love encompasses many things. To extract love of all but its logical and emotional elements is to diminish it.

---

i agree, very well said

kudos kudos and a soft golf clap:snake::banana: