Can snakes feel and give affection?

Hi guys,

Bit of a "deep" and random question but I read somewhere online that snakes are mission the frontal lobe of their brain which is what is usually responsible for emotions such as hate, love, anger and they only run on instinct.

How true is this? I know snakes get used to you handling them, but do they actually feel affection for you. For example you open up your snakes hide and he see's you and slithers towards you because he is happy that you're there? Can they take a disliking to other human beings except their owner?

Thanks,

Dan

Ah, the great debate...

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: Reptiles in general have a higher capacity to learn and understand than people once thought but they are still basic creatures in terms of having human like emotions.

My snakes love me!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by hungba

My snakes love me!!!!!!

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But they lack the frontal lobe of the brain which is capable of creating the emotion love for them. They're instinct is that you're not a threat therefore not scary and can be more outgoing with you.

I think they can feel familiar or comfortable with their caretaker but thats it. Im pretty sure they recognize people to a certain extent.
I had a boa for years that let me do anything to her but when I sold her the new guy was promptly bitten.
He was a smoker so I imagine smelled funny.Could have been a random action but I do think that snake recognize either familiar scents on people or some other clues.
dont discount the familiar as less then love. I think a comfortable snake is a "happy" snake.

They mostly relate smells to many things. I notice they do learn real fast by sight also. My one example is when I place my BP in his feeding tank. The tank is always thoroughly cleaned after every feeding so he knows it only by sight. By the third time I put him in the tank, I can see he gets real alert when he gets put in there. He goes from chilled out and lazy to high alert. He knows what's up. It's real cool to see this reaction from a snake. So they do learn from sight in my opinion and retain the info for at least a week from my observations. So sight and routine triggers something with my bP....it triggers his feeding instinct. I also notice they do like to be handled by certain people....my sons BP...which I supervise because he's seven, seems to favor him.....he feeds him and handles him the most. I say this because the snake doesn't want to let go of him when my son tries to put him back in the cage.

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Originally Posted by Dano94

But they lack the frontal lobe of the brain which is capable of creating the emotion love for them. They're instinct is that you're not a threat therefore not scary and can be more outgoing with you.

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No they love me they even threw me a surprise party.

I don't know about affection, but I know mine go through "moods". Sometimes they're good about being picked up and handled, sometimes the flinch irritably when I go to touch them, sometimes they might even hiss at me. I might get certain reactions more from certain snakes, but Ive gotten lots of varied reactions from individuals. Does the presence of moods mean anything about their emotional state? Maybe not, but at the very least it shows me that they are capable of interacting with stressors and other factors and reacting to them, which could mean more than we think it does.

I believe that certain species of snakes are more intelligent than others, which means them can be more observant of their surrounding, smells, etc. Do I bleive they are affectionate, not really, I think its even hard to say they "enjoy" being held, I think they tollerate it, some better than others. Now if we open it up to other reptiles vs. just snakes it gets a little more interesting. If we look at lizards, again some are highly intelligent and others not so much.

Do I think they display affection I really don't know, but I can tell you my Blueys will come to the door when I open the cage, climb out on my arm and perch on my shoulder and just sit while I walk around. If I pull them down they will climb back up, they are very relaxed and will do this with anyone, so it's hard to say thats affection.

Now my tegu is another story. She still confuses me because I would love to know what goes on in her head. She is very intelligent and inquisative. I can open her cage door and she will look around to see if she is getting fed or not. If she realizes there is not food she will come to the opening and lay her head on the track, I pet it a few times and she will crawl out on my arm and free roam. There have been times where I put food on one end of the room and I stand on the other and she comes straight for me and ignores the food. Then there are other times where she comes out of the cage (no food in the room at all, and no scent on my hands), sits on my lap and lunges at my hand in a feeding strike, then backs off and stares at me. She always goes back in her cage on her own. There are other times when I open the door and wait for her to come out and she won't. She does recognize me vs my wife and acts differently with each of us. Again it is hard to say IMO that this is a display of affection, but there is a lot going on in her brain.

If it feels like they enjoy being around you then who cares what others believe.... ive seen and heard so many cases about snakes showing what we see as affection and love and its always writen off as just them tolerating us. maybe snakes can show these emotions but they dont the way humans decided is the only way possible for these emotions to exist in a living creature

I don't think there's true "affection" shown by snakes, merely different levels of tolerating our whims based on the individual critter's comfort level with being handled - or not.

I have 0.2 2014 retics who are sisters, the same size, the same morph/locality combo, purchased the same day, etc. and yet their attitudes are as different as chalk and cheese. One is always in a hide with just her head out; open the door and the head disappears. While she doesn't niss or nip if I have to handle her, she doesn't settle; think non-stop fleeing. If it's feeding time, then she will come partway out to take her f/t feeder and drags it back under her hide to wrap and eat it. OTOH her sister is never in her hide, she prefers to lay on top and bask under the RHP if she needs heat, or will stretch out on the cool side if she doesn't. Open her door and she will immediately come up to see what's going on, including climbing up your arm to rest on your shoulder if you put your hand in the enclosure. She also chows down wherever she happens to end up in her enclosure.

I don't delude myself by thinking the second female is being "affectionate" in any way with her behavior, she simply is less skittish than her sister.

I don't think they really experience much more complicated than trust and maybe curiosity. My garters definitely display a lot of curiosity toward me and will come up and beg to be held (even with no food in the room). I mostly put this down to their having a much faster metabolism than my BP; they'd feel compelled to go out and search for food more often in the wild, so I guess it just translates to being more willing to experience new stimuli. They definitely recognize certain people and react accordingly though.

Love as in if you died he would be sad, no. I do think though by a snake being comfortable around you is there form of love. If my girlfriend holds my ball python he stays in a ball but if I hold him he's not in a ball. I really do think he knows my scent .

Its an interesting question, here are my thoughts. I do know some bp get exited when their owner takes them out or simply walks by the cage. whether that is a matter of conditioning by food/out of cage time or excitement over the nice big warm mammal is the big question. if it's not a type of conditioning then one would think there would have to be some level of trust/affection in the snake for the human, else why would it get excited. I've seen a bp that is totally chill when I or anyone but the snakes owner is around the tank. The moment the bp catches a glimpse of the owner it starts slowly slithering all around the front of the glass and up. Almost like it's saying hello. Not in the way you would expect a dog to do or anything, but certainly more than you would expect from a snake. One thing I like to kind of keep in mind, is were kind of in the process of domesticating these animals, right? I'm sure some are going to be further along than others.

It's hard not to humanize and animal but I have seen signs of "affection" from my bp. my husband and I both handle her often but she prefers me and will slither off him and onto me soon as she has the chance. When it comes to feeding time she often won't take when my husband tries so I will have to take over so she eats. If I walk into the room she instantly comes out and starts stretching up to the lid of her tank she only does this with me and no one else. If my husband has her physical cruising the room and I walk in she heads right in my direction. with me she is not head shy and will allow me to "pet " her head and even kiss her on the nose but will flinch and hide if anyone else tries to even my husband who handles her just as much as I. It does make me wonder if It's a form of affection(love) or if she just trust me more. Either way I love her to pieces and like to tell myself she loves me lol.

My snakes love me even when they hiss at me, squeeze my arm, leg, neck and its definitely love when they tag you and then stare at you with the "see how much I love you!! I gave you a kiss!!" look. But in reality, I don't think they love per say as humans define it but they learn to see us as non threatening and I honestly think some do "enjoy" being handled or pet. I know Rosey likes to be pet some times as when she is in the mood, she will stretch out the length of the cage and relax. I also know Vicky enjoys coming out and wandering around too. Dottie I believe doesn't care what really happens as long as her rats keep flowing into her cage.....and I know Harley loves to be held and wont actually sleep unless she is wrapped up in her blanket and sat on me. Then she stares at me for about 5 mins and its out for the count, she stretches out and goes to sleep.