Serpent Psychology

[Aedryan Methyus]

The psychology of snakes and understanding their thought process is something that is becoming more and more of an interest to me and i'm wondering what kind of studies have been done on it and what has been learned. Does anyone know of any solid scientific information I could find about this?

Here are some of the things that I find fascinating to think about, but don't know the answers to and possibly nor does anyone?:

What do snakes spend the majority of their time thinking about (both, in the wild and in captivity)? The obvious presumption for me would be that they probably spend most of their time thinking about ambushing their next meal, staying warm and staying safe and undetected by other animals.

What does everything look like through the eyes of a snake? Do you think they sorta see things the same way we would, while looking through an infrared camera or scope? Basically, everything is seen as a heat signature? Do they see in color?

What does everything sound like to a snake? Do they only hear/feel things as vibrations? Can they hear/sense the difference between happy/sad/angry/friendly vibrations in our voices?

How do tame captive snakes view their handlers? Do they view us the bringers of food, water and rain or do they even realize that we are providing them with those things? Do they think about us or even remember us in between interactions?

Can snakes form bonds with their handlers or feel emotions?/Do they enjoy being handled? I know this is a topic of great debate. Personally, I feel like they probably couldn't care any less whether they are handled or not. But, at the same time, I honestly feel like they actually seem to enjoy it when they are. As far as the emotional aspect of it, I think they might find some comfort and the feeling of safety in it, which to some degree could be considered emotions. Obviously, snakes can display fear, so why couldn't they display happiness? I know that in the wild, snakes pretty much have "flight or bite" instincts and basically just want to be left alone. But, how about after all of these years of captive breeding?

How long is a snake's memory? I have heard others say that snakes are able to learn and remember things through patterning much like dogs and cats. What do you think?

These questions could go on and on! I would be very interested in hearing some of your questions, as well as learning more about what is already known for certain...

[Aedryan Methyus]

Forgive me for bumping... I'm just very surprised that a lot of people didn't find this to be an interesting conversation or know of any information about this stuff... lol

[Bennie1986]

What does everything look like through the eyes of a snake? Do you think they sorta see things the same way we would, while looking through an infrared camera or scope? Basically, everything is seen as a heat signature? Do they see in color?

I have been wondering a few of these my self so i looked it up. Pulled from a news article here http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98115&page=1

"That's because pit vipers, like rattlesnakes, and the group of snakes including pythons or boas can literally see the world in two different ways. They can use their eyes to create a visual image of the world around them, just like humans do, or they can use their extraordinarily sensitive infrared sensors to create a similar image based upon heat emitted by objects in their environment."

[Bennie1986]

Here is another good source of answers to your questions. http://animals.howstuffworks.com/snakes

[Aedryan Methyus]

Thanks for sharing, Bennie! That first link was a very interesting read!