I think my snake loves me

[Thepythonman12]

currently at 7 straight jackets and counting

Lol,a lot more than that now,add one for me too

Once ten people vote " My snake loves me" I'm going to just go and jump off a cliff.

Lol would you like a parachute, jk

This thread was a good read.

[Egapal]

Wouldn't the mere fact that a snake associates your scent with safety represent atleast a primitive form of love?

No.

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.

Why is the fact that something is alive necessarily lead to it being capable of love? Your logic is severely flawed. Do trees love? Trees are alive. The question is does a snake have the parts of the brain where love reside. I would say no based on my understanding of the reptile brain.

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.

I actually believe that humans are nothing more than animals with complex brains that extrapolate greater meaning from the behaviors driven by instincts and guided by our brains. I don't see anything wrong with that belief.

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.

I don't believe in any gods and I don't accept that all animals are capable of love so I would say that "must believe" is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps you should think about the implications of your words before you voice them. Not believing in a God or gods tells us 1 and only one thing about a person. They do not believe in a God or gods. Atheists hold a wide range of beliefs that are widely different and, once again, only one necessarily in common. Don't lump Atheists together. Its as ignorant as lumping Christians or any other theists together.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

A snake can't hear a kissing sound.. That wouldn't even make enough of a vibration for a snake to feel. They feel vibration and also vibration from certain sounds or wavelengths but they can not hear. So the snake that is smelling, or as you put it, kissing you lips after you do that, is inspecting it's surroundings. It knows you are not a threat. It can pick up the heat from your lips. It can feel and smell your breath.. etc etc..

Snakes are scientifically, biologically unable to feel the human emotion love. It's a scientific impossibility. So why is there even a question?? Thats what I don't get here. It's like saying grass is orange. The earth is shaped like a triangle. Humans hatch from eggs.. It's simply not fact and makes those people look very silly.

One could go on forever about how their snake behaves around them but it all boils down to the facts of nature, biology, and the brains ability to feel..

[DarrinLowe]

Grass is orange though

Study up on light physics.

You could say that my arguement is flawed, but the implications I have made are very well considered. You mere perception of this whole argument, and your profession of your own argument implies in itself that you feel above your own belief of humanities animal nature. It is obvious that your logic is flawed. My statement of things that are alive being capable of feeling love is that they have in one way or another a dependency on certain aspects of their surroundings. Much like how a ball python is going to go off of feed, if it is not in the right surroundings. It is not where it is comfortable. To be able to percieve comfort, or trust, shows in itself that the animal is capable in some form of love. I think the problem here is the perception of love. Humanity has a whole whackload of conditions it puts on love.. Love is this, if this is present, or if this isnt present, blah blah blah. Love is love. Love is the attraction of itself. And in the laws of attraction, all arguments are invalid, and valid. So to merely having the capacity of saying NO you're wrong. Is only stating that you are ignorant, and have grown up in a corrupt society with the belief that the answer you have been taught is the only answer that could possibly be correct.

"It is when man believes that he has found the answer, that all human progress has stopped"

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Ok, but if you think things such as comfort, trust, or respect, which are things certain reptiles appear to be able to feel, can also be considered love, then why do we even have a different word and definition for "love"?

I believe human love also has all those same traits, but it isn't reasonable to say reptiles can feel that emotion. It's a matter of emotion. I don't even think reptiles can feel fear in the way that we do. Defensive behavior is just that. Instinct. Kill or be killed.. Fight or flight.

[OhhMissTaylor]

In my full belief, when the word "love" was defined here it wasn't meant to be anything like human love towards another human. No I am not crazy enough to believe that my snakes loves me in the same way my fiance does. I don't believe any animal can have the complexity of love that humans carry. But I do believe they show their own form of love ie: "I recognize your scent and it is comforting to me because whenever you hold me I get warm and receive positive responses and praise, and you're warm, therefore I am going to show you affection back" or "I am really sick and every time you come near me I know that I get Qtipsshoved down my throat but its making me feel better so I am going to give you affection because you are warm and make me feel better."(And no I do not think a snake knows what a Qtip is for all the people that are overly litteral here.) But either way, don't assume when people say that word love it is they type of love that a human shares with a human, think more like a cat, it's the only animal I've been able to compare a snake to so far.

Also, we don't know what animals are truly thinking. Maybe our snakes "love us" maybe they just see us as a huge freaking goal to eat when they get bigger much like the "adult" plate when you're a kid. All I know is something makes me snake show some forms of affection with me, and if all the science buffs on here want to truly believe that their snake is a mindless killing machine that only doesn't eat them because it doesn't think it can then you can have that. But I am a believer, I am a dreamer, and I think my snake loves me!!!!

[DarrinLowe]

We don't have a different word for love. It's that we are too surrounded in the language presented to us in life that we have abandoned the language of our minds.
Human love is only different because we tried to define it. And in the generalized definition of what we think love should be, we have changed it all together, atleast from the human perspective. Thus creating, human love. Which only resembles love in the slightest essence. Love, even at it's simplest form, is still love.

[zmd0827]

I just thought of something. Perhaps not ball pythons... But this could apply to an array of other snakes... My answer would be, "Yes, a snake can love." Or at least "like" you. Reticulated pythons can "choose" individuals. They choose who they get along with, and who they loathe.

In a sense, that's love. "I'd love to not bite you" scenario...

[JamieH]

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.

Agree^^

[littlered]

my snakes love me. i dont care what people say, i can believe what i want