I think my snake loves me

[Tigerlilly]

It annoys me that members of this site are so hostile towards each other. It's like a constant competition on who can be more of a stuck up know it all. There is no reason to be condescending towards ANYONE'S viewpoints. YES, I BELIEVE MY SNAKE HAS FEELINGS. I can tell when he's pissed off at me. He will swivel his head back and forth squirm to get away when i've caught him mid-escape. I can sense his fury and know his life goal is to be free.... One time i put my red tailed columbian boa in a box overnight due to tank issues.... the next morning she was so angry with me she hissed and struck at me every time i tried picking her up. BUT i can also tell when she is happy to see me.... how she will calm down the second she is around my neck.... she loves car rides, and hates when i try to take her from her favorite looking spot(the drivers side head rest). And when i take her to the beach, she loves going in the water, but always lets me know when she's had enough. I don't look at my snakes as objects. They are family to me. It saddens me to see how many people have not bonded with their ball pythons.... If they had, they would realize just how much personality they have.

[lilrosiehill]

I, for one, am convinced that my Roses and Flash simply worship me!!! *giggles* Seriously,, it is as if they can tell when *mama* is handling them....

[Austin C.]

It annoys me that members of this site are so hostile towards each other. It's like a constant competition on who can be more of a stuck up know it all. There is no reason to be condescending towards ANYONE'S viewpoints. YES, I BELIEVE MY SNAKE HAS FEELINGS. I can tell when he's pissed off at me. He will swivel his head back and forth squirm to get away when i've caught him mid-escape. I can sense his fury and know his life goal is to be free.... One time i put my red tailed columbian boa in a box overnight due to tank issues.... the next morning she was so angry with me she hissed and struck at me every time i tried picking her up. BUT i can also tell when she is happy to see me.... how she will calm down the second she is around my neck.... she loves car rides, and hates when i try to take her from her favorite looking spot(the drivers side head rest). And when i take her to the beach, she loves going in the water, but always lets me know when she's had enough. I don't look at my snakes as objects. They are family to me. It saddens me to see how many people have not bonded with their ball pythons.... If they had, they would realize just how much personality they have.

Ok your snakes aren't dogs, stop treating them like it...They shouldn't be swimming in saltwater at the beach #1 and taking them for a car ride is not going to calm them down. I seriously don't get these delusional people who believe their snake is like their cat or dog, it doesn't work that way. This is all a snake does and ever wants to do.... Eat, Breed and Escape from whatever cage it's in. People get a little mental and carried away when it comes to pets in general, your snake shouldn't be something you carry everywhere you go. Handle it for 20-30min a day at home and that should really be it.

[HaikyFin]

I have to point out, from the page before -

http://www.anapsid.org/tamingvh.html

basically, they have a hypothalamus, thus are capable of FEELING emotion, but they lack a way to express it. (that's the article in a nutshell)

A hypothalamus doesn't have anything to do with emotion, I study Psychology. It controls the basic processes of the brain - the metabolism, thirst, hunger and other basic responses. It controls the release of chemicals to start these processes. It really has nothing to do with feeling...and it is a little alarming that people will take a big word out of an article and assume that the person who wrote it was using it correctly or knows what they're talking about.

The amygdala is responsible for emotions, basically. Snakes don't have one. Humans are, of course, most famous for theirs.

As far as any animal loving anyone or anything - it's a bit of a moot point. "Love" is a term coined by humans to try and label what I think is a natural feeling for social creatures. It is a chemical reaction that keeps social animals bonded to their groups or mates for the sake of survival. No other animal rationalizes or analyzes anything like we do. These reactions serve only as a means to create a response - in the case of "love", keeping an animal with another animal for easier access to food or more protection for their offspring. They don't wonder why or whether or not they are loved back, it isn't important. Furthermore, I believe this simple process only exists in social animals because, honestly, why would a solitary creature need to feel bonded or close to anything else? It wants to be alone and it's complete makeup - physical and mental - are geared toward surviving alone. It has no reason to want the company of another and, in many cases, reason to dislike other company - because that means competition for food/mates, a predator or something else negative. Not a "friend".

That's my .02. I'm not being hostile - I'm trying to educate. People are too crazy and extreme nowadays and fads rule the world. It seems people are being taught what to think and I, for one, think it's wrong and empty-headed to believe anything that may be popular. Get the facts (the right ones), analyze them and make a decision yourself - regardless of what the media, press or your neighbor might say.

[gsarchie]

Great post HaikyFin, I couldn't agree more myself. In my response I wasn't so worried about what a hypothalamus does or whether or not a snake had one but more with the fact that the article that was quoted is completely unreliable in terms of having accurate information.

Tigerlilly -
1) If me and others trying to educate people with things that we have learned through our education and professions comes across as us walking around with our noses in the air then I would suggest to thicken up your skin just a tad. Nothing that I read came across as condescending in any way. I am guessing that you just don't understand how frustrating it is to have people say things that are simply not true when it relates to something that is important to us and that we are knowledgable about. One of my professors in college conducted research and subsequently wrote a paper that showed that Canebrake Rattlesnakes were not a subspecies of Timber Rattlesnakes but are in fact the same species. As a result I always hate hearing people talk about "canebrakes."

2) Taking your snake for car rides is exceptionally irresponsible and is not good for your snake. As stated by HaikyFin, reptiles are not social animals. Even being handled at home for short periods is stressful however not stressful enough to cause adverse health effects. This is evidenced by the fact that handling can cause WC snakes to go on a feeding strike for months at a time. Aside from being stressful a snake free in a car could easily cause an accident. What if your snake left its "favorite spot" and distracted you from the road long enough for you to drift into another lane or utility pole? What if the snake became agitated and bit your head or slithered across your eyes? Putting your snake into the water to go "swimming" is also excpetionally irresponsible. Please, share with us how you can tell that the snake has had enough swimming? Finally, your snake wasn't "mad" at you for putting it into a box, it was incredibly stressed out and felt unsafe/threatened, and defended itself the only way that it knew how, by striking at you. Also, what were the "tank issues" that caused you to not be able to properly house your snakes? I hope it wasn't a cardboard box, unless of course you taped it completely shut to ensure that escape was impossible.

If you honetly think that your snake has feelings, in light of overwelming scientific evidence, then by definition you are suffering from delusions, plain and simple. I think that my snakes are awesome and get a great amount of enjoyment from keeping them, and this is in no way diminished by the fact that they don't have any emotion for me what-so-ever. I always say that I don't care what people believe about their snakes as long as they are kept safely and humanely. I don't feel that you keep your snake in a safe manner and would ask you to please start doing so. If you must transport your snake for the purpose of moving or seeking medical care for it then please put it into either a pillowcase or into a tub with a lid secured. If in a clear tub I would cover it with a sheet so that it can't see what is going on outside of the vehicle, as this would just be added stress.

[gsarchie]

In the new posts section this shows the last post as being from last night but my post from a week ago is the last.

Mods - was something edited and it is showing up as being new?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

In the new posts section this shows the last post as being from last night but my post from a week ago is the last.

Mods - was something edited and it is showing up as being new?

Nothing was edited your last post from the 9th was indeed last however since this is a poll every time someone new votes it bumps the thread back up as if someone posted something new.



Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[gsarchie]

Awesome Deb, thanks for explaining that one.

[Navy]

I think people overestimate what our pets can actually do.
Yeah, I'd love to believe that my snakes care about me, if I left their life they'd be affected in an emotional way or are happy to see me when I walk by, but let's face reality here. Snakes have extremely small brains, and as someone had mentioned earlier their brains aren't made with the capability to feel emotion.

People mistake conditioning with trust or happiness, and their fight or flight instinct with fear or anger, these are instincts, not emotions.

If you want to do this with your harmless snakes, fine, but some quacks take it to the next level with venomous snakes and big cats.
There is nothing wrong with keeping an animal like that, but the second you start thinking the animal likes you and trusts you, you're a ticking time bomb for disaster.

[pazura16]

Definitely. Whenever I'm sitting at my desk she (my snake) comes out from under her log and gives me the most adorable look of, "please take me out, I love you". Call me crazy, but I just can't believe they feel no emotion.