I think my snake loves me

[theodore]

My Kingsnake shows that he loves me by chomping down on my finger and not letting go!!!

T

[SerpentSteve]

I apologize if this has already been said because I haven't read this entire thread, but based on this definition alone all animals that participate in sexual reproduction via internal fertilization, and must perform intercourse, experience "love."

"Dictionary dot com:
and i hope im not diminishing it..?
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.
4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.
5. (used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?
6. a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
7. sexual intercourse; copulation. "

[Kamerick]

Although I would like to think my ball python loves me, as far as I know, they are incapable of feeling complex emotions such as love. They only really understand "FOOD!" Or "ENEMY! HIDE!" Or maybe sleepy. Whenever I have my BP out, he always looked for the darkest place he can find withing his sight range. But I will not tell people that their opinions are wrong on something that is not really that important.

[Sirensong26]

Whenever I have him around my neck and he starts to get really comfortable, and tightens a little, I always go "Sweetheart mommy can't breathe" and he loosens up. While I have a hunch that this has more to do with the movement of my voicebox than any compassion my baby feels for me.....it's still nice to think that he's just trying to hug me

[samthemanz3n]

they're not smart enough to love or hate someone. If they get fed every time they smell you then they will correlate your presence with the satisfaction of eating. If you hang out with a snake and chill it will learn that your not a predator and become more relaxed around you. It's gonna correlate instincts with feelings not emotions.

[Rob]

Yeah well I think my gtp hates me. Little turd tagged me about 6 times today.....even when little they have some pop to them.

[Bluebonnet Herp]

After my recent experience getting into boas and observing mine's behavior, even I was a little taken aback as it seems she recognizes and trusts me. She'll hiss if perturbed/woken up and will continue hissing if someone else is bothering her, but she'll behave as soon as she smells my hand with her tongue. No signs of affection, sure, but it's all too obvious this reptile can learn to recognize certain individuals, and either associate them with safety and trust, or learn to hate them as they are a recognized threat.
And the fact that my snakes may at least trust me is good enough for me.

P.S. Also, the parts they have in their brain relative to mammals is irrelevant. Animals like parrots do not have the same brain anatomy as mammals do, but their brains can preform the exact same cognitive tasks that the mammals will do, if not better, only the brain activity will actually occur in an entirely different region of the brain. Same task, different region. Recent scientific studies are also finding this is very well holding true with reptiles. And bear in mind the fact that varanids, iguanids, and agamids are some of the smartest families of lizards, they're also the closest relatives of the snakes.
Needless to say, I think it would be inaccurate to assume that reptiles are the dull logs they seemed to be some 20 years ago. They're more than just instinctual, biological machines.

[goddessbaby]

I think this is quite an interesting thread and I read about 30 pages before I'm putting my opinion out there.

I agree with people who have stated that we have to acknowledge that every species has its own "emotions" no matter how low on the food chain or how basic it's dna, what we each perceive as love is how we would answer this question. Do I believe a snake would get heart eyes and be affectionate towards me? No. Do I believe that a life form can look to you for protection and nurturing? Yes.

Science can tell us that something is impossible but it can still happen. I feel like the whole "snakes don't have emotions" is kind of a popular opinion that everyone just regurgitates. If there we no emotions or something like it pertaining to these animals, logic says they would all behave exactly the same to every stimulus. I believe the very fact that every snake has its own "personality" shows they have a small, if different from ours, capacity for emotion.

Just my opinion, meaning this is how I think without trying to persuade anyone to feel the same.

[nightrainfalls]

So I guess it doesn't really matter whether they love me. I love it when my python Delphi crawls up the buttons on my shirt and flicks my nose with her tongue, before settling down in folds of the fabric with just her head sticking out. Delphi doesn't need to do that, but she often does. It seems like a ritual. Perhaps it is a primitive sort of greeting, or perhaps it is just routine behavior that I have attached to much meaning to. I love when my boa crawls out of is cage and onto my hand. Maybe he is just looking for warmth, but then again his cage has many warm places, and he chooses to come out and sit with me in a room where the temperature and humidity are not in his range. Yet still he actively comes out of his cage and wraps round my arm. Is this a rudimentary friendship or is the animal just interested in a novel experience? How would anyone tell?

Most importantly who really cares?

We keep snakes because we love them, not because they might love us.

[anicatgirl]

Sooo I'm going to have to go against the grain and say that snakes can feel something for us. Just because they lack the expressive faces of cats or dogs, does not exclude them from affection. My BP and I have different routines for when we're going to be feeding or handling. She responds to my voice when I signal a handling time and comes out of her hide to greet me. I love my Tiny Snake.....