adopted a ball python new here a bit scared

[WingedWolfPsion]

You're right--keeping reptiles IS a lot like keeping fish. They're very similar animals, for all that one lives out of the water, and the other in it.
Their mental capabilities are very comparable.

Of course, goldfish are very trainable, so might be considered a bit brighter than ball pythons. I've never heard of anyone really training a ball python. But training requires a motivator, and very little really motivates a ball python, so perhaps that isn't fair, lol.

You can't take your goldfish out and hold it, of course, which is what makes ball pythons so pleasing. Just always remember that holding the snake is something you do because YOU enjoy it. The snake simply never will. It just wants a nice, dark, warm, humid place to hide.

Snakes--and other reptiles, amphibians, and fish--are pets that people keep because they enjoy looking after something and watching it thrive in their care. They enjoy watching its behavior, and investigating its personality.

These animals are not kept because they love us--a dog, cat, or even a ferret will. A bird will. But not a reptile. If you need a pet that will love you back, a reptile isn't for you. You need to look to the warm-blooded critters for that (and even then, you have be selective--only social animals 'love'. Your hamster will never love you, either, but your pet rat could).

So, reptiles don't love. That having been said, WE love THEM. It does not matter to US that they can't love us back. We love them just the way they are. That's why we keep them.