I think my snake loves me

[neur0tix]

If they have no minds then what allows them to gradually get used to handling? I don't care what anyone says, you are free to love any reptile you wish! Just because you don't get a sense of a connection with yours, doesn't mean others don't.

kalmah escaped 2 times before, now i can put her on the bed and she'll stay

[deminon]

i don't think the argument was about them not having minds, it is if they feel emotions which imo they do not. im not saying they dont have personalities because and individual is just that, an individual which will react to stimuli in its own way but thats all it really is, its a reaction not an emotion.

[dryates]

So I only read the first and last two pages but to add to what I've read, I don't see how it is a fact that they are mindless, because the mind is not and actual organ or thin you can see but a state of mind, you will not find it in any anatomy book, so what's to say they actually don't have a mind, it might be true that they don't love but they don't talk, so the best you could say, is that the either can or can not be fond of and object, area or maybe even a person, being as they are instinctual, as all animals are in some form or fashion, or atleast can be. I would also like to add that it is possible that animals can be sensitized to things such as handling, and since you can not see a snake smile or frown, it's basically defense mode and bite, jumpy, or relaxed and not bite. Do you think your snake know if they are eating prey that is already killed if u feed ft, maybe, maybe not, I believe that the ones of us who consider our snakes as pets, most of them would like to think we have a connection with our pets, those that collect may be more apt to say they don't. The fact is unless you can speak snake or they learn English there is no factual way to tell if they do feel affection for things or people, only studies. Lastly I am no way an expert on the matter this is just how I feel about the matter, and what I have concluded. Like is an emotion, why do some snakes like mice better then rats, and vice versa?

[purplemuffin]

I think this is tricky.. They might not be as advanced as us, but you know.. Some scientists will tell you we humans don't feel emotions either, it is all just hormones oozing things out telling our brain signals that we percieve as emotions.. The feeling of 'love' can be seen in a scientific way as the brain reacts chemically! That's all it is really, a bunch of chemicals, hormones, and instincts. Why do we blush when we are embarrassed? It is the flight or fight instinct, preparing our body to react to the whatever caused the feeling. It's instinct!

If another creature that looked different than us, had different methods of showing emotions, maybe was more advanced than us were to view our brainpatterns..they might dub us as emotionless as well, really. Or at least only full of instinct.

But its all about what's inside I think. It may be a bunch of chemicals to a scientist, but to me, I know I love my boyfriend with all my heart! Instinct to mate? Sure thing.. But doesn't mean it's less enjoyable to us right?


yeah, they have less complex minds, less complex reactions to things.. But we don't really know what it's like to be inside a snakes mind. Maybe the same scents, appearances, and movements of an owner is similar to the similar smells and body language of two friends..making us comfortable. It all boils down to instinct, we just have the words to describe it, that's the biggest difference.


Now not saying my snake is going to sit and watch chick flicks with me and get all emotional, but I think that the fact that they can show fear, remember fear, and go as far as to hold grudges.. Hey, I think there is something to that. Why would an animal only seem to have negative emotions? Lol!

[dembonez]

I think this is tricky.. They might not be as advanced as us, but you know.. Some scientists will tell you we humans don't feel emotions either, it is all just hormones oozing things out telling our brain signals that we percieve as emotions.. The feeling of 'love' can be seen in a scientific way as the brain reacts chemically! That's all it is really, a bunch of chemicals, hormones, and instincts. Why do we blush when we are embarrassed? It is the flight or fight instinct, preparing our body to react to the whatever caused the feeling. It's instinct!

If another creature that looked different than us, had different methods of showing emotions, maybe was more advanced than us were to view our brainpatterns..they might dub us as emotionless as well, really. Or at least only full of instinct.

But its all about what's inside I think. It may be a bunch of chemicals to a scientist, but to me, I know I love my boyfriend with all my heart! Instinct to mate? Sure thing.. But doesn't mean it's less enjoyable to us right?


yeah, they have less complex minds, less complex reactions to things.. But we don't really know what it's like to be inside a snakes mind. Maybe the same scents, appearances, and movements of an owner is similar to the similar smells and body language of two friends..making us comfortable. It all boils down to instinct, we just have the words to describe it, that's the biggest difference.


Now not saying my snake is going to sit and watch chick flicks with me and get all emotional, but I think that the fact that they can show fear, remember fear, and go as far as to hold grudges.. Hey, I think there is something to that. Why would an animal only seem to have negative emotions? Lol!

i don't have much to say to this other then BOOM HEADSHOT! you hit the nail on the head i agree 110% with you us humans are dumb and there is no way we understand all of the world and its creatures so we can't just assume we are the strongest fastest best because we don't fully understand everything out there!

[omnibus2]

First and foremost with a minor in psychology let me tell you all animals that have brains, including humans, get their "emotions" from physical parts of the brain. Some people tend to think that humans are the only ones with "feelings" but this is absurd. Humans have more complexly developed brains than snakes do, but to see all these people handling their snakes, that means there is something going on.

Go to the wild and pick up a corn snake and see if it bites you.
Taking decent care of a corn snake (or any snake for that matter) and handling it regularly allows it to become accustomed to and feel safe with you. And as for "love", that's such an ambiguous term anyways....bottom line, snakes are awesome.

['SiQ']

It's hard to say because if I was to put my snake on the table it would come towards me before it would someone els... I dont know if that would be affection or some time of comfort

[zmd0827]

I'm just going to put my input. Believe what you want.

My female Granite (she's got an RI right now ) has been mine since she was a an adolescent. She's going on 5 now...

I've always instilled the name "Basil" into her mind, and she seems to take up on it. You say "Basil" and she will react to it... Whether it's perking her head up, or moving in a different direction that she was before. She always reacts to it.

When we take her out, and we've played with different scenarios, she'll look for me. My friends who handle her daily with me don't get that favoritism. You place her out in the middle of the floor, eliminate all shadows, she'll have four people to choose from and it's me. Always me. And she'll ball up at my feet or wrap herself around my ankles.

For a snake that doesn't whimper or bark like a dog, doesn't have any means by which to show emotion except for anger/frustration... Do you think that constitutes as "love"?

[Ergo Proxy]

this thread is very interesting..i will say though i wish my snake could love me..it doesnt matter cus i love them enough for all of us ^-^; so much sometimes i tear up (im such a girly girl!!) the provide me with a feeling of comfort and relax me into knowing im not the only living thing alone in this house..(am alone alot)

so no..they dont love me! but im glad they are here!

then again..who really knows..its not like they can tell us or talk and say they do or do not..

[DarrinLowe]

Trust is a function of love, therefore the animal must love you to have the capacity to trust you.

It is the human connection to intimacy that makes love out to be all that much more.

If it did not love us, it would not trust us, and it would not get comfortable with us ever.
Even if you could argue that, like a cat it merely associates us with being comfortable and fed, the fact that it makes that association suggests that it loves itself, beyond the mere response to feed.

Any animal that feels fear, is capable of feeling love, as fear is in a lesser sense, the cousin to love. Where fear is only felt in the absence of love, or in its own complex of losing its own life, which in turn resuggests the animal is conscious of itself.

Evolution is only found in the love of lifes absolution, and in that absolution, life loves itself, as that is how it becomes recreated, allowing any conscious living entity to develop love, and in that entities ability to trust, a conscious beyond subconscious, super ceeding primal instincts to merely care for oneself, has developed.

Do my animals love me...? yes.
Do my animals love me to the extent an intelligent being can? No.