I think that snakes do feel emotions, but not the same ones that we feel.

What purpose do emotions serve? On a basic level, they serve to further the survival of the individual and it's offspring.

Humans and wolves (I would include dogs, which are wolves that have been modified through selective breeding) are social creatures. Being a social creature is beneficial to the survival of some but not all species. The set of emotions that would serve the needs of a social creature are a different set than that which would serve a non-social creature. Loneliness, ferinstance. To an animal whose survivability is best served by being a member of a pack or tribe or whatnot, loneliness is valuable. It encourages that creature to seek the company of others of it's kind and increases the chance that they will be safe, obtain adequate food and shelter, and produce offspring of their own in some cases (human) or that their genetics will at least be passed down by a related individual. (wolf) In the case of dogs they transfer the emotions that they would naturally feel toward their pack to humans.

Loneliness is not a valuable asset in a solitary hunter such as a snake. This particular emotion would decrease the chances of survival--a bunch of snakes that all hung out together would not have much to eat because the bunch of them would scatter the prey they require to survive.

Fear serves both groups. A human or snake who does not fear a fire would get roasted in a natural setting if one breaks out. "Ho, hum, there is some smoke, oh, it's getting closer...look at the bright yellow things....meh...AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!-- not having the emotion of fear would put either type of creature at a severe disadvantage in terms of survival and reproductive success. And it's telling to me that all animals, garden slug to human, seem to fear and flee from things that would are potentially harmful or life threatening.

Anger is another emotion that would seem to serve both types of creature. I've seen some snakes, and have one currently, that can get downright pissy. If something is trying to eat you and you're cool with that....well, you're not going to win any prizes in the reproductive success category. When a snake is striking it might not be apparant to you and me whether it's acting out of fear or anger. But something is motivating that animal to react in an offensive or defensive manner, and I'm pretty sure it's not because it read about how it's supposed to respond to a particular stimulus in the snake handbook.

Love is an emotion that is born from a value that is placed on someone or something else. We value our children--that is our key to reproductive success. We wouldn't survive long as a species if we didn't. But does a solitary hunter whose offspring hatch/are born able to fend for themselves need to value it's offspring to be reproductively successful? If it does it's not to the extent that a human who must spend years raising his/her offspring until they can provide for themselves would. But in some cases it might exist. A female python can spend time brooding and defending her eggs. I can't tell if she feels some sort of emotional attachment to the eggs or not. But it's possible that she does, and that would seem to be a feeling that would increase her reproductive success.

I don't believe that my snakes love me. I do know that of the ones I have owned each showed signs of fear and mistrust of me until they became desensitized to the possible threat I presented through a process of repeated handling. Personally I think that they place a much higher value on the rats I bear to their tubs than they do to me. This makes sense to me in terms of what would serve the needs of a solitary hunter.

So while it's possible that a snake does feel emotions and I think that they do feel some emotions, it seems to me that they wouldn't feel the same set of emotions that I do because of the huge difference in the way that each of our species goes about increasing our chances of individual survival and passing on our genes. Emotions can be a valuable survival tool and one that comes cheaply in terms of having to rustle up the resources to employ it. It makes sense to me that this survival strategy would be used in their kind as in ours.

Just my thoughts on it.