I'm definitely guilty of spoiling my pets, but I like to think I'm fairly practically minded when it comes to assigning emotions to their behavior.

I believe that my cats and my rats feel things like happiness, loneliness, and affection. I do not believe that my snakes are capable of emotion.

I baby talk to my snakes a lot, and I love them to bits, but I've never felt that they are emotionally attached to me, or that they particularly care whether I handle them or leave them be. That's why it's usually pretty easy for me to trade them away for different snakes.

Usually I handle them if I am cleaning cages, or spot cleaning, changing water, or if I am monitoring a particular animal's health. I used to have a particular ball python that I would hold while I watched a movie. He would appear to fall asleep, loosely coiled up in my lap or in my hoodie. Unfortunately I don't currently have any snakes that tolerate being out for such long stretches.