I love most all animals. Always have been the most enthralled by reptiles, and especially snakes. When I started keeping them at the age of 18 when I moved out, I realized they are very relaxing pets. Wonderful for anxiety. Every species also has different traits, personality and temperaments. Some have an intelligence that non snake people would never notice. They are not all instinct.
For instance.. I have an African house snake which has learned how to tell me he's hungry.. In a very cute way! I put a shallow bowl in his enclosure to put the small fuzzies in that he eats so they can't get out and get lost in the bedding. He only eats live. Well he has figured out that if he hangs down from his branches and intently stares at his bowl, that I will put one in there for him. It's funny.
Boas and retics also learn things and have an intelligence that you don't usually see with BPs. Retics are very expressive. Like they are always thinking and working things out.
There is a guy in a reptile group on FB who owns Emerald tree boas and handles them all regularly. He breeds them and posts pics holding them. They are all tame and relaxed. He handles them like you'd handle any other tame snake. This is known to be a snake that is not usually handleable due to their temperament. Well this guy has no issues with them. That says a lot about his understanding of them, and vice versa.
They are all different, and all have different qualities. I try to explain this to people who don't understand keeping snakes as pets. They ARE pets. We feel no differently towards them than we do our dogs and cats. Too many people simply won't take the time to see that though.
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