how often do you hold your snakes?

[STjepkes]

My opinion: It's just instincts for them. They aren't pissed that you're bothering them in shed, they're just more defensive than normal because they're more vulnerable and are scared of you.

I agree that this is a display of instinct. I wouldn't be so pompous(not calling anyone pompous, it's just a know-it-all stance about something that cannot be known absolutely and definitively IMO) to declare flat-out they have no emotions of any level. But definitely not love or any other human-level emotion. When it comes down to it these animals are all about functionality and survival, they don't need emotion for that.