Why do hot rocks burn, and heat pads not (as much)

[Eric Alan]

The snakes not feeling heat is silly, they do. Scientists have used heat stimulus to measure snakes responses for years. The current idea of why a snake will not move off a overly hot heat source comes down to physiology.

Has Dr. Mader published updated information since this article that I am familiar with?

Relevant passage from his Understanding thermal burns in reptile patients (Proceedings):

Why then, when a reptile rests on such a "hot" hot rock, don't they also immediately jump off?

Nobody seems to have an easy answer for that. It is not uncommon for a snake to wrap its coils around a bare light bulb because it is attracted to the warmth that the light emits. So, it must feel the warmth, why then, does it not feel the burning heat?

One answer is that the nerve receptors that sense heat and the receptors that sense pain are different. It is possible that, since in the wild, such pain receptors have no evolutionary significance (reptiles do not come into contact with intensely hot objects in the wild). Therefore, evolutionarily, there is no reason that a reptile should have a hot-pain withdrawal reflex.

Other theories put forth suggest that since reptiles do not reason in the same fashion that people do, or other mammals for that matter, even though they may feel pain, they do not associate it with the object that they are touching. Hence, they do not realize that they need to move in order for the pain to subside.

Bottom line is, nobody really knows. So, until we understand why these animals are so prone to burns, the best thing to do is make every effort to prevent the burns in the first place.