Smart Snakes

[the_rotten1]

When I got my first ball python I was surprised by how intelligent he was. The world at large seems to view them as dumb animals, but Alex, my pied, learned his surroundings in the first few days I had him. After that he had no problem finding his favorite hide spots right away. He notices when I change or clean something in his tank and he curiously explores the changes as soon as he can. (Always at night. He never leaves his hides during the day.) One time I had him out on the bed with a plastic bag full of old bedding while I scrubbed the empty tank with a cleaning cloth. I though he would slither over to my pillows to hide, but instead he went to the plastic bag and wrapped himself around it. I guess it smelled like home.

He's also learned how to navigate narrow ledges. I like to take him out and hold him in my recliner at night and sometimes he explores my laptop. The first time he tried to slither over the top of my screen he fell off, but he hasn't fallen since. He can slither along the edge of his tank and feeding tub with ease now. He still has trouble with his climbing vine though. It doesn't stay still while he's on it.

Anyone else have stories of your snakes being smart?

[treaux]

It seems the curiosity about their surroundings is universal. If so much as clean the cage, every inch then has to be explored before settling into a hide. Plus with my little plastic hides, it's cute how my girl will move it to exactly the spot she wants over the UTH every time (usually smushed right up against the glass).

Quorra is my only BP who doesn't live in the rack and is in a T8 in my bedroom. She is my most personable snake and always comes poking out of her hide if she hears someone in the room. If I open the door to her cage, she'll come crawling right out onto my arm or the floor.

Once I accidentally let a live small rat get free in my room that I had been bringing to her. My bedroom is pretty big, and I could hear the rat scurrying from corner to corner hiding behind my couch, then desk, dresser, etc. Quorra's little face was smushed up against the glass because she smelled it, so I decided to let her out to help me. I set her down in the middle of the room and she was like a rat detector. Wherever the rat was, she'd start slowly moving towards it, then change direction when it ran. Finally, I got it narrowed down into one corner of my room and I could see it under my dresser. I set Quorra down in the gap between my dresser and the couch and then went to the other side of the dresser and poked my head down. Before I could even see under there, I heard the brief squeal of the rat being taken and when I looked down, there was Quorra with the rat wrapped up with all her coils and it was lights out within seconds for the little ratter. I picked her up while she still had it in the death grip and put her back in her cage where she then unwound and gobbled the rat down. I felt like if she had arms, I'd have to give her a high five for that teamwork.

[jbzapanda]

Hahaha that's amazing that she didn't strike at you when smelling the rat. I could only imagine she was in an intense feeding mode. That was a great story, you should post pics of her!

[treaux]

Yeah, Quorra and Wintre are my only two snakes who think they are puppies. Only way to get her to feed strike would be to wave a rat right in front of her, then quickly replace it with your hand when she's about to go for it.

Here's Quorra (not a very recent pic, but you get the idea):



And Wintre:

[jbzapanda]

Yeah, Quorra and Wintre are my only two snakes who think they are puppies. Only way to get her to feed strike would be to wave a rat right in front of her, then quickly replace it with your hand when she's about to go for it.

Here's Quorra (not a very recent pic, but you get the idea):



And Wintre:

I've been running into posts with bananas lately lol. I absolutely love them. How old is Quorra now? She has a cute speckle on her head haha. And what morph is Wintre?

[lorrainesmom]

Total cutie-pies!!

[the_rotten1]

she was like a rat detector. Wherever the rat was, she'd start slowly moving towards it

That's amazing. I've never let my snakes loose in my room. Too much furniture for them to hide under. But it sounds like she did a good job! If I ever lose a rat in my room I might give it a try.

They're both lovely snakes. Here's my boy, Alexander.



And his eventual girlfriend, Belle. She's a bit snippy, I'm afraid.

[redshepherd]

They're honestly smarter than people give them credit for, and I agree that an inquisitiveness is universal. Some can say they're dumb... Maybe compared to dogs or cats. But they're not the brainless brick logs some ball python owners make them out to be either.

Especially apparent when provided with new deco/enrichment in a larger enclosure, mine have always come out of their hides to investigate the new thing asap. Same with my dumeril's boa. Then they'll climb around the new branches, if it's worthwhile, or maybe just poke it a few times with their noses, and then go back to their hide when they're done, usually in under an hour. No dangers, no sudden temp drops, nothing one can blame on fear instinct like usual. It was just "new thing here = check it out", then "done checking out, go back to hole".

[cchardwick]

My dwarf reticulated python is one of my smartest snakes. Unlike all my other snakes she will go up to the window in the tub and just watch me work in the snake room, like she is trying to figure me out. All my other snakes only notice things that are a foot or two away from them, they never just watch me from across the room. Kind of freaked me out at first but now I'm getting used to it LOL.

[treaux]

Quorra is about to turn a year old and Wintre is over 3 years old and getting ready to breed with my Mojave as soon as he's big enough. That picture of Quorra is from about 8 months ago, so she is considerably bigger as she's been pounding rats non-stop this whole time.

Alexander is a cool looking pied. Interesting pattern. I've always wanted to breed pieds, but I'm starting simple with what I have. I look forward to making some little white snakes.