Can snakes sense emotions

[redshepherd]

My big girl Rosey when she went to the vet, she spent the whole time trying to get back to me. The vet and nurse had a time holding her down lol. Finally the vet just let her sit on me while she did what part of the exam she could as Rosey was quiet and curious on me but off me, she did nothing but try and get back to me.

That's precious!! I definitely think certain snakes learn familiarity and what is "safe" and what is unknown, and recognize their keepers.

This is not quite as related, but I read a story a zookeeper wrote about how their king cobra escaped the enclosure one day and was out in the room (not where the public can access). Something like three or four zookeepers, including the person posting, went in to get it back. They described that the king distinctly looked at each zookeeper in turn, recognized his main keeper, and beelined straight for him. :0 Not to attack or anything, but I guess it was some sort of automatic response to going toward the first thing he recognized. That said, king cobras are supposedly really smart relative to most snakes.