Yep. Snakes are really good at associative learning. Target training gets them to respond to a target by moving toward it/tongue-flicking it (but not striking it) followed very quickly by the offering of a meal.
It doesn't take long for them to associate the presence of the target with a meal. If I'm doing other stuff in the enclosure, but not showing the target, they understand there is no meal forthcoming so I don't get that intense feeding response. The video's just a few minutes long and illustrates it pretty well. It's a simple but effective training method. I also like it because it's a different form of interaction, and the learning opportunity is just one more little enrichment boost.
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