i think snakes are much more intelligent than people realize - which is being confirmed with recent intelligence studies pertaining to them - i also think they’re capable of base emotions and are emotionally intelligent - i aim to do more research into this however i would point out anecdotally that there have been peer reviewed studies involving bees and arachnids which demonstrated that they are capable of experiencing base emotions eg: when subjected to negative stimuli they produced more chemicals that we typically associate with fear and stress in humans - insomuch as reptiles can be socialized and insomuch as humans can form bonds overtime with specific snakes who do indeed feel these base emotions i think i could say they love me in that sort of Star Trek Data “I’ve gotten use to you” sort of way you know