Quote Originally Posted by RWillinnable
But wouldn't distracting a being from its normal breeding instincts lead to, for lack of a better phrase, psychological trauma? We know for instance that in humans, denying the sexual self healthy outlets leads to a whole host of troubles. Can this line of thinking be related to snakes, since both of our sexual desires originate in what we call the hypothalomus of the brain, but is in fact the only brain that snakes possess?
But the snake is only responding to an external stimulus. Without the stimulus the snake thrives just the same.

I don't think comparing a human brain or psyche to a snakes is even remotely ... not sure how to say this in a "PC" way .... logical? Snakes are simple organisms driven my instinct and external stimuli and humans as we know are complex.

Animals kept as pets are distracted from their natural breeding instincts and even all natural instincts all the time. Beta fish are kept isolated ... dogs and cats are not allowed to hunt ... birds are kept in cages without the ability to fly ... if you'd like to go down this road, then maybe keeping pets isn't the best thing for you?

Look at it this way ... dogs are designed to hunt and roam in packs ... we don't allow our dogs to do that because they can get lost or even injured running the streets wildly with other dogs .. so for their own well being, we keep them inside, or in a yard, or on a leash ... same thing with snakes ... unless you're going to engage the snake in a breeding program for the purpose of making more snakes, then keeping them at temperatures that do not induce breeding behavior is best for their own well being given that the possible side effects of that induced behavior could lead to their illness or death.

-adam