Snake entertainment

[LtTawnyMadison]

For most of her waking hours my daughter's snake stays coiled up in a hide with her head out and raised, eyes open. I just can't grasp that snakes can happily do this for most of their waking hours! There is nothing new to look at until my daughter comes home and moves around the room. Not sure this is a question, exactly, but just wondering. Never had snakes before and all other caged pets I've had (many different types) are active doing something when not asleep. I guess just slithering around on the same things repeatedly isn't that exciting. Sometimes in the evening she starts moving a lot looking like she wants to get out and we take her out when she does this. I have a rule that she needs to be taken out at least 10 minutes a day. If she's near the cage during this, she'll sometimes just stretch toward it and go back in. Not sure if there's anything we can/should do to bring more excitement to her life!

[chairman]

Snakes are not apex predators. Lots of other predators eat snakes. It is in a snake's best interest to spend as little time moving and drawing attention to itself as possible. When snakes move, they will move to find warmth, find food, etc.

"Happiness" is believed to reside in a portion of the brain that snakes lack. I'm not saying that they cannot be "happy," but that happiness might be better expressed as having food, water, and appropriate temperatures and lacking things to fight or flee from. People can be a part of a snake's happiness by giving them good enclosures and establishing themselves as objects that snakes don't need to fear.

Some species are more prone to movement than others. My subadult Japanese ratsnake is very active; it always seems to be on the move. My cornsnake is also fairly active throughout the day and night. The rest of my snakes (pythons) tend to limit their activity to night hours.

[LtTawnyMadison]

Thanks! All of that makes sense. I'm just not used to it!