does my snake love me?

[chezza]

right. this might seem like an odd question but i gotta ask people.. ive often heard that snakes have no emotion.. and know we will never be able to call em and play fetch like a dog.. BUT... i kinda believe they must feel SOMETHING.. for example, my royal python.. if i go up to his tank, he moves towards the window and stands up.. almost as if asking to come out.. i will take him out and he will sit on me for ages without trying to escape.. he also wraps himself round my neck and rubs his face on my cheek.. if he is on the floor, he will turn his head and follow my movements.. when i have been sitting down and he is on the floor, he has moved straight towards me, and moved up my leg and stayed there.. i might come across as mad but seriously, this is how he acts.. does any one else have a snake like this? of course id like to believe he loves me ha ha!:) he is actually such a lovely snake.

[Lankyrob]

There are quite a few discussions on here regarding perceived emotions in snakes. Personally i don't believe they love - he may like being on you cos he likes warmth etc - there are survival reasons to explain most actions of snakes.

Just like to say tho - you really shouldn't have any snakes around your neck - it takes hardly anything to make someone unconscious using pressure points in the neck - if the snakes catches one of these points even if it is not intending to constrict you would be unconscious before you were aware what was happening - who knows what would happen to the snake with you unconscious on the floor - it may panic and constrict, you going limp may trigger feeding constriction or it could just escape. i would hate to see anything bad happen to you or your snake.

[infernalis]

Scientific data has shown that reptiles lack the cerebral capacity to feel attachments.

However first hand encounters such as your own have also shown that reptiles can and do find a "comfort zone" meaning that some animals will become so used to their caretakers it can grant the "Illusion of love"

I personally keep anywheres from 70 to several hundred snakes in my collection (Counting all the babies in the spring, we had over 400 in the house in the spring of 2009) and out of all those snakes only three ever behaved as if they would rather be held than put down.

One of them eventually grew old and died, I was a mess.. Another is still to this day one of my favorite snakes ever.

This summer I caught a huge female garter snake in my back garden and she is a sweetheart also, she is so content being held that she puts up a fuss when I put her back in the cage.

Is it love? no. she simply does not feel threatened by me, so I am a tree, a heat rock and a hiding spot (she goes up my shirt then coils up and falls asleep) all in one place.

[Tman38]

hiya , my red tail boa acts just like u say around me too . I have only had her a few months but from the beggining she has been so friendly she loves being out and doesnt like going in, she will sit with me and kiss my nose as soon as i get her out everytime. I do believe they have some sort of attatchment too u other than heat so i dont think ure mad because that would make me mad too lol

[Lankyrob]

Snakes carry salmonella bacteria, kissing them or having them that close to your face is fairly risky.

[infernalis]

I think Tman38 is talking about tongue flicking on the nose.

That is the snakes equivalent of a dog sticking it face in your bum.

It's not kissing, it's sniffing.

[Lankyrob]

Oops, sorry, i read owner kissing snake not other way around.

[Tman38]

Lol yeh she just licks my nose its cute although sometimes it would b nice to just give her a quick kiss on the head I don't fancy getting ill lol. Cheers rob for ure consern

[Lankyrob]

I try not to offend but my two things that bug me are owners kissing snakes and owners having them round their necks. I would hate for anyone to become ill or injured, or worse, because of something i love so much.

[Tman38]

I understand mate, I did wonder because I've seen lots of videos on you tube of ppl putting a fully grown boa around there neck and surely if they feel like there gonna fall then they will constrict and then its game over . Fortunatly mines to small to put round my kneck really but even when she's bigger I wouldn't dream of it, u can never be too safe accidents happen

[Lankyrob]

It can literally take milliseconds to black out with some pressure points, even martial artists can't resist them and they train all their lifes.

[Tman38]

Sorry I should of made it more obvious that I know that the snake isn't actually kissing me but it doesn't stop me wanting to believe that she likes my company it makes being a reptile owner more fun and rewarding . I have a bearded dragon a scorpion a prayin mantis and a boa all within the last couple months and definantly many more to come , they all seem to enjoy being handled although I'm sure I will come across some that dont

[Michael Roth]

All snakes do is get used to you feeding them :> Perhaps even tolerating being handled... while some's curious nature may lead us to believe they enjoy our company, it is unlikely.

That being said, I am content to be tolerated by a captive species :>

[Nafun]

I don't know if snakes can love, but I only have to spend 5 minutes with my jcp to know beyond all doubt that they can hate!

As for salmonella, all egg laying species carry it. It's just used as a reptile bogeyman. People let their parrots kiss them all the time without worrying that they may end up with salmonella.

Sure, you could catch salmonella from handling a snake. Or eating an egg mcmuffin. Or eating raw cookie dough. When I consider the risks I take on a daily basis just by getting behind the wheel of my car, it makes me rather unconcerned about the risks of letting my snakes hide in my beard.

[amber_lynn]

Snakes carry salmonella bacteria, kissing them or having them that close to your face is fairly risky.

this is trure but u are more likely to get it from something you eat...just sayin

[Damion930]

I find some ppls mechanical misconception of animal spirits disturbing

But lol a snake is a snake

[infernalis]

Myself I don't find it disturbing unless it harms the animals or goes way over the top.

I have known of at least two that bothered me.

1. A young (nameless) lady who carried her snake in a small wicker basket that has a top cover everywhere she went. Road trip, Take the snake, shopping, take the snake. Her attachment to the snake was quite disturbing. She couldn't go anywhere without that basket.

2. Almost comical, but not really.

This one woman posted that she had gotten bitten on the side of her breast, when I asked how in the heck she got her boobies in the snakes line of fire, she said she put the snake in her shirt so it could find solace in her heartbeat.

Since I was the one who sold her the snake, I felt badly for the poor animal and rather wished I had not sold it to her. Ultimately she was evicted from her apartment and had to give all her snakes to an animal shelter, making me feel even worse yet for contributing to her madness.

Then when these things go horribly wrong, Like a boa or python biting someone in the face because they were "smooching on it" and the media gets hold of the story, the evil snake is always to blame, and our hobby suffers from it.

Honestly, puting your face right up in the snakes face is asking for trouble sooner or later, the snake my put up with it for now, but someday the snake will decide it's had enough, and the end result can get real ugly in a split second.

The snake may one day percieve your face staring directly into (him/her) as a predator moving in for the first bite of its new meal (your snake) and a strong defensive strike will result.

http://www.funnyhub.com/content_images/5525_2763_snake-bites-face.jpg

[Nafun]

When I'm holding my snakes, they're the boss. I'm just furniture. If they want to explore my face, they can explore my face (up to a point, I call for the wife immediately if one of them decides to wrap around my neck). But shoving anything into a snake's face is just asking to get bit.

[shaunyboy]

It can literally take milliseconds to black out with some pressure points, even martial artists can't resist them and they train all their lifes.


that was one of the rules when i taught judo mate

if you did not tap and went to the extent of getting knocked out you were asked to stay away from the club for 6 weeks

this was to teach folk it was not a game but a serious way of doing things

my judo teacher taught me that if you held a strangle hold on for 10 seconds then that could be the start of brain damage occuring

when you get into the 15 and 20 seconds range some form of brain damage will always result

we were teaching folk how to shut down the cartoid arterys.which immediatley stops the brains air supply

2 to 3 seconds your head goes fuzzy

3 to 5 seconds eyes blacked out and unconciousness prevailed

a snake constricting your cartoid arterys would get a much better grip than a human could and it takes very little pressure to hold the arterys shut

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

Myself I don't find it disturbing unless it harms the animals or goes way over the top.

I have known of at least two that bothered me.

1. A young (nameless) lady who carried her snake in a small wicker basket that has a top cover everywhere she went. Road trip, Take the snake, shopping, take the snake. Her attachment to the snake was quite disturbing. She couldn't go anywhere without that basket.

2. Almost comical, but not really.

This one woman posted that she had gotten bitten on the side of her breast, when I asked how in the heck she got her boobies in the snakes line of fire, she said she put the snake in her shirt so it could find solace in her heartbeat.

Since I was the one who sold her the snake, I felt badly for the poor animal and rather wished I had not sold it to her. Ultimately she was evicted from her apartment and had to give all her snakes to an animal shelter, making me feel even worse yet for contributing to her madness.

Then when these things go horribly wrong, Like a boa or python biting someone in the face because they were "smooching on it" and the media gets hold of the story, the evil snake is always to blame, and our hobby suffers from it.

Honestly, puting your face right up in the snakes face is asking for trouble sooner or later, the snake my put up with it for now, but someday the snake will decide it's had enough, and the end result can get real ugly in a split second.

The snake may one day percieve your face staring directly into (him/her) as a predator moving in for the first bite of its new meal (your snake) and a strong defensive strike will result.

http://www.funnyhub.com/content_images/5525_2763_snake-bites-face.jpg

no matter how many times i see that picture wayne it never stops me thinking " ouch,bet that hurt "

there are some crazy crazy people in this world of ours

cheers shaun

[Freebody]

its not a snake bite but this one would hurt like hell too :P its the lady who keeps throughing the poor dogs frisbie, one day he didnt appreciate it much lol

[red ink]

Never in my life would i ever let any of my reptiles get that close to my face snake (specially the new JCP) or otherwise. The main reasoning for this is I don't think they feel any attachment to me and only see me as a food source. My geckoes and BD display this as everytime I come near to do maintenance of the enclosures they perk up and look up expecting it to rain crickets, once they figure out I'm just cleaning they stay well out of the way.

A tag on the hand bears no phychological truama, it's understandable it's a snake after all; tag on the face and lets see if you still feel the same way about your snake.