help settle a debate. do snakes have personalities? - Page 4

Millinex · 05-11-11, 04:32 PM

I'm 100% on his side, you are a warm tree to them, nothing more. Snakes do not think or have emotions, just instincts.

-Mike

RandyRhoads · 05-11-11, 04:37 PM

As far as Iguanas definately personality there...when I go on vacation and come back, or if I go a few days without petting him he throws a fit like a teenage girl. He will turn his head and close his eyes pretending not to see me. Sometimes he will come to me and climb up me to look in my eyes. If he's hungry sometimes when I come in the room he will come out of his tree and claw at his In-N-Out tray for food signaling he wants food...

Millinex · 05-11-11, 04:40 PM

Lizards, specifically tegus and monitors do have more intelligence in my eyes than snakes. I haven't worked with enough iguanas in my life to really say if they have the same intelligence level as the former species though...

-Mike

RandyRhoads · 05-11-11, 04:43 PM

I've heard Savs are really smart. My girlfriends is still a baby but it seems really stupid. It runs full speed into the side of his tank all the time. Doesn't seem to know how to kill mice either.

Millinex · 05-11-11, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

I've heard Savs are really smart. My girlfriends is still a baby but it seems really stupid. It runs full speed into the side of his tank all the time. Doesn't seem to know how to kill mice either.

My monitors have figured out multiple step problems- climb onto ledge, stick nose through small gap, push open latch, squeeze out and escape.. Mine have found every weakness in their cages, have figured out how to open bins, push things out of their way. If I where to tie a rope to the door knob, and use it to open the door, I'd give it a week before they figured how to open the door on their own to..

My sav is even potty trained, my mangrove is reverse potty trained, and only defecates outside his enclosure onto a towel.

-Mike

infernalis · 05-11-11, 06:16 PM

My sav refuses to crap in his own cage.

Guess he hates the smell too.

RandyRhoads · 05-11-11, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

My sav refuses to crap in his own cage.

Guess he hates the smell too.

My Iguana only goes in his water bowl.

Coffee Black · 05-11-11, 09:00 PM

Our water dragon only goes in her water bowl too. We have been calling it the water BOWEL.

marionsclan · 07-16-11, 03:37 AM

I've come across this statement while scanning the net for sources about snakes and emotions and personally I couldn't have said it better as to how I feel about it. Your input is very much appreciated:
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I do not believe that reptiles have COMPLEX emotions with complex motivations like "greed" or "jealousy" ... but I am absolutely positive that they have the basal emotions of "fear" and "contentment".

To be perfectly honest, ALL emotions are hard-wired electrochemical reactions that come from certain parts of the brain. If you have the appropriate part of the brain, you have the capacity to experience the emotion too.

"Fear" as an emotion is one of the absolute most basic and is wired into the very lowest parts of the brain - so anything with a brain stem is likely to feel it. Just because it's an instinctual emotion doesn't mean it's any less an emotion.

Now, what a snake doesn't have is the ability to THINK about its emotions or to rationalise them - it can't think "Oh god, what was that, it could have been a monster!" All it knows is "FEAR! FEAR! ESCAPE!"

I think snakes can also recognise individual owners' scents, and approaching that person may be an expression of contentment/trust - that the snake feels reassured by your presence in the same way that it would feel reassured by seeing a secure hide next to it. I have a number of snakes that "trust" me in the same way - I am their preferred hide when they are not in their vivariums.
__________________
- Ssthisto

kganong · 07-16-11, 06:33 AM

snakes have no outer cortex of their brain( the part the is responsible for any type of feeling ex. Love or hate). They only have the inner the cortex that is responsible for instinct. It is impossible for snakes to feel felling witch is really hard to believe because i could swear that my snakes love me but unfortunately is it impossible. They are just coming to you because of heat. IT could also be that they are coming to you because they are checking out the situation. They are (as you probably know) are very curious creatures. The same thing applies if you were to say my snake will not bite me. You do not know that. but like i said earlier it seems really hard to believe because i took my 6 foot boa to the store the other day and even let kids pet her. Its not that they don't bite it that they get used to you and used to being touched but as a final answer -- the person who told you that is correct to some extent i personally think that they have personalities because i love my snakes and it seems like they do because some of them are more lazy than others and some of them are snappier than others but that's only because i handle some of them more often than others. so personalities yes i think but love or any feeling no they are not capable

marionsclan · 07-17-11, 02:36 AM

Here is an excerpt explaining the Reptilian Brain which is the first brain that existed (Evolution added two more brains, surrounding the Reptilian Brain, to Humans which makes them intellectually superior to animals/reptiles):
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The brain stem is the oldest and smallest region in the evolving human brain. It evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and is more like the entire brain of present-day reptiles. For this reason, it is often called the 'reptilian brain'. Various clumps of cells in the brain stem determine the brain's general level of alertness and regulate the vegetative processes of the body such as breathing and heartbeat.

It's similar to the brain possessed by the hardy reptiles that preceded mammals, roughly 200 million years ago. It's 'preverbal', but controls life functions such as autonomic brain, breathing, heart rate and the fight or flight mechanism. Lacking language, its impulses are instinctual and ritualistic. It's concerned with fundamental needs such as survival, physical maintenance, hoarding, dominance, preening and mating. It is also found in lower life forms such as lizards, crocodiles and birds. It is at the base of your skull emerging from your spinal column.

The basic ruling emotions of love, hate, fear, lust, and contentment emanate from this first stage of the brain. Over millions of years of evolution, layers of more sophisticated reasoning have been added upon this foundation.

Our intellectual capacity for complex rational thought which has made us theoretically smarter than the rest of the animal kingdom.

When we are out of control with rage, it is our reptilian brain overriding our rational brain components. If someone says that they reacted with their heart instead of their head. What they really mean is that they conceded to their primitive emotions (the reptilian brain based) as opposed to the calculations of the rational part of the brain.
__________________________________________________ ________________________

Based on the bold portion who is to say that snakes did not add layers onto the basic Reptilian brain? Just recently in 2010 did a study find a connection between the cerebral cortex and brain matter in Invertebrates that lets them memorize and learn.

xhanth · 08-02-11, 01:10 PM

I had a red tail for a while, it came from a friend and the snake was not treated well and was known to bit. Over the 2+ years I had it she only struck me once never drew blood from me. But as far as personality went, the way she cocked the head or acted like a child crying when she did not get what she wanted drew me in the fact that that snake did have a personality over it instincts. I now have a corn snake that was forced on too me like destiny and this snake was pure adrenalin fast, never come out from under the dirt only the head to see what is going on, just very wild. Also would strike, whip with end of tail or push with whole body with a quick jolt to tell me stay away.
I changed to live mice and over the last 3 month forced my self on to the corn snake. Now I can take it out, it wants to come to me know even though the first time it spazzed out with all its soul to brake its self to bond with me. The snake loves to wiggle and grind on me and just chills on my neck and if some one it does not like comes near me it does coil for attack. Further more it has changed color from a black brown and green to a black and gray colors. If u ask me all carnivore beings have a personality and a respect compare to most of the food we meat eaters eat I say rodents and insect have no personality over these snakes I have been given and they are clean!!!

natsamjosh · 08-10-11, 06:31 PM

These aren't snakes, but this video is pretty interesting.... especially for those who are so certain they know exactly what's going on in the brains/minds of reptiles:

Tortoise helps friend who's flipped over. - YouTube

bigsnakegirl785 · 08-10-11, 07:03 PM

I also believe snakes have personalities, I have two snakes and both of them seem to really enjoy it when I take them out. My red-tail especially; when I try to put it back in its aquarium, it grips my wrist as tight as it can and tries to climb up my wrist. When I manage to slip it off, it frantically tries to climb up the side of the glass. Then it sits there staring at me. Both my snakes like to stretch up, look in my face and flick their tongue on the tip of my nose. I believe anything with a brain can have a personality, even if it's just a very basic one.

Uncle_Rev · 08-10-11, 08:03 PM

I am not really sure what to say honestly. My RTB is a savage pain in the *** to anyone she encounters, flails, dodges, moves right off of. However, I can sit through an hour and some change at my desk editing medical charts and she won't even budge. My wife refers to her as the other woman in my life.

Let the kids or wife try and handle her and she is plain unruly.

I want to believe she has a personality but I think it is more a rapport that has been built.