Intelligence and Personality~

[Nastassja]

I firmly believe that most creatures that walk this earth have very specific personalities and methods of thought-processing that makes them unique among the "peers" of their species. I was thinking today about this in regards to my snake, and I asked my ex, who's brother is a herpetologist, what his opinion was on whether or not my little baby boy Frosbite liked me.

He said, "It's a snake... All it thinks about is eating." Well, to a degree I believe this to be true. But on the other hand, what is it about an animal that makes it behave so radically different compared to other animals who are the same species, gender, age? My little boy is a gentle, docile, curious (yet very slightly shy) creature, when he is held, he moves very slowly and deliberately, seeming very unafraid. On the other hand, my ex's snake, Calcifer, is extremely flighty, very shy to the point of being terrified, feisty enough to have struck several times, and zips around like a speeding bullet.

There has to be an explanation as to why different snakes are able to react so differently to the exact same stimulus. I wonder what they're thinking-- Wouldn't it be interesting to take a group of captive bred snakes and toss them into the same box, and know what they'd be saying to each other?

I want to believe that my snake LIKES me. Not just that I am the vessel that provides him with fresh water and a magical floating pinkie, but that I am another living being that he is comfortable with, and that he may even enjoy being around me.

Do you think that your snake really LIKES you? Or am I just spewing nonsense? Haha.

 

[Roy Munson]

No offense whatsoever, but you only gave me two choices. I have seventy+ snakes. None of them likes me. I guess you must be spewing nonsense...

 

[Nastassja]

lol xD

Okay, well, maybe I just automatically assumed that all snakes love their owners to some degree, maybe not!

 

[Plissken]

I don't believe snakes like their owners. I do however believe that snakes have personalities, even if not as developed as ours, it's there. I've read plenty of discussions on this subject and know that many people won't agree with me there, but it's just my opinion.

 

[Velvet]

I don't think that any snakes like being picked up and carted around but I do believe that they have individual "personalities" in that different snakes act differently to the same stimulus...if that makes sense... For example, some with be naturally calmer than others who have more "fiery" personalities.

My big corn, Cornflake does not like being handled by anyone other than me, when someone else handles him, he is jumpy and nervous, when I hold him, he is completely calm and relaxed. I think this is because he is used to me more than because he likes me. (Though Cornflake isn't a good example because he's a grumpy boy and doesn't like anyone or anything! lol)

I have three little 6month olds, had them all for exactly the same amount of time, treated the same way, handled the same for more or less the same amount of time and they each exhibit unique behaviours and characteristics.

My Butter corn, Rhett, will hide away and try to avoid you picking him up whenever possible but once you have him, he's pretty relaxed. He never comes out even at food time and prefers to remain hidden most of the time.

Donna, my RO, is a little more out-going, she's the only one who will quite comfortably lie out in the open whether you are there or not. When picked up she is very clingy and wraps very tightly around my fingers and is quite content to sit there than to go off and explore. Sometimes I have a hard time to get her to let go! lol

Chopstick, my little caramel girl, hides away until I am around, when she comes out almost immediately, I am 99% this is because she is expecting food, not because she is happy to see me (she's quite a piglet!). However, she is the only one of any of my corns who willing comes out when I open her tub, she slithers onto my hand all by herself and proceeds to explore, she has only recently started to grip with her tail a little, before she just cruised around without bothering to grip anything! lol

Battle, my 1.5yo, has been completely chilled and relaxed from day one. When I got him at 6mo he had almost never been handled but was totally calm and relaxed, I think he is just naturally laid-back.

 

[El Jefe]

Here is a good test:

If you think your snake likes you, leave the cage open and see how long it hangs around you. :sidestep:

 

[NyanNyan]

I just read an article about the Reptilian brain.... and I'm sure they don't have the capacity to clearly "like" or "dislike" as they don't have that section of the brain that preforms complex emotions. I think its all about imprinting with repeating actions and the joys for me about keeping snakes are simple: tolerance


It gives me great joy that my snakes will tolerate me handling them... whithout much problems. I know they are wild animals that are 'captive' so.. for my snakes to not strike and flight (mostly ) and to recognize my sent and not a threat is a great joy for me! I have had an obsession with snakes and dinosaurs since I was little.. and have always respected them. Now, years later I can actually keep them as captives and they tolerate it, what joy!

Well, no one wants to hear my stuff anyhow

anyway this thread is a good read

 

[bitsy]

I don't belive that snakes have "personalities" as such, but they each have their own individual characteristics and different ways of reacting to the same situations.

I have 16 Corns - enough to know each one individually and to know their own individual preferences. Some actively enjoy being handled by me - if I open the viv door they come towards me, climb around me and don't show signs of wanting to go elsewhere. Others will tolerate handling but aren't fussed either way, and one or two want it kept to a minimum.

I firmly believe that my snakes can tell me apart from other people and prefer to be handled by me. However, this isn't an expression of "like" or "love", it's just a preference based on their instinct for self-preservation.

They know my smell and (hopefully) associate me with being safe and usually the appearance of food when I'm around. If handed to a stranger, most will have a sniff about, but then try and get back to me if I'm sitting close by. This isn't because they "prefer" me in an anthropomorphic sense, just that the new person is an unknown quantity and they already understand that I'm OK.

The trick to understanding a snake is to stop trying to map human or mammal behavioural expectations onto them. Snakes have their own set of rules - one of the great joys of owning a snake is learning their rules and adapting ourselves to them.

 

[Nastassja]

I wonder how it is possible to train a snake to become comfortable around not just familiar scents, but unfamiliar ones. For example, when I was about 16, my family visited the Wisconsin Dells. On the strip there was a reptile shop, and outside were two HUGE pythons, one was white and yellow, the other I remember to be a reticulate python of an even larger size. They were offering photographs with the snakes draped around you for a certain sum. The snakes seemed pretty cool with having all sorts of people clambering around to look at them and touch them, and were'nt at all phased by being hefted onto some stranger's shoulders (and ugh it was heavy.. when I had my photo taken, I swear my shoulders were going to crush under its weight!). Is this just a form of desensitization? Or were those snakes just selected to do that job because of their lax personalities?

 

[Thoth]

I wonder what they're thinking-- Wouldn't it be interesting to take a group of captive bred snakes and toss them into the same box, and know what they'd be saying to each other?

They'd be saying/thinking one of the following:
1. Don't eat me don't eat me don't eat me don't eat me.
2. Ooohh...lunch.
3. Hey, baby...you wanna maybe make the snake with two tails?

I've always been an animal welfare person (bleeding heart vegetarian here!), and it's only been my constantly striving to avoid anthropomorphizing all animals to cuddly 9-month old human infants that keeps me from being an animal rights person.

 

[Liselle]

I don't think they "like" anyone either, but they do recognize smells and shapes and movements as far as I can tell. I'm moving to a new apartment, and my snakes already moved yesterday. Today my new roommate came to see my yearling snow Aino crawl around in her viv. As soon as my roommate came around, she seemed to go to search for a hide, and as she went away Aino went to climb on a stick, drink from her water cup etc. And when she came back Aino withdrew to the further end of the cage again. This was repeated a few times as I called my friend back when Aino decided to do something worth seeing. xD Didn't work too well. She didn't mind me walking around at all. So I'd say that she definately categorizes me as something that belongs in the scene and isn't harmful, and is suspicious about a new potential predator.

 

[v_various]

I wonder how it is possible to train a snake to become comfortable around not just familiar scents, but unfamiliar ones. For example, when I was about 16, my family visited the Wisconsin Dells. On the strip there was a reptile shop, and outside were two HUGE pythons, one was white and yellow, the other I remember to be a reticulate python of an even larger size. They were offering photographs with the snakes draped around you for a certain sum. The snakes seemed pretty cool with having all sorts of people clambering around to look at them and touch them, and were'nt at all phased by being hefted onto some stranger's shoulders (and ugh it was heavy.. when I had my photo taken, I swear my shoulders were going to crush under its weight!). Is this just a form of desensitization? Or were those snakes just selected to do that job because of their lax personalities?

I would guess that's also a difference of temperment between species. Some species are more laid back than others, just compare your average sand boa to an average bull snake. I remember my friend also had these little green things ...two of them, actually. The things must have tagged her 10 times in the 2 minutes she was showing me -_-

Also, at the educational shows I do some snakes are just better suited for it. Most of the members have snakes at home they just can't bring out, and no amount of 'socialization' will help.

 

[Quail]

I believe that most Corn Snakes like, or love there owner. I have Evindence to support this, Some Corn Snakes Strike at there owners for no reason known, but love being handled by other people. So that shows that the Snake probably doesn't like it's owner. And Corn Snakes Strike at there owners When they've been mistreted or abused, And in most of the cases in in neglect and mistreatment, the Bond between the owner and Snake, is week.

 

[El Jefe]

And Corn Snakes Strike at there owners When they've been mistreted or abused, And in most of the cases in in neglect and mistreatment, the Bond between the owner and Snake, is week.

So...does this "love" transcend species?

I.e. Will the rattlesnake I have not bite me if I'm a good owner and it loves me? I have had him for over 10 years and have been very good to him. He gets a huge cage and lots of food. He shows signs of love because he doesn't rattle. :spinner:

 

[NyanNyan]

This article, written by a 'mouse lover' who has strong views on feeder mice, gave me some basic insight to how the reptile brain works.

I am not a fan of this site purely because of her unbudging ideals for feeder mice (she seems like a drama queen) but the basic information provided here help me to understand a little about what goes on in this survival brain. http://spazrats.tripod.com/reptilebrain.html
Well... best not cruise this site too much, as she is a little venomous when it comes to owning herps (even if i agree with alot of whats on here)

 

[v_various]

http://spazrats.tripod.com/reptilebrain.html
Well... best not cruise this site too much, as she is a little venomous when it comes to owning herps (even if i agree with alot of whats on here)

Neat.

I disagree with a few thing,
"Reptile keepers have a need to believe that their chosen animal can love them back."
Haha, not me. I know my boys can't love me. They are like robots from b science fiction movies, "I can not loooooooove". People ask me what's the appeal, I ask them "well, why to people have flower gardens? I get much more interaction from my snakes than I would from a snap dragon!"

"A lot of people like to anthropomorphize human emotions onto their snakes"
I do, but I keep it limited to my imagination and cartoons, haha.

And lastly, almost everything she says I can apply to most animals. I argue cats don't like you, they like to pet because if feels good. They don't care if you are petting them or someone else, those that do seem to prefer one human are merely 'use' to that human, and view others as potential predators.

but I'm not a cat person XD

 

[Roy Munson]

I think of snakes as bio-robots too. They tolerate captivity if their needs are met. They tolerate human interaction when it isn't threatening.

 

[NyanNyan]

Neat.

I disagree with a few thing,
"Reptile keepers have a need to believe that their chosen animal can love them back."
Haha, not me. I know my boys can't love me. They are like robots from b science fiction movies, "I can not loooooooove". People ask me what's the appeal, I ask them "well, why to people have flower gardens? I get much more interaction from my snakes than I would from a snap dragon!"

"A lot of people like to anthropomorphize human emotions onto their snakes"
I do, but I keep it limited to my imagination and cartoons, haha.

And lastly, almost everything she says I can apply to most animals. I argue cats don't like you, they like to pet because if feels good. They don't care if you are petting them or someone else, those that do seem to prefer one human are merely 'use' to that human, and view others as potential predators.

but I'm not a cat person XD

Thats why I said I didn't agree with some of the opinionated things, but I do agree with the whole information part. Yes... she is a nippy and judgmental but the basic information is there

obviously we snake owners are smarter than she thinks. maybe one of us should land her a email to state our understanding of reptiles, instead of her putting us all in the dumb box.

 

[NyanNyan]

I think of snakes as bio-robots too. They tolerate captivity if their needs are met. They tolerate human interaction when it isn't threatening.

Yes, it really makes you wonder about the animal kingdom.. I mean.. what is it like to only live on instinct?? It must be like being a newborn.... and mostly no one can remember that stage.

Stuff like this really fascinates me. (too bad i'm too sick to really get into this topic)

sorry for the double post

 

[v_various]

I think of snakes as bio-robots too. They tolerate captivity if their needs are met. They tolerate human interaction when it isn't threatening.

awwwww, don't say that, you'll hurt their feeling! Hear that? It's the sound of all your snakes crossing you off their Valentines day card list.