When I read about the "diapers" I saw it as just having towels loosely layered under the snake, with the snake burrowing into it a bit. I'll admit if the towels were tightened around the snake in any way that would be a bit too much, but I don't think that's what she did.
Snakes that are accustomed to being handled and have no fear are not usually stressed from handling, provided they are handled
properly. If you're not supporting them or restricting their ability to move, that's stressful. But taking a snake out and allowing it to crawl around and explore you and the area around it, with gentle guidance... for snakes that are accustomed to that it is not going to be a stressful experience just because it's a snake.
So that one baby snake represents the general population? Look, i have been doing this 10 years, I work with people who have untold amounts of intelligence and experience, I am not making this up. I know my animals, and I know that I don't handle them very often, and they all do fine. Most snakes don't like being handled, they tolerate it, but they would rather not have to deal with it. And they will do better without excessive handling. Once a week is fine, but everyday is upsetting to the snake and can cause issues.
I can appreciate your opinion, and I agree with it in part, but please don't just dismiss mine or anyone else's because you've had so many snakes for however long you've had them. A lot of people on here have been working with snakes for many, many years as well. And just because I don't have racks of them at the moment does not mean my opinions are any less credible.
All in all, it can be rather cyclical. Part of it depends on the snake as an individual and a lot of it depends on how the snake has interacted with people in the past. Snakes do not feel emotions like we do, but they do have psychological responses to interactions with humans and their environment. If they are physically in perfect health and are experiencing no discomfort and all of their physical needs are met, emotional stress is most often caused by fear, or more accurately the instinctual reaction to want to maximize it's chances of staying alive. Stress can also be caused by territorial aggression and a plethora of other things, but I believe that fear is the biggest one.
When we take our snakes out, we do expose them to the world which does very much indeed expose them to various different stressful situations that they would not experience safe in their tank. But if they learn from that exposure that the environment is safe and free of anything that threatens them, then they become accustomed to it and stop reacting to something they know is not a threat.
I mentioned before that I do have snakes that do not seem to enjoy coming out. I have worked with them before, and they do tame down very well. Just one or two of them never seem to truly trust me. Then again, I know nothing about their experiences with people before they came into my possession.
Anyway, I've contributed to getting this waaaay off topic and I apologize. We really should create another thread and continue this discussion. Please note that all of what I state is not based on proven fact, just my opinions. I think it would be interesting to discuss this further - not argue - I'm always open to being proven wrong and learning something new.
