[Roseanna]

Or animals in general? I know its prob a personal thing, but do you think they can? I am really upset today and my grumpy female corn who always tries and nips me didnt even try today and just stayed all nice in her hands for me... aw

Threads that ask this always end up giving me a head ache because you always get the really clever, scientifically knowledgable people who reply with good answers which require a lot of thinking LOL.And then you get people like me who just give there personal opinion based on no facts what so ever . so here goes...

I personally believe humans always tend to put human emotions onto animals. For example, co habiting snakes that seem to be 'cuddling' eachother are possibly just competing for the same spot. It's like my cats (i've told this before so sorry for the repeat) my female cat always lies practically on top of my male cat, she likes to be as close as possible and often looks like shes hugging him, at first i must admit i seriously thought she loved him but i later found out that she was in fact trying to dominate him, he is the dominant cat in the house but she constantly dominates him.

Now i find it extremely hard to believe that snakes feel love, happiness, sadness, anger, empathy or sympathy. But i always question myself and my thoughts (kind of like you are now) and think "well if thats the case then why is she/he striking at me? surely it's angry!" "why is it eating, drinking, surely a un happy snake would not eat or drink, so it must feel happy in it's environment!" but i've managed to correct my thoughts and now i realise it's not anger the snake is showing, it's naturally reacting to what could be a potential threat and it's not happy but it's content, i am giving it the correct husbandry requirements that fill the snakes' needs and if these weren't supplied then maybe the snake would not eat or survive maybe.

I think snakes are programmed to have the flight or fight instinct, not to feel scared or angry enough to bite or run.

despite my personal opinions, i love hearing other opinions on this from both sides. quite interesting to hear the scientific side of things too.

hope that all makes sense lol

 

[Roseanna]

until we break the great language barrier between man and snake, we will never know

But personally, I think my mates boa thinks he's takin the p*ss when he baby talks it....

haha! i'm guilty of doing this too lol. think most animals think it to be honest :lol2:

 

[Roseanna]

Found the clip - If you don't believe reptiles are capable of affection, what do you make of this?

YouTube - Do Tegus Seek Attention? - SiscoReptiles.com - tegu-attention

Yes, I realise these are not snakes, but if they can do this, is it so hard to believe a snake has primitive emotions? (I really don't know the answer to this, but it is interesting).

ok now that is quite interesting.
but i still find it hard to believe snakes would do that, no idea why but i think lizards are far more likely to have more emotions then snakes. i don't know why, just cant imagine a snake having emotions lol.