Steve's Snake Observations

[kibakiba]

Well, Mama has bit and chewed on Snakey's back. He didn't even notice really. She has extremely sharp teeth. Just a soft nip from her draws blood. She had her mind set on eating him (she smeared some worm on him on accident), so she wasn't exactly gentle. She didn't draw any blood at all.

[RedSidedSPR]

Makes me feel better... Or safer... Or whatever.

[kibakiba]

They're tough little snakes

[RedSidedSPR]

Yeah, but they are also strong and have teeth. I just wasn't sure how bad they could hurt eachother.

[ConcinusMan]

Of course they can

[RedSidedSPR]

Right, but i didn't know how easily!!

[kibakiba]

I'll put my observation here, because I think it fits...


Pumpkin is about to shed again, and I was letting her relax in my bra. She had been in it for about 30 minutes and I decided to check on her. When I put my finger near her, she slithered a little bit towards it and wrapped her tail around my middle finger and let her head rest on my index finger. It was so cute. But, it seems like one of those comfort things, she feels comfortable with my hand, and she will come to my hand willingly. Some might think that it's heat related, but when she's in my bra, she's about the warmest she could be, my hands aren't covered and are usually quite cold, yet she still wrapped herself around my fingers. I've noticed this with a lot of my snakes, especially the ones that I either work with a lot, or the ones that have been with me the longest. Even when its over 90 degrees in my room, they seek my hand, usually my left. They don't come to me as often if my right hand is in the tank, but if my left hand is, they come.

I'll make this clear, I'm not anthropomorphizing them, it's something I noticed. I'm not saying they have advanced feelings like humans. I really doubt being "comfortable" is anything advanced, but I do think a snake can be comforted by something that they're very familiar with. And, I felt the need to explain this because I've been flamed too much for anthropomorphizing my snakes, both by people on here and people in real life.

[d_virginiana]

I think that makes sense. It's totally different to say "my snake loves me" and "my snake feels safe around me". I don't think you're anthropomorphizing them too much. My adult will often avoid being passed to other people, and will always choose my hand over someone else's. I'm pretty sure he does it mostly by smell, since he's almost blind, but he'll go right up to someone else's hand, tongue flick it a time or two, and then run back up my arm.

[RedSidedSPR]

Oh heck yeah. They can. I don't need to describe it, but if you saw my anery you'd believe it.

[kibakiba]

You can tell Mama trusts me more than every one else. Everyone loves her when they come over, but she tends to be a bit more antsy around people when they're holding her, or she'll keep her tail wrapped tightly around my finger while the other person is holding her.