Whats the deal with giving your snakes names?

[Invisible Snake]

Hi, I have a few snakes and not once have I thought about naming them. Why do people name their snakes? especially when they don't acknowledge their names or respond to verbal commands.

Do people give their snakes names to help with record keeping? (health, breeding)

I'm just curious and have nothing against people who give their snakes names.
any input is appreciated, thanks.

[EasternGirl]

I am not quite sure how to answer this. Many of us think of our snakes as pets...we care for them...they aren't just for breeding or selling. My snakes might not respond to verbal commands or respond the way that dogs and cats respond..but I feel that they do interact with me. For example, my snake Cee Cee knows me...she knows the vibration of my voice as compared to other voices...she knows my face compared to other people. If I go to her enclosure and call to her...she actually responds to the sound of my voice. Now, I am aware that snakes can not hear like we do...so she is probably responding to vibration and not sound...but she is responding to me. If someone else does that, she hides. Does she know her name? No. But then again..my dog probably doesn't know his name either. He probably has just been conditioned to respond to the sound I make when I say his name. I name my snakes because I want to be able to have something to refer to when I am talking about them and because I care for them. I suppose I could call them "hey you" or "snake 1" and "snake 2"...but that doesn't work for me.

[infernalis]

I simply do it for specimen identification.

When you have a lot of them, it becomes necessary to identify them somehow.

[kibakiba]

I love my snakes, they are my family. I give my snakes names because you give other pets names, don't you? You get a dog, you name him rover... You don't call him "dog". It's the same with snakes.

[Light of Dae]

My snakes recognize my voice compared to friends voices.

[Light of Dae]

...You don't call him "dog".

I did know a guy who called a cat, Dog....

[Didymus20X6]

Are you sure he wasn't just using hip-hop slang? As in, "Yo dog! Sup?"

[Light of Dae]

lol no.. he even had a collar with a cat tag custom made with the name 'Dog' on the cat. It was a cool cat... Dog.

[InsanePirateDragon]

Thats sort of how I named one of my betta fish Piranha... And I've had someone who had a dog named Kitty. And one of the classroom pets was a Tarantula named Bob. Names sometimes helps connect more.

But yeah wouldn't feel right to not name her when everyone else has a name.

Plus what I don't get is why people give them names like Squeeze and Venom personally. I always felt that it played on people's fear of snakes.

[Stefan-A]

Hi, I have a few snakes and not once have I thought about naming them. Why do people name their snakes? especially when they don't acknowledge their names or respond to verbal commands.

Do people give their snakes names to help with record keeping? (health, breeding)

I'm just curious and have nothing against people who give their snakes names.
any input is appreciated, thanks.

Naming an animal will probably create a stronger (one-way) bond with it and probably makes the owner put tiny bit more effort into making sure the animal is getting proper care.

I don't name my animals. I can identify them all quite easily. The only ones I give any sort of name to, are the solo-housed babies and that's just for record keeping (feeding, shedding, other issues).