Snakes as pets

Never understood people talking to animals......

His pets are not very happy. Maybe its his whiney voice that upsets them.

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pweedas said..
Reptiles of any sort don't make good pets.
They simply don't have the parts of a brain which are used to form relationships with anyone or anything else.
They have the most primitive form of brain and really it's not much more than a small modification to the upper part of the spinal cord.

You could get the impression that your pet lizard or snake might have some affection for you but it is a wrong impression.
If it's not hissing and attacking you it's only because it has previously worked out that you are not a threat to it and you're too big to be eaten.
If any of those realisations are negated then it will be back to hissing and biting you.

Never trust your pet reptile not to harm you if it has the ability to.
They are a bit like pet fish, or frogs. Interesting to look at but not much else.

Sounds like some children I know

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pweedas said..
Reptiles of any sort don't make good pets.
They simply don't have the parts of a brain which are used to form relationships with anyone or anything else.
They have the most primitive form of brain and really it's not much more than a small modification to the upper part of the spinal cord.

You could get the impression that your pet lizard or snake might have some affection for you but it is a wrong impression.
If it's not hissing and attacking you it's only because it has previously worked out that you are not a threat to it and you're too big to be eaten.
If any of those realisations are negated then it will be back to hissing and biting you.

Never trust your pet reptile not to harm you if it has the ability to.
They are a bit like pet fish, or frogs. Interesting to look at but not much else.

Wow, never thought of it like that !!
I'm sticking to horses, dogs and budgies !!

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shoodbegood said..
We have got 7 hermit crabs home from school for the weekend,
They're entertaining little buggers !

Which school do they go to?

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pweedas said..
Reptiles of any sort don't make good pets.
They simply don't have the parts of a brain which are used to form relationships with anyone or anything else.
They have the most primitive form of brain and really it's not much more than a small modification to the upper part of the spinal cord.

You could get the impression that your pet lizard or snake might have some affection for you but it is a wrong impression.
If it's not hissing and attacking you it's only because it has previously worked out that you are not a threat to it and you're too big to be eaten.
If any of those realisations are negated then it will be back to hissing and biting you.

Never trust your pet reptile not to harm you if it has the ability to.
They are a bit like pet fish, or frogs. Interesting to look at but not much else.

Don't tell that to a bearded dragon, they can be very dog-like.

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pweedas said..
Reptiles of any sort don't make good pets.
They simply don't have the parts of a brain which are used to form relationships with anyone or anything else.
They have the most primitive form of brain and really it's not much more than a small modification to the upper part of the spinal cord.

You could get the impression that your pet lizard or snake might have some affection for you but it is a wrong impression.
If it's not hissing and attacking you it's only because it has previously worked out that you are not a threat to it and you're too big to be eaten.
If any of those realisations are negated then it will be back to hissing and biting you.

Never trust your pet reptile not to harm you if it has the ability to.
They are a bit like pet fish, or frogs. Interesting to look at but not much else.

whilst living in Victoria we had a resident blue tongue that would keep the snails out of the vege patch . after about 3 months of training it would come to the sound of snails rattling around in a saucer. you could pick it up for a cuddle and it lovvvvvved a scratch on the belly. awesome pet. it occasionally wandered through the house, and the dog would take dry dog food to it when it was on the back lawn in the sun

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sn said..
When I was working at Wodgina, I learned within a second or so to make room for the ol'man bungarra at our shift change feed - he knew the sound of platters full of party pies, sausage rolls, finger foods and seafood being placed on the tables outside the wet mess.

I must admit it was a bit disconcerting to be pushed sideways on the bench so he could take his seat and help himself to my satay sticks and prawns.


oh hang on....... we are supposed to be talking about training reptiles - not reptiles training us


stephen

I agree they have the appearance of showing affection but I think it's more to do with the fact they associate people with free food and do not associate them with danger, so when they see people on a seat with food they take it that some of the food is for them, so they move in to take it.
The behavior is reinforced by the number of times it has success with the technique, and it sounds like your bungarra has lots of success.
They really couldn't care less if the food was delivered by you or a robot. It's the free food they're interested in and only that.

If they're not hungry they don't come. If they were interested in seeing you they would come whether they were hungry or not.


I mentioned this some time back on some shark thread, and made the correlation between lizards that turn up for a free feed when the right sounds are made, and white pointer which also turn up for a free feed when the right sounds are made. They have a similarly small and undeveloped brain which is only capable of carrying out the most basic functions to sustain life and carry on the species, and making deep and meaningful relationships, even with it's own species, let alone some other species, is not one of those functions.
It's a simple matter of, when they see you, there is the possibility of food, and you are no threat to it's existence so they move in.
As I also mentioned in a previous thread, it's amazing how fast they learn. A few free lunches is all it takes.




These lizards are quite big, about a half meter long. They can bite quite hard when the want to. After a few exploratory nibbles on my fingers they soon work out that they are not good for eating so they mostly ignore them, unless they think I'm about to eat their food, in which case they will give it a light nibble to chase me off. They don't waste effort with a hard bite because they don't intend to eat it. They just want it out of their dinner.
They have absolutely no liking for me other than I am the bringer of food.
If they don't want food they don't come.

Compare that to a dog which has a more developed brain.
At the centre of a dogs brain (and kangaroos) is still the primitive reptilian brain, but it has an overlay of a more developed layer which is capable of forming and maintaining relationships with others of it's species, and also of other species, such as us, which might be of benefit to it, and so your dog loves to see you whether it's hungry or not.