I was always told snakes dont like affection. They dont like being held, they really dont like being pet, and they DEFINITELY dont like their head or chin being touched. Once I got a few snakes, I found this to be FAR from the truth. My snakes seem to enjoy their outside cage time, exploring new things and places, and most of all they enjoy getting full body massages. It’s their favorite thing and if it were up to them I’d be doing it 24/7. They also love getting their head, chin, and cheeks rubbed. At first they didnt want anything next to their head but after the first massages they got, they weren’t the least bit head shy. Now they get full body massages whenever they have outside cage time. If you give them a head/chin rub then stop they will find your hand and press their head on it until you start rubbing again. I have the sweetest snakes and I’m so happy I have them. My BP is the biggest fan of the massages and nothing makes me happier than knowing my baby boy will be by my side for many years to come. I know people are stuck in the mindset that snakes have no feelings and are just programmed to eat and bite but honestly I dont care. My snakes are healthy and happy, and that’s all that matters. Keep loving your snakes y’all. Lifes to short not to massage your snake.
Just because a snake lets you pet it does not mean you’ve cracked the code and have an emotionally intelligent snake that feels for you the way you feel for it
It is great that they get accustomed to handling and do not feel threatened by being touched. It is not “bad” that they are instinctive rather than intelligent creatures. I appreciate mine for what they are and get tremendous enjoyment interacting with them. But they’re not scaley puppies, they’re not sad if I leave for a couple days, they’re just not. IK me being “this guy” makes me sound kinda like a jerk (and I apologize) but hear this out:
The only reason I choose to respond because I know you’re just going to disagree (and that’s totally fine) Is this: Is this mindset dangerous? With a BP of course not, but a lady 45 miles from me got killed 6 months ago by an 8 foot retic in a handling accident. There were several sad factors involved (not going into detail) but the reason she was even in the situation she was in was she believed she had a “special emotional connection,” with the snake. Because of that she ignored the owners warnings that she was not to handle it alone. She didn’t show the proper respect based on a misunderstanding of behavior and now she is dead.
Obviously your BPs couldn’t kill you even if they all teamed up but the basic principle goes back to treating every animal we work with with proper respect, and proper respect comes from proper understanding. I don’t want anyone to misread a BP, stay in the hobby and get something bigger and down the road put themselves, their children, or someone else in serious danger by convincing themselves of something that just isn’t true.
If I made that more than it was apologies it’s just impossible to tell from these types of posts if people are full on convinced it’s a puppy, or are just saying hey man…y’all should massage your snekks. Mine like it.
I like massaging mine too. I was just tapping into the whole emotional side of it. I don’t like throwing cold water on people being excited. Just a reminder.
I’m extremely happy you have a beautiful relationship with your BP and I’m actually quite interested in how my own snakes will react when I give them a massage later
But please take in what Crawd said. I can guarantee a lot of the bad stigma around snakes is purely down to people believing they have a emotional bond with their 8ft retic and end up in hospital with broken bones or worse.
We have had a discussion on this in the past on here if you fancy the read:
Individual snake personalities?
BP personalities
“Mean snakes”
There just seems to be a need in a lot of people to be convinced of that emotional connection, like people see with dogs, cats (some lol) or even other humans. I’ve seen it with fish owners too
“HE SWIMS WHEN I PUT MY FINGER HERE. HE LOVES ME.”
Waiting to see the next soldier coming home after 2 years abroad video but with a ball python…
That’s the first time I’ve laughed like that for a while.
I’ve just pictured the happiest snake in the world wringing like a headless chicken over to his army buddy
What are you even talking About? Lmao? How does a snake enjoying a massage have anything to do with an “emotional connection”? Snakes enjoy outside time and massages, that doesnt mean I think they’re “scaley puppies”. Just because they dont show the same behavior as a dog or cat doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy things. They can feel scared, irritable, hungry, stressed, and calm but they can’t enjoy full body massages? Hahaha that’s pretty ridiculous.
What does that have to do with snake massages?
I do not think my snake loves me or has an emotional connection with me. Idk why everyone thinks giving a snake a massage means anything other than snakes enjoy massages.
It’s not the massage part of your post that sent us down that path. As I said, I’m interested in how my own will react to a massage. I’m sorry if it came across as a attack, it wasn’t meant in any such way.
Snakes don’t like being held, at most they tolerate us. They have no emotional bonding ability, they just know your smell/taste isn’t a threat.
Again this is no sort of attack Kitten, but you should care. It’s complacency like this that has lost so many people their lives. I know we’re just talking BPs right now but if you were to have this mindset and move up to a Retic or Burmese you could easily find yourself in hot water.
Basically were just trying to remind you that as much as we think (and this goes for everyone… Even guys with 30+ years experience with the same species) we can read these animals, they can and will catch you off guard.
Again I’m sorry if it came across as a attack.
Enjoy your snake massages. Nothing wrong with them.
4-5 references to emotions in original post…but that’s ok:) good luck out there!
Yea people here are very selfish, they think they cracked the code too when we are barely a few hundred years old into research and development. Yes it’s all out to the work you put in, no it doesn’t mean they’re a full puppy but these people aren’t smart enough to remember dogs used to be wolves who got tamed and evolved throughout history. People here don’t get their snake to actually enjoy them as another being and actually get to read and observe their behavior. All beings have a consciousness and we are the ones who shape it since we selfishly went and took their world away and put them in a box. Yes I massage all of mine and out of 6 bp, hog nose, red tail boa, and 5+ more snakes along with 20+ other types of beings that I own and get to explore the world each one. No I don’t treat them like humans, puppies or anything, I treat them as another being and they all have a personality. Humans can even be all in the same world without so much infighting how are we any different than our reptiles when most can’t act any better
It’s the same for all beings, we can’t even look away before we get stabbed in the back or anything, honestly we loose more lives to fellow humans than we snakes I have a constrictor, it really depends if you treat them like a mindless animals we are also smart enough to read a snakes behavior and tame to a level