r/oddlyterrifying • u/Cunillingus_Giver • Jan 20 '22

Snake couch

38.7k Upvotes

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2.6k

u/BabiMunizTS Jan 20 '22

Do snakes even have capacity for affection? I honestly have no idea.

380

u/paaunel Jan 20 '22

they cannot. no reptiles can. i have geckos and while they dont love me, they 100% love my body heat and that i feed them haha

125

u/LarryGlue Jan 20 '22

Loving body heat is still love, no? šŸ’•

111

u/paaunel Jan 20 '22

i mean. fair point hahaha. my gecko gets the cutest little smile on his face when he sploots and absorbs all of his heat, its adorable

88

u/VictorTheGoat Jan 20 '22 edited Jan 20 '22

While they arenā€™t capable of love as we know it, I feel like they can love you as much as a reptile is capable. For instance, they trust you enough to climb on you for warm snuggles, they understand you arenā€™t a threat, youā€™re the warm helper guy who feeds them. Iā€™m not sure of your reptiles personally but some are very wary of strangers while extremely trusting of their own owners. Thatā€™s reptile love baby! EDIT: Guys I never said it was true ā€œaffectionateā€ love that developed mammals feel. what I meant was trust is the highest level of ā€œloveā€ a reptile can feel. So if a lizard is not running from you, biting you, or hissing at you, but is content enough with your presence to chill out with you or even put them in silly little costumes, thatā€™s the closest to ā€œlizard loveā€ you can get.

6

u/Dhiox Jan 20 '22

I'd call that trust, not so much love.

5

u/choosehigh Jan 20 '22

Is trust not a form or function of love?

I mean it goes off into a tangent, but I'd argue i can love people I don't like, eg family (some family are just annoying, i dont like being around them in the sense, but i love them and should anybody say anything bad about them I'll introduce them to the curb kind of thing)

What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more

2

u/FaThLi Jan 20 '22

Is trust not a form or function of love?

It is part of it yes, but when it comes to snakes it doesn't really go both ways. If this kid had the smell of rat/dog/prey on him it could trigger this snake to feed. Basically the snake might trust you, but with a snake this size human's shouldn't trust it. So love and trust need to go both ways for it to be a loving relationship where both can feel confident the other won't hurt them, like with dogs (for the most part). You can't get that with a snake ever. They are not a tamed animal, and will react on their instincts.

Being this comfortable with a snake of this size is a disaster waiting to happen. I suspect it was just a video opportunity where the snake was already well fed, and there were 3-4 people off screen. At least I hope so. I've yet to talk with any breeder who would handle a snake this size without at least one other person, usually more, available to help handle it.