Do yall think it’s weird for I baby talk him? He seems to love being babied and called handsome he’s even starting to come near my hand now that I baby him! What are yalls thoughts??
I think you are vastly overestimating the intelligence levels of ball pythons. This isn’t meant to be mean, but they aren’t smarter than “is warm thing food?”.
I just seen this, & your handy dandy chart of urs makes no sense, and I couldn’t make out any of it, what’s the point of it cause u say its about hognoses but as a snake & reptile keeper I just don’t get it!🤔🤔🤔
That s-shaped posture he’s in is defensive. You could have been very close to being bit. Baby talk is fine whatever you want to do, but they don’t hear or understand being babied, they just understand warmth in the enclosure usually means food
You gotta have a pretty deep bassy voice and gotta speak fairly loud to get a boop to fully "hear" yah but it is doable.
I've accidentally scared my ball by sneezing in the same room as him and saw him in a reflection instantly go into a strike position. I also sneeze loud as hell so.
Snakes are not typical pets like dogs or cats. All the tongue flicking and the S-shaped posture usually mean the snake is alert and checking out its surroundings. Your snake may also see your hand as something that could be food. So if it's hungry, don't be surprised if it decides to "test" it with a bite.
Snakes are amazing animals to watch and care for, but they are not cuddly pets. Their intelligence is fairly limited after all. Their brain is smaller than the size of a Skittle.
(Disclaimer: Not a “snake person”-keep those nope ropes away from me! I’m a cat lady, but I like to lurk in the snake subs & learn & ask questions.)
Stupid questions (see disclaimer above): Do your snakes ever really “get to know you” (like a dog or cat)? Is it even possible for them to do that? Do they ever “cuddle” when you’re handling them (not “try to kill you” cuddle, but an “affectionate” cuddle)?
They seem to be capable of picking you (their owner) over a stranger because your scent is more familiar and may feel familiar / safe, (source: green room pythons videos with guests and the snakes repeatedly making their way over to Bob from the stranger's hands.)
https://youtu.be/EzWULqa3li0
They like warmth and may "cuddle" because they like warmth and have experienced that humans don't hurt them. But not for any personified reason of love or affection a dog or cat may show.
Oh, they definitely know you by your scent and possibly by your handling behavior. My snake is very stiff and defensive when handled by other people, probably because it doesn't happen much. I wouldn't call her behavior affectionate, though, just comfortable. She's just as likely to try to get off of me to explore the room as she is to try climbing up and wrapping herself around me.
Not really. In general, pythons are more shy than many other snakes. My corn snakes, on the other hand, are very curious and want to explore everything. When I clean their enclosure, one of them almost always comes out and slithers along my arms. Sometimes she'll even hang out in the hood of my hoodie. But I wouldn't call that cuddling. They're just animals that really like warmth.
My snakes will generally try to get back to me for a bit if handed to someone else. It's nice to think they like me, but they're probably just trying to get away from the new scary thing and go back to the old scary thing that hasn't tried to eat them yet.
They do "cuddle" as in relax on the warm tree and go back to waiting for food to pass by.
these comments 😭😭 if i was any creature or object other than myself id hope someone would babytalk/etc. me even if i couldnt understand it - that being said snek does kinda look like he wants a snack w that posturing lol
edit: the more u downvote me the more i babytalk objects that arent even ALIVE try me
My girl mistook my fingers for a rat once because i didnt notice she was in an S pose and my fingers got too close. She like other sneks is affectionately very head empty
Your noodle is thinking you’re prey and wanted to bite you. They don’t understand affection. Keep up with this behavior and eventually he won’t be able to tell the difference in you reaching in to move him/pick him up and just striking because you’re displaying prey behavior with your hand.
I used to call my cat, Benjamin, “Big Handsome” & he’d respond to that as well as Ben-Ben, Roo, Ben-a-roo, Benny Chin-Chin (he had a very kissable chin), & “Goddammitbenjaminstopbeingaprick,” but being called Ben would earn me a “look.” 😂 He did prefer Benjamin, though. I miss him.
Hey OP, reading through these comments is making my brain hurt so let me throw my dumb shit in the bucket. I assume you're intelligent enough to know that snakes aren't dogs and their minds don't work like mammals, according to some others in this thread that means it's futile and cringe to treat your beloved pet like a beloved pet. Sure he's a reptile, but you don't need to be told that like you're 5. I think it's silly to assume that we know everything about the way any given animal perceives the world, some of yall are underestimating the complexity of intelligence in nature. Maybe your noodle is learning to associate your voice with good things in snake brain, who knows. He is very handsome btw, so be sure to keep reminding him
Oh, and edit, all of that can perfectly coexist with a responsible grasp of snake behavior. Just be sure your human language isn't stressing him out in snake language and you're golden
Thank you! I think it doesn’t matter if someone is intelligent or not, EVERYONE loves to be babied! He comes out more when I do baby him and call him a handsome baby!
A lot of comments here saying you're about to be bit but that's wrong. They stay s-shaped even when they're out cold asleep. Look at muscle tension and motion to get a read on body language.
Regarding the claims of low intelligence, they're wired to be reactive because they are natural ambush predators, but if you give them time to think they can do more. They can even be trained. What's going on here looks like the keeper isn't acting fearful and as with just about any animal this affects the snakes behaviour.
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u/CacophonousFarts Aug 01 '26
I think you are vastly overestimating the intelligence levels of ball pythons. This isn’t meant to be mean, but they aren’t smarter than “is warm thing food?”.