# Snake Personalities



## Gem (Mar 25, 2017)

Hi everyone!
So i know that people say snakes are only instinctual and lack intelligence but i just can't believe that, maybe its because I'm biased because i adore my snakes.
My 3 pythons have really individual personalities! 
Whats everyone's opinions on this? 
Just curious to see if others feel this way or am i just nuts hehe
Ta!


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## Prof_Moreliarty (Mar 25, 2017)

IMO thats bs some reptiles have cognotive abilities on par with mammals and birds. Monitors are very intelligent,none of my snakes have the same personality either.


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## pinefamily (Mar 25, 2017)

You have to be careful not to transfer what we know as emotions and personality traits onto reptiles, especially snakes. Having said that, some of ours tolerate handling more than others, some are more cage defensive than others. Call it what you will.
As for monitors, they are indeed intelligent, and cognitive, as indeed are other lizards to varying degrees.


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## Wally (Mar 25, 2017)

I have the spawn of satan residing in my collection.


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## pinefamily (Mar 25, 2017)

Wally said:


> I have the spawn of satan residing in my collection.



Funny, I don't remember selling that bredli to you, Wally. She was so feisty she would strike the tank each time we walked past. My wife still has a tooth in the back of her hand.


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## Nero Egernia (Mar 25, 2017)

I would yes, snakes - and other reptiles for that matter - do have personalities. While they're not defined in quite the same way that would be understood by humans, they still have them. Personality is essentially the way an individual reacts to the environment, whether it be a learned behaviour, or if it's simply in their genetic make up. The fact that you can have two snakes, of the same species, age, and gender, and perhaps even the same upbringing, and have them react differently to being handled and fed would suggest that they have different personalities.


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## pythoninfinite (Mar 25, 2017)

I don't believe personality and intelligence should be grouped together. One is not dependent on the other...

Jamie


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## Iguana (Mar 25, 2017)

Depends on what you mean by personality I suppose, snakes aren't super intelligent and are pretty much pure instinct in terms of cognitive processes, but they aren't all alike, even certain types which are notorious for a trait ie Jungles being aggressive, don't all have it which could maybe suggest that they have unique 'personalities'. 
As Oshkii said, I pretty much use personality to describe how they react to certain environmental stimuli. 
I say my guys all have different personalities, because they react in different ways to different things, One is calm the other very energetic. One is 'shy' the other very 'outgoing'. 
I guess in terms of humans and maybe even more intelligent animals such as dogs, parrots, cats etc, we think of personality as something that is unique to them and makes them act they way they do. That same concept could maybe be applied to some reptiles, but maybe not as much of a driving force, just a minor influence?
It's a thought/hypothesis, I could be very wrong lol


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## GBWhite (Mar 26, 2017)

There's no doubt that individual snake do act differently but I don't know if personality is the correct term. Personality relates to people (person) and what factors contribute to make each person who they are. Humans have the luxury of being able to think and they think in the language that they are most comfortable with ie; English speaking people speak to themselves in english, french in french, japanese in japanese and it is their capability to think cognitively that contributes to how they act, what they say, their appearance etc. Given that snakes do not have the capability to speak to themselves I wonder how they would develop a personality as we define it.

It seems to me that what ever drives each individual snake to act the way they do is genetic. Then again maybe they think in HISpanic...lol

Cheers,

George.


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## Gem (Mar 26, 2017)

Thanks for the replies! This is a topic that i find really interesting not just with the snakes but with my other animals too.
I guess it's interesting because we really don't know for sure how animals think but great to hear I'm not the only one who sees my snakes "personalities" whether that's the right word or not


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## GBWhite (Mar 26, 2017)

I should have added that what some people describe as a personality in snakes applies to their observations of captive specimens. Having dealt with wild snakes in their natural habitat over many years they all appear to act on instinct and adopt the flight or fight response every time as a means of self preservation. I don't think the way individual snakes act in captivity has anything to do with "personality" as we define it as humans.


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## pinefamily (Mar 26, 2017)

But it is interesting to note that different snakes have different reactions in captivity.


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## Prof_Moreliarty (Mar 26, 2017)

@Iguana you pretty much described what i meant by different personalities.

read this a while ago found it interesting. apparantly snakes up to 3 years old have much greater learning capacity than older snakes.
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/releases/bcs/snake.htm

@GBWhite George would the only reason be that captive snakes have learned to tolerate human presence/handling and wild snakes have not?


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## GBWhite (Mar 26, 2017)

Hi Professor,

I can only assume so.

What I have learnt is to never trust any of them, even those that appear to tolerate human presence/handling. I've seen too many examples where a snake that has been kept in captivity for many, many years and appears to have "learned" to accept humans suddenly decides to lash out and tag the person that has been caring for it for years for no apparent reason whatsoever.

I've also considered that if a snake is capable of learning then why wouldn't captive bred snakes be content to live in an environment where they are looked after, provided with a safe environment and fed and watered regularly instead of taking advantage of any opportunity to escape. I've also noticed that even captive bred snakes revert to their natural survival instinct and become weary of humans (even their previous keeper) within only a short period of escaping. 

I read the entire paper that is the subject of the article you referenced some years ago and am very sceptical of the method used as a means to undertake the study. It didn't convince me.

George.


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