Quote:
Originally Posted by RevMojo
My beardie exhibits behaviors that could almost be described as happiness when he can see a bag of crickets in my hand. It's certainly excitement beyond the raised level of awareness associated with hunting prey. Does he like me? I doubt it. Love? Absolutely not.
Turtles? I don't know...I've leave that to someone else.
Snakes? I think snakes are too dumb for emotions. Simple is probably a better word. They don't need any sort of social structure in nature beyond warning off potential predators (and I'd call fear more of an instinct than an emotion), and never needed to develop emotions like other creatures with more complex social structures. Eat, sleep, repeat. Procreate as needed. No emotion needed. Sorry, but I don't think a snake is capable of love, or even like. The good news for those of you that keep getting bit...your snake doesn't hate you either.
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Turtles feel fear, blind panic, relaxation (comfort) and lust. No curiosity that I have ever noticed. Lizards have curiosity and they have a kind of memory, a memory of being stroked and soothed. When Clover (my green iguana) sees me coming in the morning she knows I am going to handle and stroke her and she raises her head and closes her eyes in anticipation of this. I never let her down! When Iggy sees me coming he backs off and starts to hiss and toss his head. Vive le difference!
As for snakes, I think the only emotion they have is fear, a defense asset. They are comfortable in a situation where there is a lack of any perceived threat.
