krusty
Almost Legendary
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- Aug 17, 2005
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....NO.......imo.
If you're intelligent as a human, I agree, you'd be bored silly, but a snake is a very different animal from a human. Snakes are designed by evolution to sit around doing nothing for months on end, and a lot of their natural activities are only carried out by necessity; they certainly don't need recreation or social interaction in the same way people do. There is certainly a limit and in some cases, snakes are kept, as you say, as scaly battery hens, which is arguably cruel. I'm not so sure that snakes appreciate different smells etc. When people take their snakes outside, they often say they 'turn wild', this is often misinterpreted as the snake really enjoying itself, somehow realising it's outside, somehow 'closer to nature and as a response, 'comes alive', but what is actually usually going on, is the snake is terrified out of its mind, which is why it frantically smells everything, becomes hyper alert, rapidly moves around (looking for cover etc) and becomes prone to biting (being out in the open in an unfamiliar environment, it expects it's about to be eaten). As I said earlier, they can't talk and are very bitter creatures, so won't be willing or able to share their thoughts on the matter and we'll probably have to continue speculating, in discussions started by people like 'supertaipan' who are looking for fights
Nephrurus said:Snakes are very primitive animals, and i agree they probably don't have a huge mental capacity, and i'd even go so far as to say they probably don't have a wide range of emotions . That said, captive snakes don't have the opportunity to be uncomfortable in captivity in that the average snake sits at optimum temperature and is fed regularly. Although there is no evidence to support it i feel experiencing cold, hunger and feeding on different prey types is gong to stimulate different synapses in their tiny brains and make for a more stimulated snake. Although snakes are opportunist feeders and will eat whenever they can, hunger is probably a good thing as it allows the snakes physiological processes to work properly. When hungry my maculosa get very active, the increase in activity might be good for them, i'm not sure. If you haven't noticed, none of this is hard evidence... it's all my opinion!
I think the snake will end up being a healthy snake regardless but it's more about what the keeper is prepared to provide for the animals in their care.
Put simply, some people are happy keeping a living creature for it's entire existance in a dark 60 x 30 x 15cm box with compressed newspaper pellets for substrate, some people are'nt!
-H
Supertaipan said:You all sound to me like you are trying to justify your own selfish reasons for keeping your snakes in less than ideal conditions, to say snakes in captivity are better off than those in the wild is pure madness, otherwise why were snakes created??
wow chill out dude, ppl have said that snakes cant be happy or unhappy(tho not said directly in this thread).Cris: no one said they knew snakes didn't experience happiness or emotion. You can't prove this either way, but to assume that without it they'd just sit there and do nothing is absurd. Even bacteria move about, feed and reproduce.... U f'tard.
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