You probably fall in the category of people who consider snakes as their favorite pet. Whether you have one already or thinking of bringing one home, the big question is always your snake can recognize you as their owner. Of course, you being a human being, you will definitely recognize and love your snake and would enjoy it if your favorite animal recognized you back.
The sad news is that snakes do not have the type of intelligence to distinguish a particular human from another. However, they can be accustomed to tolerating contact with people. This could create the illusion of recognition and differentiation. Still, the reality is that snakes will only be comfortable around humans even though they will never prefer your presence over another person’s presence. So yes, unlike the other pets such as dogs and cats, snakes can recognize you, but just as a human, but not as their owner.
The similarity in Senses Between Humans and Snakes
Snakes possess six senses in total. Like humans, they have the standard five senses that include sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste. Besides, they have the ability to detect the heat levels of other creatures around them without coming in contact with them. This feature enables snakes to detect potential prey from some distance.
Sight
Snakes have a weak vision- they cannot see long distances as their eyesight is very poor.
Hearing
Like eyesight, the snakes’ hearing is not developed to the same levels as the other pets. In fact, their hearing is purely based on vibration rather than sound.
Smell
Snakes have amazing smelling senses. However, they do not have the ability to recognize their owner’s scent instantly as the dogs do. Their sense of smell is not designed similarly. In fact, they use their tongue to smell.
Taste
Snakes have an excellent tasting sense. Like they do with smelling, snakes use their tongue to taste air particles emitted by an organism, and with this, they can tell whether something is a potential meal or not.
The Other Characteristics of Snakes
Low Memory to Perform Tasks
Snakes do not have the mental capacity to process some information into a pattern of determination or recognition. This explains why snakes can never differentiate between people, even if they have a good sense of smell. In a nutshell, snakes do not have the concept of being domesticated, and therefore, it is difficult for them to separate the owner and potential prey.
No need for concern though, your snake will at no time consider having you as their next meal. This is because most snakes that can be kept as pets are not huge in size; thus, they do not have the ability to consume anything human-size. It is sporadic, next to impossible, that they could think about feeding on you.
Poor Preference Displaying Capabilities
You could think that your pet snake can identify your presence and distinguish between you and another human. This is a huge misconception, though. Snakes can only tolerate human contact, nothing more. The owner is responsible for conditioning their snake to feel comfortable around humans.
Therefore, whenever snakes behave differently whenever a stranger approaches them, this does not mean that they recognize that they are not being handled by their owner. It is just that someone new or unfamiliar to the snake may act differently, prompting the snake to act defensively.
Can snakes recognize voices?
Most people think that snakes cannot hear much, if anything, because they do not have external ears and do not appear to respond to any noises. Scientific research, however, seems not to agree with this misconception. The truth is that snakes have ears, two of them, just like any other reptiles.
Snakes’ ears are placed just behind their eyes. The difference between their ears and those of other reptiles is that snakes’ ears do not have external ear flaps, but rather they have small holes on each side of their heads that serve as ear openings. Functional inner ears are located inside the tiny earholes, but there are no eardrums or middle ear.
While most of the other animals have their inner ears filled with fluids, snakes’ inner ears are filled with air. In addition to the fully functional ear structures, snakes have a bone known as the quadrate bone in their jaws. This bone moves slightly whenever there are vibrations caused by the snake’s slithering on the ground.
Over the years, there has not been a clear answer to whether snakes hear actual noises that are not ground vibrations. Scientists have tried to establish this, and their finding is that the quadrate bone can respond to both airborne vibrations and ground vibrations. This is made possible by the presence of spinal nerves in snakes that transfer the skin’s vibrations to the quadrate bone, making the bone to vibrate.
The process is usually termed as stomach hearing. As with the other animal ears, the transfer of movement to the inner ear is done by the bones, and eventually, the signals are sent to the brain for interpretation as sound. This being the case, it is then true that snakes can actually hear noises even though they have poor hearing abilities.
So, snakes can hear, but the question remains, can they distinguish voices? As indicated earlier in this article, snakes do not bear the mental abilities to process some bits of information into a recognition pattern. Therefore, even if they can hear, snakes cannot recognize voices.
Do snakes know their name?
Using Hertz as the measuring parameter, researchers have attempted to answer the question of whether snakes have the ability to hear. Hertz is the unit of measuring the pitch of sounds. Some researchers have concluded that snakes can detect low frequency (50 to 1000 Hertz) airborne as well as ground vibrations through their inner ear structures.
However, there has not been a clear stipulation of what exactly snakes can hear. Some studies reveal that snakes’ peak sensitivity is 200 to 300 Hertz, while other studies have it that the range is between 80 to 160 Hertz.
An ordinary human with good hearing ability can hear sounds in the range of 20 to 20,000 Hertz. With this knowledge, it is safe to conclude that snakes can only hear what we humans would regard as lower sounds. The assumption that is always taken during research studies is that because all snakes have similar ear anatomy, they all have similar hearing abilities. There is a chance, though, that this could be a misconception, and the reality could be that snakes from different environments have different hearing abilities.
In general, because it is known that snakes’ peak hearing sensitivity lies in the range 200 to 300 Hertz, and it is also known that the average human voice is at around 250 Hertz, it can then be concluded that a pet snake can hear you when you talk to them. And this being the case, there is a high possibility that snakes recognize their names whenever they are called out. This, in fact, has been supported by most snake owners who claim that their snakes do recognize their names.
How do snakes show affection?
You are perhaps itching to understand whether your snake pet loves you or not? Whether your favorite animal friend is fascinated by your presence or its home. It is natural for every pet owner, including those who own snakes, to be curious to understand pet behaviors. The big question would be how snakes show their affection.
Well, here comes the sad news; according to research, snakes do not have the intellectual capacity to display affection. The most they can show is acceptance for the human who feeds and takes care of them. This is displayed by tolerance to handling, whereby they do not act or feel threatened by human existence.
Unlike dogs and cats, who have the capacity to show complex emotions and affection, snakes cannot. Snakes’ mental capacity is very low and therefore they do not have the intelligence that other pets do. The frontal lobe in snakes’ brains is tiny and weak, and thus, less intellectual capacity.
Therefore, if you are interested in pets to dote on your moves, then snakes are not your type. They are solitary creatures whose only interest is the desire to survive. The truth of the matter is that snakes cannot even feel or display affection in the way you could think of it.
Most snake owners would be hoodwinked to believe that their snakes know and care for them, even if they cannot show it as other animals would do. This is very misleading; snakes can only display an acceptance to humans- their owners for this instance, and this should not be associated with the affection of any sort.
This acceptance is what allows you to approach or handle your snake without making it upset or uncomfortable. However, you should not mistake the lack of affection for hate – your snake does not hate you, its life, or its home; it is just that it is unable to develop any affection whatsoever.
Survival is all that snakes desire. Their needs for eating, drinking drive them, and breeding – love and affection play no role. In fact, they do not even play a role when it comes to mating or family structures. Male and female snakes only come together to make babies, and once this has been done, snake mothers do not even bother to protect and care for their young ones.
Overall, snakes have no affection at all. Some snake owners may want to argue that their snakes show some affection, but this is very misleading.
Why does my snake stare at me?
Snakes stare at you whenever they are not sure whether you are a predator or a potential prey. Remember that snakes have no capacity to recognize their owner. Therefore, occasionally, they could stare at you while trying to figure out the circumstances in which they are in. During this moment, they are not sure whether to remain calm, run away from you, or proceed with aggression.
Some people believe that snakes are always staring because they have no eyelids to close their eyes. This is not true at all. Snakes actually have eye caps or spectacles, which they can use to close their eyes when sleeping.
Tips to Bond with Your Snake
Pet snakes are low maintenance pets. The only downside with having snakes as pets is that they have no capacity to bond with their owners as dogs or cats would. To make your snake comfortable around you, you need to make it familiar with you being around them and handle it more often.
The key thing to do is to ensure that your snake gets used to you. You can create a better relationship with your snake by spending more time with it because by doing so, it will relax more and enjoy being held. The below tips should help you create a great bond with your pet snake:
- Leave your snake to be alone for the first days or weeks you have it – it takes time for snakes to get accustomed to a new environment.
- Ensure the snake gets used to your presence by rearranging its tank occasionally – move its home, water dish, etc. while being careful not to touch your snake in the process.
- Hold your hand in front of your snake’s head, so it gets used to you.
- The initial touching of the snake should be done while it is still inside its tank.
The Bottom Line
Snakes can recognize their owners, but definitely not in the way you may think. So, the answer to the topic question is both yes and no. Snakes do not have the senses to recognize the people that keep them as their owners or food givers, but they can recognize their humans as non-threats.
It is challenging for a snake to differentiate between humans. Still, their experience with humans makes them understand that humans are not after hurting them, and for this reason, they won’t care when they are handled. Because they will always remember that humans are not threats, it could appear that a snake is becoming friendly and recognizes their owner, but the truth of the matter is that they feel a bit comfortable around humans.
This being the case, though, you should not give up on them; they need your care and a rewarding relationship.