Outcast_Searcher wrote:Sounds great. But would a nice garter snake or python be THAT different re enjoying the pet? And without the potential big downside?
Certain species of rattlers are among the few snake species that actually seek out companionship and display some rudimentary simulacrum of empathy.
I've kept a boa constrictor, and multiple garter snakes and corn snakes, and once cared for a friend's 13 foot Burmese python while he was on vacation. Each any every one of them was a totally different experience from each other. One of the corns was surprisingly intelligent for a snake and figured out how to unlatch all four latches on the cage lid in order to pop the lid(and repeated the behavior), learned how to drown mice in the water dish to expedite the kill(and repeated the behavior), was able to recognize me from other people, would come over to me on its own, and could pick things up with its prehensile tail(it knew to grab a knife by the handle instead of the blade, but did not figure out how to use it or what to do with it, but that would have been awesome if it would have). The rattler was the one other snake out of the ones I kept as pets that could obviously tell me apart from other people(he'd rattle at my roommates and guests, but not at me), but from what I could tell was not as intelligent as that corn. The others were just derpy noodles that seemed to be mostly instinct driven, but all had different personalities that were independent of their species. I've seen pythons and garter snakes that were less calm than the 'lil Nipper and were so bitey they could not be picked up, handled, or pet without a bite resulting, no matter how long you worked with them. Nippy was basically a kitten, a venomous and potentially deadly kitten, but in terms of behavior a kitten none the less. He didn't start out that way when I first got him.
After the first month of keeping him, Nippy was a very chill and calm snake, and not the only rattler I've known with that sort of disposition. A friend of mine back in Texas kept a Timber Rattler named Rex that was "friendly" and would go over to strangers on its own looking to be pet when its keeper would let it roam around(supervised). I let that one lay on my neck after it crawled there on its own. He could be pet underneath the head and on the belly. Definitely not something you'd expect to experience. His wife made him get rid of it after it got out of the cage for the third time(likely the result of the oldest son unlocking the cage) and they found it under the couch(imagine stepping on that by accident without the snake knowing it was an accident...). Before that, his four kids, the youngest being 2 and oldest 7, got into the cage and fought over it. When he came into the room they were agitating it and it was rattling, but no one got bitten. It's as if the animal knew not to harm people and/or had no desire to harm anyone. A wild animal would not behave that way, especially considering that its first instinct is to bite at whatever its heat-sensing pits indicate is a potential threat or prey item. That snake was also a sweetheart. I was told I'm the only person it ever snapped at; long story short I was drunk and reached into its cage to pick it up the wrong way, and startled it. I was not bitten, but it was a close call. A collector from Dallas bought it from my friend and I do not know the snake's current status. I hope it gets as much affection and attention as it got from its previous owner.
I like the challenge of "taming" something that conventional wisdom says can't be "tamed". Of course, it's quite possible that if I got another rattler, it would indeed be entirely un-domesticable, unlike Nippy or Rex. It really depends on its personality, and loving these animals means caring for them anyway regardless of what you end up with, even if you can't pet or cuddle that one, ever. I've seen rattlers that were extremely nervous and bitey as well, and I would not dare try to handle one of those defensive ones without a hook. Learning to read these animals' body language is an art form unto itself. There's a lot more going on than meets the eye to the casual observer and these animals are not as stupid as conventional wisdom would have one believe.
http://www.animalcognition.org/2016/01/12/interview-with-snake-behavior-researcher-melissa-amarello/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3476971.stm
The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the old growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder. ~Thomas Jefferson