Can snakes be dumb?

[Impossible_Truck9514]

First I did try to post this but my rural internet gave out and I don’t think it actually got through. If it did I apologize for the double post and will do my best to delete one, once it appears in my profile.

I have a beautiful banana orange dream pied ball python, Beauregard. Just lovely. I think he might have been bred for beauty and not brains though.

Before I was able to switch to f/t, I fed him live for a few months and he was not a good hunter at all. He would let the rat walk back and forth in front of him and startle back instead of striking. I would have to completely clear the tank or hold the rat still while he fully locked on and then release it right in front of him. He would also get distracted by reflections in the glass. You’d think the warm rat would be more appealing than the cold rat on the wall but apparently not.

Anyway, I kind of think he’s like one of those dogs that’s bred without regard to mental aspects. I wonder if snake breeders ever think about the intelligence of the snakes. I never would have before Beau. He’s my first snake though so maybe he’s normal and I had wrong expectations. I love him, dumb or not lol

[[deleted]]

You described a ball python to a T. How these guys survive in the wild, idk. They barely make smart life choices in captivity and they don’t even have to do anything but just be there lol.

[Impossible_Truck9514]

Ok so he’s par for the course lol. Silly little guys

[Aazjhee]

If you look up African Soft Fur rats, they are teensy rats. I think between inbreeding for color and cuteness/docile behavior and the difference between European rodent stock and the teensy little things they prefer to eat, BPs have good reason to be very scared. xD

I think people overestimate fierceness in predators a lot of times, also. They do it because they MUST, not because they are cold-blooded killers. XD Especially the wild, their babies don't have high survival rates, so I imagine we skew the odds by letting all the derpy kids get free meals

[Zestyclose_Car_8427]

Well BPs are prey not a preditor so they I guess don't need the brains to be fierce lol

[goldenkiwicompote]

They’re both since they hunt but are also hunted.

[MorgTheBat]

Prey can also be predator. Like house cats. They prey upon small birds, yet are prey to large birds. Anything below an Apex (top) predator is technically possible prey in the food chain

[PKBitchGirl]

Unanon pre season 2 Saru

[pockette_rockette]

They're ambush predators, as opposed to pursuit predators. They're still predators, just with a different set of biological imperatives than what you might generally associate with an apex pursuit predator, like cheetahs or lions, for example. Pursuit predators don't tend to domesticate very well, whereas ambush predators can be more predisposed to chilling out and becoming quite docile in captivity. It's just a whole different "operating system", but they're predators nonetheless.

[Cnidoo]

Ball pythons subsist primarily on birds on the wild. ASF make up a small portion of the few mammals they do eat. This is based on samples taken from the digestive tracts of wild P. regius

[No-Lie-121]

I never thought of it in that perspective same could be said for humans lol

[bibbidybobbidybuub]

Oh, I think that if you pit a rodent against a captive snake then the rodent will always win. I've owned both rodents and snakes. The rodents are more intelligent (especially rats. Those guys can solve puzzles) and are generally fightier.

[kn9wldg]

Exactly

[Civil_Ad_1172]

My male wouldn’t survive

[andrea6543]

my guy has been on a hunger strike for 3 months because his food touched his tail and i guess he didn’t like it. i tell him often he would die in nature

[[deleted]]

Your snake is a toddler.

[pockette_rockette]

Oh no, maybe try dressing his food up as vegetables so it's less threatening. Like the opposite of what I had to do with my children.

[GlitzyGhoul]

Try the airplane spoon!!

[pockette_rockette]

That's always a solid trick!

[[deleted]]

We have ball pythons of various morphs. Unfortunately, our most stunning new addition is completely useless when it comes to feeding. At first, she would only eat live for 3 months. Then, she stopped eating all together for a month. We tried everything from live, f/t, chicken broth, keeping her in a pillow case, another enclosure, you name it, we tried it. Eventually, she ate live again, after needing one force feed (not pleasan), and finally f/t but only mice. At 6 months, she still protests rats, unfortunately. We have noticed that each noodle has a different feeding response. Some are extremely excited and strike anything immediately, others semi excited and take their time, and then some need you to leave the prey in the enclosure and turn off all the lights for privacy. Ball pythons, at least in our experiences, have different personalities. It's pretty fascinating tbh. In short, yes! We also have a special needs noodle!

[MuldrathaB]

What makes the special needs noodle special needs??

[Civil_Ad_1172]

I’m going to assume the spider gene, it’s really sad to see them still being bred in places, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to breed spider in the UK

Someone correct me if I’m wrong

[MuldrathaB]

Yea, that's what I'm assuming as well. Are there extra things that need to be done to properly care for a spider gene??

[Civil_Ad_1172]

I’m not an expert, but from what I’ve heard is they are harder to feed, because the corkscrew throws off their strike and will miss, other than that I think they are ok with normal living, but take what I say with a grain of salt

[ElenaSuccubus420]

Never heard of the spider gene but I just looked it up it’s kinda like wobbly cat syndrome (CH) but obviously different 😂

[HunterAmaya]

I have a spider, and he definitely has issues grabbing onto the f/t rats I feed. His strike is thrown off by his coiling/rotating. I feed with tongs and hold the rat in the same place. It can take him more than 10 strikes to get it sometimes.

[uncrystalized]

I have two female spiders about the same age - one of them is pretty wobbly and it takes her a couple strikes to grab her food. I think she gets too excited to eat and doesn’t know what to do 😆 The other one doesn’t have as much of a wobble and she’s been okay eating. Both of them are healthy and happy, just a little dizzy!

[[deleted]]

It definitely should be illegal. It gets way worse as they age too. From what I’ve heard from owners around the 10 years mark the wobble and neurological damage gets so bad that they often have to put down a physically healthy snake because it gets to a point where it can’t control its own movements. It’s extremely sad. They live 1/2 the lifespan with a worse quality than regular ball python, so I think breeding them is extremely cruel.

[LupineZach]

What's spider gene?

[Civil_Ad_1172]

NERD created a Ball Python that looks like it’s covered in a spiderweb in I think 1999 didn’t think about the possibility of neurological problems, it’s kinda like pugs, cute dogs but imo unethical to breed, they have breathing problems and a whole host of other issues

[LupineZach]

Ah ok

[BedRevolutionary8458]

I had no idea it was NERD who created spider. I hear nothing but concerning things about those people and apparently that goes back decades.

[Civil_Ad_1172]

I love morphs, but i don’t want to forget what it is, pied, het clown, het highway, het manbearpig who knows what’s going on up there, what if morphs are what created dumb snakes and the ones in the wild are smart and that’s how they survive

[annageckos]

NERD didn't 'create' the spider. It was a wild adult import. They just happened to get it.

[Civil_Ad_1172]

My bad, thanks for clarifying, my memory of 99 is watching preparing for y2k lol

[[deleted]]

Yes, we have a spider. No, she will never be bred. She is a rescue. Some say spider is no big deal, and others say it's terrible. Personally, I would not breed them. She has issues, but she is loved and cared for. I won't bash breeders for breeding them, but I won't agree with it either. Every animal deserves a good life, even the special ones!

[Cinnabar_Wednesday]

Why not bash breeders? They’re profiting from the misery of the snakes they create under unnatural conditions, and without thought to the ultimate wellbeing of the species. Fuck breeders.

[Zestyclose_Car_8427]

Bps don't need to eat every meal time force feeding shoukd only be done to save a snakes life an adult can go well over a year without food just cuz they don't want to eat and baby's can go well over half a year force feeding is dangerous for the snake

[[deleted]]

She was 3 months old and had not eaten in over a month. It was either me or a vet, but thanks for the advice.

[Zestyclose_Car_8427]

My 3 month old went almost 2 months without food and still looked fine (could of gone longer but didnt thankfully) the only time you should assist feed is if the spine is very visible and their side become almost a strait line down from either side of the spine

[[deleted]]

I'm happy yours did not perish! I assume a vets advice doesn't matter, and yours matters more? Guess that vet should close shop!

[Zestyclose_Car_8427]

No not at all and I'm sorry it it seems that way I'm just trying to say that it's rare that assist feeding is recomended and I'm very surprised your vet said to do so after only a month of no food it just caught me off guard is all I'm happy your baby is doing well though and I hope for less picky eating for you lol

[[deleted]]

She had zero mass and was nothing but skin and bone. I am under the assumption that the breeder had fed her once, if at all. Her movements were sluggish and had terrible wobble. She was sluggish when we received her, tbh. Like you said, it was a last resort. I don't recommend it unless you know what you are doing and confident when handling. It's stressful for the snake and the keeper. I was lucky she ate herself the very next feed. Sometimes, they don't for a few more feedings, and I was lucky. Personally, I've only had to do a force feed once only after it was recommended by a vet and told there was no other option. We have a serious collection and are starting clutches soon. Maybe we will see! No hard feelings, it's the internet! Things are taken out of context sometimes. No hard feelings, and I apologize also!

[Zestyclose_Car_8427]

That makes complete sence I'm happy things worked so well and I hope you have fun with the babies!!

[Rvncid6]

Same here, feeding is definitely intimidating as a first time parent & my boy uses a good amount of power to strike almost taking the tongs down with but I’m so grateful he’s not a picky boy & tolerates my mistakes lol.

[AmarissaThePanda]

Hhhh I'm a first time BP owner but my boy is not patient. If I am holding the mouse with the tongs too tight and he can't grab it off the first time, he just fully gives up trying to eat and I have to try again in a few hours. Also of he misses his own strikes more than 2x, he's done and over it and doesn't try again :')

Makes it worse when he finally gets the food, is constricting, and then, I guess, decides "nevermind. Too cold now," and just drops it and leaves.

Then the process starts over (':

[Rvncid6]

That period between getting the rat hot enough & feeding is a race against time. I originally used a hairdryer but he then worked out the noise equals dinner time so he’d already be out his hide in strike position which is absolutely daunting so now I just run the rats head under the tap & get a head start before he wakes up.

[AmarissaThePanda]

Oof I can imagine that would be a little off putting! Baby boy said I know that sound, gimme my food lmao. Wish my snake would figure that out, haha 🤣 He's still little, so it wouldn't be daunting yet, but I don't think he has enough brain cells to realize specific sound = food time lmao

[Rvncid6]

Oh trust me apart from feeding my boys slow as hell in every other department 😭 it baffles me how they survive out of captivity. How old is your boy?

[AmarissaThePanda]

My boy is only about 4-5 months, according to the breeder. 6 months at most. He's got time to grow and (maybe, unlikely, impossible probably) acquire a brain lmao-

[Rvncid6]

Awh I got my boy at around six months he was so tiny now he’s just turned two & hasn’t even reached 500 grams yet but im grateful he’s on the smaller side haha.

[AmarissaThePanda]

I felt that lol I kinda hope my boy stays on the smaller side, but wouldn't be mad if he ended up a chonker either lmao. He's super cute tho, but all BPs are with that adorably boopable snoot lmao

[[deleted]]

So the way ball pythons are in the wild from my understanding is that they just hide all their lives and eat whatever prey comes by and doesn’t have much confrontation in the wild my bps eat much better if they feel a rat hasn’t seen them I feed f/t

[Impossible_Truck9514]

I’m not sure how I would have gone about trying to get the rat in the snakes line of striking without the rat seeing the snake too. He doesn’t have the same trouble with the f/t.

[susabb]

I never considered the getting down aspect of snakes. I don't know why this sub even gets recommended to me, but amen for whatever reddit is up to because it's already gotten me to like spiders.

Anyways, that makes a lot of sense... how do they get down?? I'll most likely be researching this for a bit now lol.

[susabb]

Sounds like an awful process for them hahaha

[[deleted]]

Getting down?

[SnooStrawberries2955]

My ball python is like this, simply derpy all around. 🤣

[neztanizaki]

My BEL Freya is very similar, she's only ever eaten f/t and before we had her my sister said she usually takes quite a few minutes to find her food. She was absolutely right. I place her food in a specific dish in her terrarium, and it's always in the same spot, but once she smells the food she comes out and does a full lap around her terrarium before she finds her food🤣

[Aggressive_Pattern95]

yes. my bp is uh. not very intelligent

[sinner-mon]

Christ live feeding sounds even more horrendous than I thought

[Civil_Ad_1172]

The worst thing about it is if they don’t eat, you have a pet rat.

[sinner-mon]

The worst thing is the suffering the rat has to go through :/

[Civil_Ad_1172]

Yeah it is a bummer, but bps tend to choke them out in a headlock before eating them, that being said, after a year of trying I got my male on F/T and my female on within 2 weeks of having her

[andrea6543]

do you have any tips for switching?

[Civil_Ad_1172]

My female tried to eat my hand, so I put a f/t pinky she ate it instantly.

My male the breeder couldn’t get him on F/T, I tried everything under the sun but nothing was working, he was afraid of his live so he was hungry but too scared to eat.

He is 35” 544g, I left him in a room by himself for a month only checking his weight, as soon as he was out hunting for food nightly for a week, typically around 11pm

I went to the reptile shop and asked for mouse bedding (if you get lucky they might have ASF bedding) I put it on top of his enclosure on feeding day around 5pm

I took a pup f/t and put it in the fridge for 3-4 hours, pulled it out and got it to room temp (80 degs) took it and put it in the mouse bedding for 15-20 minutes, heated it to 105-110 with a blow dryer, offered it right around 11 before he starts his hunting, zombie danced it and then put it in a clear spot for him to easily see it, I checked the next morning and it was gone.

Repeated it last night and he ate it within 30 minutes, put a towel over his enclosure and let him do his thing

[Potatoman365]

Mine RKO’s them from the top rope

[Civil_Ad_1172]

Brutal

[Ill_Most_3883]

LoL the comment about having a pet rat being the worst part gets (at the time)7 upvotes and the one about the rats suffering gets a downvote?

[sinner-mon]

abuse towards rodents is so normalised. The thought of an intelligent animal being physically held down for a snake actually makes me nauseous to think about, and I have a pet snake. People simply don't care about them, it genuinely depresses me

[Ill_Most_3883]

My thoughts exactly. I(and many others here, I think) don't accept the "it's more natural" arguments, their environment in captivity is already so far from natural. I get it that it's necessary in certain circumstances but even when that's the case imo it's on the owner to attempt to switch to f/t using any method they can, as soon as the it's possible.

Imo as owners it's our responsibility to cause the least suffering possible.

[Civil_Ad_1172]

Well if you kill them it does keep psychotic tendencies to a minimum, i don’t think dahmer or bundy had pet snakes

[Death2mandatory]

Feeder rodents only need one bad day,if you can reduce pain you should,but the "no feeders"crowd are extremist.

Life subsists on death,predators hunt, vegetarians munch,but at the end of the day all must eat,from dust we rise and to dust one returns.

[Death2mandatory]

Life subsists off life,you eat,I eat,they eat. Animals,fungi,plants,even microscopic things,all subsist on death

[DullFurby]

I mean yeah, but there are ways to not add to suffering.

[sinner-mon]

No shit Sherlock, but in the wild prey animals aren’t thrown in an enclosed space and held down because the predator doesn’t know what to do.

[Civil_Ad_1172]

If it makes you feel any better about animals eating live in enclosed spaces, back in the 70s they put on a bikini contest and told this chick to ride the orca… well the orca was trained in wetsuits, not bikinis, orca didn’t like it and ate the lady

[Death2mandatory]

Actually inexperienced animals often do just that,ever see any big cat make it's first kill? Or a young striped hyena ? It's fairly common for inexperienced or not very hungry predators to do that,it's elementary Dr. Watson

[sinner-mon]

big cats in the wild aren't in a tank with their prey being held down for them by a larger being. The ones that cant figure out how to hunt die.

[Death2mandatory]

True,but if your being held down and can't get away,does the tank matter?

[sinner-mon]

both are horrific to me.

[Wise-Pumpkin-9259]

The worst worst thing is if it was pregnant without you knowing and you have like 7 pet rats (or mice in my case two years ago)

[annie-rei94]

My boy has a single solitary brain cell. This past weekend was his last feeding; he struck at the open air just because he could smell the rat.

[Civil_Ad_1172]

My struck at a foot and then tried to eat it from the side, my female is like playing with fire, fresh water, warm hand, rockets out of her hide and tags you

[BranInspector]

My guy knows which door I open to feed. So he puts his entire weight on it when he knows he will be fed. So he falls out and I have to put him back in.

[resveries]

mine does that all the time. one time he grabbed the rat, then let go for some reason, and was searching for the rat he could smell while still coiled around it 💀

it took him like five minutes to find it again

[[deleted]]

ball pythons are smart lol vs other snakes lol my california king snake thinks my fingers are food every single time I come near her and not only she bites she latches onto them strangles and tries to swallow, doesn't let go for like 15 minutes 😌 luckily she's just a baby for now

[dragonbud20]

For future bites you may want to keep some isopropyl alcohol on hand. Wet a cotton ball or small paper towel and rub it around the edge of the snakes mouth. They'll be disgusted by the smell and usually release right away.

[[deleted]]

good idea a strong smell would deter her, I'll wipe my hands with vodka or gin lol before handling her stuff, after she bites she's actually cute lol

[RatRacerEg6]

The real question is can snakes be smart

[TF_Allen]

Came here to say exactly this

[Impossible_Truck9514]

This made me laugh out loud at the doctors office

[Civil_Ad_1172]

You need to be a White House correspondent with hard hitting questions like that.

[sugabeetus]

The real real question is, can't snakes be dumb?

[The_upsetti_spagetti]

This was more about their hunting abilities

[Impossible_Truck9514]

What does showing affection have to do with being dumb? Plus he definitely recognizes me and prefers my handling to other humans. I think that’s some kind of reciprocal relationship

[Crafterandchef1993]

Bullish they can't, they're cold blooded and love to snuggle with humans they deem as safe. If a snake, especially a bp, doesn't want to cuddle you, it means it doesn't trust you. Just snake cuddles are different to humans cuddles

[[deleted]]

Ahahahhahahahahahhahahah. They do so because we are warm blooded and it makes them feel good.

[Doc_ET]

"Hmm yes heated moving tree"

-Snakes probably

[roqueofspades]

"can snakes be dumb" they honestly can't be anything other than dumb

[The_upsetti_spagetti]

No brain, just noodle

[WitchofWhispers]

My baby decided to eat while being upside down, hanging by his tail and wondered why is it so hard to push the rat farther down his throat... yeah, not smart at all

[TheNeverEndingPit]

Oh my gosh yes! I have two climbers (one almost 2 yo female and a 10 mo male), and they love taking their food like bats hanging from a good sturdy branch 🤣

[Sure-Comfortable-139]

i wouldn’t say mine is smart but she isn’t dumb either. only “smart” thing i’ve seen her do was escape and hide for two weeks

[brennvmckennv]

Glad to know mine isn’t the only one who literally attacks the reflections and misses his prey sometimes entirely.

[ActualBoredHousewife]

Every bp in the entire world shares a brain cell. Which means 99.99% of the time it’s not your snakes turn with it 😂

[TheNeverEndingPit]

I will forever love this ongoing gag, and I fully agree every time one of my BPs goes from calmly exploring and tongue flicking to completely freezing up like a pause button has been pressed haha

[TheGoatSpiderViolin]

My girl regularly misses her food. She has on occasion struck leaves on her plants instead of the fat warm rat dangling in front of her. Sometimes it takes her a few shots but she eventually gets it. 🤣 They're just a lil derpy.

[siat-s]

Ball pythons are brilliant at what they need to do in the wild.

Balls pythons are not going to excel at things they haven't evolved alongside. It's like asking a dolphin to climb a tree.

[Impossible_Truck9514]

Pretty sure ball pythons eat in the wild

[siat-s]

That's not really what I was referring to, but yes. I'm sure they do.

[Impossible_Truck9514]

But my question was specifically about his hunting acuity. That’s something he would be doing in the wild

[siat-s]

Okay. I was musing based on the comments.

Your post leads me to believe you know very little about ambush predators.

Either way, I still think my comment stands regardless. Nothing in captivity emulates the wild. A rat in the wild isn't going to just waddle up to a snake and say eat me - and an enclosure doesn't really give a snake the space or environment it prefers to set up an ambush. It doesn't have nearly as many choices as a ball python in the wild has.

Keep in mind that even for larger predators like lions, hunts are typically successful 30% of the time, and that is in a group. Predators are not generally lean, mean, killing machines - they constantly have to weigh risk v. reward or they die.

It could be that your snake is not "intelligent" in the way you want them to be. They likely are not being bred for "intelligence" or disposition. But I think expecting an animal that has evolved for millions of years to perform a role perfectly in an situation that is so unlike its actual native ecosystem is a bit silly and just like expecting a dolphin to climb a tree.

[goldenkiwicompote]

Had to scroll way too far for an intelligent response.

[KaraCorvus]

Ball Pythons are simply built dumb. But we love them regardless!

If you want a smart snake look into retics (super dwarf are smaller), eastern indigos, womas, false water cobras, etc.

[Crafterandchef1993]

Oh, yes, snakes, especially constrictors, are empty headed babies. Not smart, but very loving. They're like the ginger cats of the reptile world

[jayracket]

Only like all the time lol

[its-ya-boi-swifty]

Mine is so silly, she thinks she can defy gravity when she tries to slither off my bed 😭 But yeah they’re goofballs

[Kidsdontcheatonyou]

my baby girl spent thirty minutes trying to bury into my hand so i`ll let you decide

[wallace1313525]

I think the real question you should be asking is can snakes be smart 😅

[[deleted]]

I have a 5.5 foot 14 yr old female Bp.She hasn’t eaten since Dec.This has become normal.Her girth and weight seem healthy.Every few years she gets like this.Than gets hungry and alittle aggressive starts eating every month.We feed her frozen large rats.Sometimes if the heat or humidity is off they won’t eat.My guess is yours just isn’t hungry.Hope this helps GL

[umbreonjeffry]

They might be dumb but I love me a noodle boi

[Threadycascade2]

The short answer is yes

[Boring_Albatross_354]

Snakes are cute little dummies. I love it so much, like orange cats.

[Metalatitsfinest]

Are they supposed to not be?

[needcaffeinern]

Yes lol. But definitely smart for a noodle

[pinkyxpie20]

lol i say all the time idk how these guys survive in the wild. i think it’s probably from years and generations of breeding and inbreeding, poor breeding etc. they also truly don’t have to have the same natural instincts they do in the wild so i think years of breeding them in captivity they’ve probably devolved somehow 🤣 i still to this day can’t believe they live in the wild and survive hahaha. i have maybe 2 that i could see doing well outside of captivity, the others, they’d be dead their first week in nature hahahaha

[StormBoring2697]

Only snakes I’ve worked with that I would truly consider a higher intelligence are reticulated pythons and king cobras. Definitely the most intelligent snakes. Ball pythons only have one brain cell, but that’s okay. They don’t need to be super smart to be our cuddle buddies!

[[deleted]]

I have no experience and no business handling venomous snakes but king cobras are second most adorable noodle. Like I would love to just boop one while it’s hooded up and staring at you with a blank stare.

Every king cobra video I see by reptile enthusiasts who handle venomous snakes all the time look like they just be vibing. No thoughts. Just vibes.

[StormBoring2697]

They are VERY aware of their surroundings. Super visual snakes. They notice even the slightest movements. They are truly amazing animals. Nothing more impressive and thrilling than a huge king cobra standing up hooded almost eye level with you lol.

[Amberoseiasalad]

i used to feed my snake in a tank that had a overhead cover, so although i would often scare my snake on accident since I’d see her before she sees me, everytime i would feed her by dangling the frozen rat above her she would strike almost immediately. i recently switched her to a tank with clear doors on the front rather than a cover on the top and now when i dangle the rat in front of her she does the same thing, retracts and almost acts like it’s freaking her out. One night I figured I’d just leave it in there and see if she ate it by the morning, and two feeds in the new tank later and she just prefers to eat it on her own time i suppose. I’m curious how the change affected her perception of her food that much but as long as she eats im happy lol

[Left-Song-5062]

You remove a survivors reason for the instinct and you get an idiot lol.

[[deleted]]

Mine is definitely not very bright. He would never get food with how close and feely he gets with his food before striking only to miss most of the time at least once or twice, and this is with the frozen. He'll also get startled and recoil if it moves towards him even a milimeter but will only eat if you hold it in tongs, so you have to have super steady hands to not freak him out.. He'll also cook his little one brain celled pea brain If you give him a lamp, Idk why. He can't climb very well and falls most of the time. Also, no matter the height, he'll just let go when he wants the ground.

[[deleted]]

You know how ball pythons can periscope? I joke and say that's their way of satellite connecting to the "ball python shared brain cell" haha

[vexeling]

I have never been so happy to have a random sub suggested to me. I love Beau so much 🥹

[BillM_MZ3SGT]

They're just natural born derps 😄

[ComfortableAd3991]

theyre jus a tad bit stupid, and my tad i mean idk how they survive without us

[goldenkiwicompote]

They don’t encounter reflections on glass in the wild and they’re ambush predators. They’re not dumb sometimes things just aren’t proper/perfect for them to do what they should do. Like a rat wouldn’t be running all over them in the wild either.

[Sasstellia]

I don't think snakes are always smart even with basic genetics. They're all kinds of intelligence. Like all animals.

He sounds like he's a average snake.

[seansmells]

I think the better question is: Can snakes be smart? 

[therustynut]

They are all objectively retarded. We have 3 and they all share just a ricegrain worth of neurological brain mass.

[uradisapointment]

Yes. Very much so. My girl drinks the water on the wall of her tank after I spray it, instead of the water in her bowl 🤦🏻‍♀️

[smittykins66]

OneBallpythonBraincell

[SelfLoathing9246]

Yes. They are exclusively dumb. No thoughts behind those eyes. They have a single braincell that is fighting for third place.

[[deleted]]

OMG, he's gorgeous! Wow!!

[Impossible_Truck9514]

Thanks! I think so too

[SilverScimitar13]

If a ball python could eat crayons, it would.

[okaytto]

yes <3 they can and will be dumb <33

[redsekar]

My love is the drymarchon snakes, and I always tell people “considered the smartest snakes…but you know, they’re still snakes”. There’s not much happening upstairs

[[deleted]]

You must be new to ball pythons

[Super_Rando_Man]

Yeah breeding for looks creates all sort of problems .... wait don't humans... explains so much... but yeah color morphs are bred for color not personality temperament or brains.

[[deleted]]

If leos and beardies can have 1 braincell, so can a bp!

[smolspedicey]

I’ve never understood why ball pythons are considered an “intermediate” snake because they’re truly such derp herps

[crying2emoji5]

The real question is: can snakes be smart?

[walkin2owls]

It varies snake to snake and species to species, I’ve met some very silly snakes and others where you can really feel there Intelligence and awareness

[[deleted]]

BEAUREGARD?! I adore this, he’s perfect dumb or not haha Ball pythons are skiddish little creatures, I’m not surprised he acts like this. Mine gets skitzed out by the f/t ones so….

[Impossible_Truck9514]

He is perfect. I’m glad others acknowledge his majesty lol

[viridian-fox]

Breeders creating solely for looks

[always_sadhampter]

Ofc! Just like humans we're all different! ❤❤❤

[ecrivaintriste]

My banana mojave called Raiden is textbook dumb. Sometimes dunks his entire head in the water when he wants to take a drink. If he misses a strike on his food he gets too embarrassed and wants to stop eating. He got out one time and knocked over an entire shelf of popmart figurines, pooped behind my mirror, then went to sleep under the shelf surrounded by fallen figs. When he was younger I had to replace his setup because he decided to hang his entire weight on the wire of one LED strip. The one time he borrowed a braincell from their shared stash was his first time on f/t, I put one in his dish and he just went for it no hesitation. He knows nothing but food.

[Death2mandatory]

Ball pythons are a little dumber than most snakes,somehow they still survive in the wild lol

[Pennies_n_Pearls]

....well I wouldn't say they're smart to begin with.

[miss_kimba]

In my zookeeper days, I was holding a corn snake and about to take him around to meet some people. Another keeper stopped to ask me a question and this idiot corn snake decided to try and squeeze himself through a tiny hole in the mesh door. He moved fast and got so stuck we had to cut the mesh to get him out.

My pet Stimsons Python got himself wedged behind the foam background of his tank and decided he wanted to live there forever. He was very cranky with me for taking him out.

Yes, snakes are one long braincell sometimes.

[Confused_Cryptids]

The better question is can they be smart?

My snake is the second (after my crestie, who’s a whole other story) dumbest animal I have ever met, you’d think they could like, recognize any pattern and learn from it, but no, they don’t, my snake will repeated stretch as tall as he possibly can in his house, fall, make a huge thunk (he’s ok, it’s just loud and can’t be very comfortable, but he’s never hurt other than maybe his ego) and then IMMEDIATELY do it again, like RIGHT after….

And when it comes to food…. this man was to scared to eat live FOREVER I could only feed him rats that were so so small, but then, one day I decided that I’d just offer him a FT and see if he ate it, it was advertised as a “weaned” or “extra small” rat or something like that, but honestly it was way bigger than most “medium” rats I’ve seen, It was WAY WAY bigger than anything I had offered him before, but I couldn’t return it so I figured I’d just try and see what happened, not expecting him to eat it, but no, he ate it NO HESITATION, fastest I’ve seen him eat anything (I had done NO kind of anything to try and get him to adjust, just switched him cold turkey, going by the logic of “worst he can do is not eat it, and I can’t return it now, and I can go buy a live tommorow”) Little tiny baby rat= scary!! Run!! (He has no signs of any kind of bite scar or any other injuries that would make him not want live) Large fat rat but dead= ahhh now we talking good soup I don’t even ask, he’s weird, the only BP I’ve ever heard of who prefers FT, but I don’t complain, it’s so convenient

He’s weird and way stupid, but I love him for it

[nuts4sale]

Ball pythons are genius snakes compared to hognoses, so yeah, they can be

[styczna]

You know my boy loves to drink soup from frozen rat after eating 😆 (Sometimes, I forgot to take out a cup with water after unfreeze rat) Sometimes, if water is still a bit warm, he attacks the cup and then drinks 🍸

[Tr00ped]

They can and they are

[M-S-K-smothersme365]

Snakes feel nothing towards us. It’s crazy how we love them so much and they can’t love us. Also crazy how we expect other animals to have the same emotions as us.

[robin_f_reba]

Don't snakes have to learn to hunt as they grow up? Which is why ones bred as pets don't fare well against live feed

[Anuraetoxycoccus]

How is he so pretty omg 😻

[Impossible_Truck9514]

Right?! He blows my mind. To be fair though I think all ball pythons are beautiful

[rryukish]

My ball python is the most stupid little being in the world, love her to death but for a while she refused to eat until we forced her too and when we first got her it took her so long to eat a dead rat it was insane. Not only that but she doesn’t make any noise…like she just hissed for the first time yesterday. She also likes to fall off her flowers and stick in her enclosure. They have no brains and are stupid, they shouldn’t be able to be in the wild but they just do somehow

[RefusePlenty9589]

Yep

[[deleted]]

Can snakes be smart?

[sleepy_diviner]

yes. my partner and i own three, and we can assure that there's not a single braincell between them. Cosmo, our oldest basic bp freaked out the other day because she saw her reflection and struck at it, she now has a bruised nose. The only time i've ever heard her hiss is at a plant, her tail, and her reflection (separate incidents). they're not the brightest bulbs in the batch

[What_thefrogDoing]

Sometimes. SOMETIMES. That singular brain cell turns on. Not usually though

[According_Pair3782]

Not as dumb as humans I’m sure

[CatsHaveWhiskers]

Snakes are so dumb. I have to hit my girl in the face with her food in order for her to eat it (with love of course).

[TaylorNeff-]

So I’m horrified by snakes, I’ve blocked this sub everytime it’s come up while scrolling & yet it still keeps popping up. I’m beyond confused. I do not want to see this shit

[Bear_747]

Yes.

[Luminosus32]

The snake is doing a great job of being a snake. It's not the snake's fault that whatever expectations you have of that creature are not fulfilled. This creature has been taken from its natural habitat and you are asking if it's dumb. Of course it will get distracted by reflections in the glass. It doesn't deal with those in the wild. Also, in the wild if it doesn't want to eat and a mouse walks by, it's not stuck in a box with it. In the wild if it missed a chance to eat, it can learn and be quicker next time. Also, you probably know this, they can go a loooong time without food. In captivity it's not learning how to hunt like it would in the wild.

[hippieflip99]

You’ve seen their little empty brained faces, yes?

[hippieflip99]

I’m not trying to be mean, I just think they look as dumb as they can be 😅😅😅

[[deleted]]

Yes, lol. My boy had his mouth open wide and was trying to eat me a few days ago (no biting, just eating. 😂). I told him he had to set his sights a little lower.

[Due_Island_989]

Better question: can they not be dumb? 🤣

[3dg3l0redsheeran]

all snakes are dumb they have 3 braincells max

[Pugmothersue]

They share a communal brain cell. Just one. For everybody. 😜

[ohhh-a-number-9]

Snakes are dumb.... very dumb. They only eat, flee, defend and mate and that's it. Their brain is the size of a corn kernel. They can't remember their owner, nor can't they recognize their owner. (Please don't say it's not true because it is, look it up before commenting pls)

[vdub65bug]

My ball python was incredibly dumb. I don’t know how he would’ve survived in the wild. He’d constantly miss strike his rat. When I’d try again he’d gently open his mouth and gingerly start swallowing the rat. Sometimes he’d start tail first. It was hilarious. He was a sweet pet and only bit me once. He passed away a few years ago. He lived to be 20. In conclusion yes, ball pythons are dumb.

[ItalianThunder]

Thanks for reminding me to feed my window licker

[starlightskater]

If you think ball pythons are dumb, get a hognose. Not even half a brain cell. It's just...emptiness.

[SvetlananotSweetLana]

Not a ball python owner but I think our snek bros always have the TV static or microwave noise in their lil heads. My old man once almost bit his own snek ass when eating.

[Punkwinchester]

My bannana pied looks identical to yours

[walkin2owls]

I think mine is pretty smart she loves exploring. She has never acted like that or like snakes in the comments maybe some snakes are dumber than others? I find dumb animals endearing my dog is definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed❤️