Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueCrowned
I can admittedly get pretty heated when animal welfare is on the line, sorry about that. I feel like not enough people consider the animal as a living creature who can feel pain and fear, especially in this hobby... Reptiles are not as emotional as dogs or cats but it's clear they still have their own level of sentience even if we don't understand it from a mammalian perspective  |
The contact cards I used to hand out seriously said "Rattlesnake spoken here". With patient observation, & even with limited interaction, it's obvious that these are not inherently malevolent creatures, that they fear the unknown and are basically shy, just trying to survive. Much like us, what they most want from life is to feel safe.
They are also nowhere near as "dumb" as most people believe, and they absolutely do learn and retain what they know. While most snakes are not very visual (meaning they don't recognize things on vision alone, but are visually attracted to motion, which may or may not be prey), it's even possible to influence a rattlesnakes mood (to either a hostile or a curious attitude) using visual cues.
While some rattlesnakes can seem quite hostile, remember that you probably aren't the first human they've met. Give them a little credit.