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Originally Posted by koosie
That is true. I remember holding an African Rock Python when I was a little kid and it was one of those revelation moments when something I was expecting to be horrid turned out to be actually pretty nice. The snake was well used to people so perfectly friendly but it just felt so smooth and nice. Probably quite therapeutic too.
It's different when you come across them in the wild of course and feel that animal sense of danger but as long as you possess some rationality or the snake's very big and very hungry that perception of danger is mostly false but is probably why more people don't like them.
Those are 2 very beautiful snakes btw, PBL. The female in the first pic has a really great look on it's face and that colour is something else. Do those black eyeballs move independently?
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Actually, holding or touching a snake HAS been proven to have theraputic properties, reducing blood pressure and increasing the release of the "pleasure" hormone Dopamine in people, even those who are not "snake people". Their skin is very pleasant to touch, as you found out, and the fact that most snakes are actually calm and have such graceful movement probably helps.
Coachwhips can move their eyes a bit independent of each other. They are among the very few snake species that have really good eyesight, but they have few light-sensing cells in their retinas, so they are very diurnal snakes. When it gets dark, they can't see, so they just go to sleep like chickens! Only the pupils are black, though; the iris of their eyes is a gold or orange color, which unfortunately gives them that rather menacing, raptor-like stare that reinforces their bad reputation. They remind me a lot of a bird of prey, not just in their eyes, but the way they move.
pitbulllady