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I heard that indigo's are more intelligent and personable than other snakes. What other snakes can be considered intelligent and personable besides indigo's?

I've no long term experience with indigos or cribos, but I will say that retics are exceptionally "aware" animals and seem to show definite recognition of their keepers (I kept several many years ago). I don't know about calling any snake intelligent, but retics are definitely up there among the most aware and interactive snakes I have ever dealt with in 30 years of herping. A couple of examples to show what I mean - once when feeding my 10 foot yellow head female, she completely missed the rat and tagged my hand. She immediately let go and seemed to know that I was not food. She then patiently waited while I gathered my composure and offered her the rat again. By the way, her feeding response was huge and she hit so hard, she bruised the bone and I had pain/sensitivity in that finger for almost a year! I've had similar SFE's with burms and rocks as well as smaller colubrids where they bit and wrapped thinking my hand or finger was just a big food item.

Another example is when I would walk into their enclosure (converted bedroom with mulch floors, climbing trees, large water basin etc) I would often just go in and sit down to watch them. The same female would often crawl over to me and check me out, tongue flicking all over me while I sat there. Also, I always made it a habit to tap her with a hook whenever I walked in to let her know I was there. When I would bring other people in to see her, she would very often get all huffy and hissy when she realized there was someone else in the room other than me.

>>I heard that indigo's are more intelligent and personable than other snakes. What other snakes can be considered intelligent and personable besides indigo's?

I agree on the retic intelligence. They definitely have individual personalities, a will, and some form of conscious decision making logic.
I think Anacondas may be the same, but a lot more willful and contrary.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Folks often say that Retics, Drys and King cobras are intelligent relative to other snakes. I sometimes think that snakes that are "alert" and active appear to us to be intelligent, but how one would actually measure intelligence in a snake is unknown to me. I once read the dullest mouse is far more intelligent than the brightest snake. Behaviors vary even within the species, I have noticed some individuals are much better than others at hunting, finding escape routes, reognizing what is/is not food etc., is that intelligence? If so, I see some very unintelligent snakes...along with the brighter ones.

GREAT post!

with mussurana being another intelligent species.

Indigos and Spilotes, I would have to give the spilotes a slight edge in intelligence, though it's a close call. Coachwhips are another seemingly alert and intelligent captive.

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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

I would say trans pecos ratsnakes, gray banded kings and thayeri.
I keep all three and they all seem to be quite intelligent (the fact that they all have large eyes and respond to visual cues probably has something to do with it).

However, intelligence in the animal world is a very difficult thing to quantify.

My Indigo is VERY alert, knows he is not food when I enter the room, but checks to see if I briought some; but couldn't find the head of a meal even if there was no body attached. If he misses the head you can almost bet he is going to rip it apart before he eats it, he has no idea how to manipulate his meal. I've never had a retic, but I would rate my Eastern Coachwhip as more intelligent and my Blackheaded Python even higher. That doesn't mean I don't think they are the greatest snake there is, because I do, I just don't think they are all that smart.

It's hard to put a value on "intelligence" when it comes to snakes. We typically call those snakes "intelligent" that show a higher level of awareness of their environment and perhaps towards their owners. In that regard, yes, eastern indigos are certainly one of the more intelligent snakes and I've enjoyed my 20 years in working with them. Additionally, if I had to choose several other "intelligent" snakes that I work with, here are a few that would be right up there with the indigos:
- King Cobra
- other true (Naja) cobra species
- Mambas
- bushmaster

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>I heard that indigo's are more intelligent and personable than other snakes. What other snakes can be considered intelligent and personable besides indigo's?
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

The snakes are guilty by association.