Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wondering what people think here. What's the most intelligent and personable snake?

To me that is the reticulated python. Of course they also come with giant size except for the true retic superdwarfs. Bill
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

Let's start off by saying that there will likely be no definitive answer, but let me throw out one thought. I think that one measure that we could use for determining that a snake is smarter than other snakes is if they eat other snakes. Simply put, and anthropomorphizing for a minute, if you are a snake that is going to eat another snake, you need to outsmart him. So I think that snake eating species need to move right to the top of the list. As such, I think that Apodora papuana (Papuan olive python), the various Drymarchon (indigos and cribos) and mussuranas (Clelia or whatever a mussurana is called today), and Ophiophagus hannah (king cobra) need to be considered. If another snake wants to argue that it is smarter, then we can put them both in the same tank and see if they can figure out how not to get eaten

I don't even know if there ranges overlap, but I have heard these Papuan olive pythons are said to hunt down and eat amethystine pythons. If so, that's pretty smart. I can testify that they will strike in bluff when I approach them in their cage and quickly mellow once out and in hand. Some of the guys that I have played poker with weren't even smart enough to pull off a good bluff.

My own argument would be the opposite: I believe that animals which have only 1 dedicated food preference would be the oppositie of "intelligent", simply by ignoring other possible food items in favor of only one.

In nature, it is OMNIVORES which tend to be the most intelligent of animals (e.g., humans, apes, coyotes, etc.).

Thus, if we apply this to snakes, I believe animals like Garter Snakes, King Snakes, (yes) Indigos, etc. would be FAR more intelligent than food-specific snakes.

Of course, I don't know if this is true or not in all cases. I have heard King Cobras (snake-specific feeders though they may be) are quite intelligent. My own experience with specific feeders (like Mud Snakes and Scarlet Snakes) is they do not seem to be as intelligent and alert as more "all-around" feeders, like say Garter Snakes, Racers, Ribbon Snakes etc.

I have absolutely no scientific data to back-up my statements, but I just thought I would give my $0.02

Jack

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Again, don't know if this is true or not, but I consider any snake species that forages with its head held "up" and in an alert position to be more intelligent than a snake which does not. By default, such alert and curious snakes seem to be more "aware" of their surroundings, and more able to distinguish between stimuli, than (say) a secretive, burrowing species.

So there's $0.02 more

Jack

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Exotic Oddities

Yea your right, whenever I've seen an omnivorous reptile it's pretty obvious that there's a higher intelligence going on. And yea, as for snakes that stand up and observe, I took my macklots python to the park and he does that and looks/smells all the way across the field.

So would you say a bird or rodent eating snake is smarter than the bird or rodent?
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

"So would you say a bird or rodent eating snake is smarter than the bird or rodent?"

Yeah, I have a real problem pondering the idea of equating "intelligents" to any of this too.

snakes just do what they have been instictively programmed to do for millions of years. Just part of the world's balance really.

later, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Of course it is all tongue and cheek, and a real answer would seem elusive. Ummmm....I might consider snakes more intelligent than birds, although infinitely less sociable in most cases.

Probably, we will always perceive active snakes as more intelligent. Let's face it, if a blood python could do calculus, we would have no way of knowing it the way they sit around in one spot, which is not something we would associate with intelligence.

Good argument, though.

Bryant King

I hear ya man.

Also, for example, when a snake has just killed a rodent in it's own coils just moments prior, then searches all over the entire cage for twenty minutes "wondering" where the heck it is, it doesn't really come across as having too much in the "intelligents" department.

I'm thinking that pooping in their own water bowl might be another not so intelligent thing to add to the list..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>I hear ya man.
>>
>> Also, for example, when a snake has just killed a rodent in it's own coils just moments prior, then searches all over the entire cage for twenty minutes "wondering" where the heck it is, it doesn't really come across as having too much in the "intelligents" department.

But the search always reminds me of the Disney cartoon Jungle Book with Mowgli getting lost in Kaa's coils. You think at the time as a kid...what a dumb snake. Now as an adult you go....yup, they are all that way.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

HAHAAA!,....too funny!

Yeah, I guess things haven't changed much

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

my snake's never done that with his food, not knowing where it is while it's in his coils. And pooping in the water bowl, that could be like a toilet to the snake. There's an intelligence to where they go to the bathroom.

...not the brighteset bulbs in the box but definatly one of the most "sociable" people freindly snakes around...intelligence wise id say retics and king cobras (smart animals but none to people friendly usually)

By that logic, the smartest snakes are those that eat highly intelligent food, thus making the bird eaters the most intelligent. I know my Oxybelis is very smart.

But still not as smart as a snake who eats a snake who eats birds.

Bryant King

"But still not as smart as a snake who eats a snake who eats birds"

"smart" reply!..LMAO!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

good point, actually i have a macklots python and a savu python, both related to the olive python, is the Papuan olive python the same as the olive python most people speak of?

I vote coachwhip, they are very alert and aware of their surroundings, and when they look at you its almost as if they are calculating your next move, and they go for the face when you pick them up, that alone shows intelligence that they can discern the difference between a persons face vs any other body part. Also they seem to know exactly where all the escape routes are in their territory because they always seem to disapear when I find them lol
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Dustin Smith

What we humans generally believe to reflect as intelligence in snakes seems to be a snake's visual awareness to its surroundings and and how they respond to the presence of a human. Snakes that are nocturnal or crepuscular (dawn/dusk) tend not to have good eyesight (why would they need it?). Without good eyesight a snake will not seem to pay much attention to distant movement in a room or field and ignore a human until it is a very obvious threat. Diurnal snakes, however, tend to have quite good eyesight and are usually very aware of their visual surroundings. Afterall, they not only locate prey partially using their eyesight, they also need to respond to visual predators that can spot a meal from large distances. This trend is not at all representative of the snake's actual intelligence and cognitive abilities.

Look at Racers vs. Ratsnakes. I've heard ratsnakes up here in the north referred to as being about as intelligent as a loaf of bread. Ratsnakes, generally speaking, are most active at night when temperatures allow for it. Racers, on the other hand, are thought of as being very aware and intelligent. In captivity they will make eye contact and follow you through the room with their head and notice you coming from a distance. Doing field work with a small population of racers over several years I noticed that a racer who had been captured a few times by a single person could single out the person who had caught them before from a group of 5 people or so standing around the snake, and would follow that specific person's movements. Racers happen to be diurnal. They also have raised ridge above the eye which gives them a smarter-looking face.

The nocturnal/diurnal trend is one that I've noticed in a variety of snakes. Again, nothing to do with actual intelligence, but to a human the diurnal snakes just look smarter.

I concur, I would add that snakes considered to be the most stupid, will stump even the brightest person given one night out of their cage! I wouldn't give ball pythons much credit, intelligence wise, until I had to try and find an escaped one.

I don't have much experience with different species, but I think my eastern king is very intelligent. When I open the cage with a hook (yes, I need a hook for this snake), she freaks out. When she sees (or smells) a mouse, she lifts her head and tries to "fly up to the mouse."

I think that snakes with variable temperaments tend to be more intelligent. They seem to know how to control their own actions, while we often assume that snakes always simply act on reflex.

crocacutus

Cool info. But I don't think it's just what we "perceive as intelligence." Cognition brings intelligence as a side effect. I didn't know the vision of Diurnal and nocturnal snakes is so different. I would get a diurnal snake, but they never seem to pause on my shoulders. Are there any calm diurnal snakes?

I had a male Cal king that tried to mate with a broom handle.
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Mark

My E. king seems very bright. When I walk by the cage she comes right up to the glass, having no fear whatsoever. If she smells mice, she will follow my hand around.

Then again, it doesn't seem so smart when the mice are right by her hide box and she's still following my hand. And even though I know she doesn't fear me, she still strikes like crazy 49 of 50 times I try to pick her up.

crocacutus

Sociable snake would be the Diamond Back Rattler- if socialized early

Are you kidding me?! How could a venomous snake be most sociable let alone sociable at all?? o__o

My hots are much less aggressive than most my "safe" snakes. I still wouldn't trust them enough to free handle but even my BPs strike more than my hots