As a new pet snake owner, you are poised to have some questions about snakes that you just are not going to ask with any other animal, and some of these questions will have bizarre answers when you answer the wrong people.
For example, if you let your snake roam free around you, you may find it will come and lay straight next to you. There is a common myth that snakes do this to their owners to “measure them” and see if they can eat them. This is interesting but laughably untrue.
So, why do snakes lay straight next to you? Snakes will lay straight next to you to absorb the most heat they can by stretching their body’s surface area to the maximum, allowing them to absorb the most heat from your body’s heat radiation as possible.
This is as simple as I could make it, but there is quite a bit more to it, and I’m going to explain it all in this article.
Contents
Why do Snakes lay straight next to you?
Why do snakes lay close to their owners? Why does my pet snake always go next to me? These are questions that you may want the answer to if your new pet is a little ball of warmth.
Snakes, like most reptiles, need heat in order for them to survive and thrive. This makes sense because they live on hot surfaces all day long in the wild. The temperature of their surrounding environment directly affects how active they are, how fast they digest food, and when they will be ready to mate.
When you get a pet snake, it is important to understand that you are now responsible for providing your snake with the correct heat levels at all times. This means that if your home gets too cold, you are going to have a very sluggish snake that hates being handled. This also means if your house is too warm, you can cook your pet!
Snakes see you as a heat source
Snakes can sense heat, and they will see you as the warmest thing in the room, and a good source of heat if they need any. So, what they will do is to try and come as close to you as possible without it being too much for them.
They will then try to absorb as much heat as possible, and to that, they will simply maximize the surface area of their body that is exposed to you, so they will stretch themselves and lay straight next to you.
So, snakes do not size up the owner to eat them?
No, snakes are not measuring you to eat you. Snakes do not have the intelligence to do something like that. The myth of the snake trying to measure its owner is nothing more than a myth created by people who are uneducated about these animals.
Your snake is also not interested in eating you. First off, it can’t eat you. Snakes swallow their prey whole, and while they can fit things that are larger than themselves, you are just too big for your tiny ball python on boa to swallow.
Snakes do not bite or cut their prey to pieces like mammals do, so there is not need to worry about your snake eating you.
And they are not being affectionate, either
Your snake is not trying to be close to you to show you affection. That’s not how snakes show affection. You can learn how do snakes show affection here.
Snakes can’t show affection in the way we expect from other animals since they can’t feel love, but a snake will show you acceptance by allowing you to handle them, curling around your body from behind (known as sneaking), and allowing you to pet them.
Conclusion, Why do snakes lay right next to you?
Snakes will lay right next to you because they are trying to absorb as much heat from you as possible. This is their way of trying to regulate their body temperature and keep themselves healthy. As the owner of a snake, it is important for you to know this so that you can provide the correct environment and heat levels for your snake. Failure to do so could result in a sick or even dead snake. Thanks for reading!
Helpful Resources
Secrets of Snakes: The Science Beyond the Myths by David A. Steen
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