Title says it all
Like, do snakes even know youre their friend? From the people ive seen, they are still trying to kill you and wrap themselves around your neck, so why do people still keep them and talk to them as pets?
My guinea pig still sometimes runs away from me, but she at least likes me and and my voice and just stops eating if I dont speak to her every day to the point that I needed to force feed her nutrient slop, she lets me cuddle her, etc
And snakes are just like: I will kill you the second I see you
With every snake I’ve handled, maybe a dozen species of domestic pets and wild ones, they’ve always been more afraid of me than I am of them. Even the rattlesnakes on hiking trails. One small part of their body is a defensive weapon while I have four limbs and tools. They can’t see well, they’re pretty dumb, and their mouth might not even be large enough to bite me.
They don’t really have mammalian affection but snakes do seek warmth. My chainlink kingsnake was almost 2m long and he wanted nothing more than to hold onto me while I did things. He could have constricted but I wasn’t posing a threat and he was fed regularly on a predictable schedule. On feeding and shedding days I didn’t handle him to minimise that conflict. The reward of having that pet was peaceful coexistence with something I have a mild phobia of and being able to see the behaviours that humanise it. They’re all the fun of an aquarium but you can hold the fish.