Criando bichitos

I'm in my hospital room watching my camera, and over the past few days, Scoria will go in her ball and stare into the room. Normally she plays and explores but all I've seen her do for days is go to bed, wake up, then spend hours just waiting and staring. The ball she's in is a toy I regularly bring her out in, and we play a game where she goes back and forth between that and an identical ball. My scent is all over it, if she picked the thing that was most like being in my hand, it's that.

And at the end, when she rubs her cheek on the ball? That's not a nose dig. That's how she rubs her cheek on my finger to show she wants affection. And I'll gently rub each cheek and under her chin while telling her she is the most wonderful being in the world.

Some people don't believe snakes can love their human family members, but this snake has learned gestures to express what she wants. She could not be any more obvious she's watching and waiting for her human best friend to come home (misses me), and wants affection (specifically cheek pets).