Snakes are somewhat unique in that a lot of their movements are controlled directly by the nervous system, not the brain. The snake isn’t conscious for any of this, they can just do a lot by pure reflex.

I one shot a water moccasin coming straight for my friend, blew it’s head off, but the body kept going and struck at his leg over and over with its stump. Then I threw it in the river and the body swam away.

JBP used to mention a lot that you can do a similar type of surgery on a cat where you remove most of its brain so all that’s left is the stem and sensory perception, and even though the cat won’t be aware in any meaningful sense, no working memory or thought, but it can still get around pretty well on nothing but rudimentary perception and a nervous system.