The heart beat theory isnt a new thing, its been investigated in mammels but not so much in reptiles.
any creature that spends any amount of time with its own kind can also respond to the comfort of a heart beat, but even snakes born from eggs can respond to the sound of a heart beat especially males that have just become of breeding age and have never smelt a female in oestrus . Much to my hubby's delight and imense laughter we discovered that our Ball/Royal Python had infact initiated a mating ritual with me, he crawled up my body to my neck (felt my heartbeat) and proceeded to massage the area whilst rubbing his spurs on my arm. We thought this was completely off the wall and went and had a chat with our herpetologist friend. he said its not usual but it can happen, and it could just have easily happened to my hubby as it did to me. The male having never smelt a female of his own kind in heat and having just come of breeding age responded to my heart beat. i feel so violated