“Why would a perfect woman who had been clued in about the animals that her perfect husband had named observing their characteristics, talk to a snake?”
Yep, and if the snake was crafty/subtle, then he was created that way, but what had that to do with anything, wasn’t Satan just using it as a puppet? And why was the snake punished, he’s just a dumb animal? In any case, sakes don’t eat dust, so that part of the punishment was never executed.