my mom is deathly afraid of snakes...

I have a 4ish foot long ball python, in a locked tank in my room, and my mom is so afraid of it that she can barely even go in my room anymore. I mean, its nice not having her bother me :D but i don't want her to be so afraid of my snake. Its a beautiful animal and she's missing out.

My snake has never bitten or struck at me in any way, and I've never seen it try to do it to anything that isn't a rat. it also only constricts around my arm when I am up and moving around, but otherwise shows no signs of any kind of harsh feelings.

Is there any way I can show her that it isn't as big and scary as she thinks? I was hoping someone has been in a similar situation and could lend me some advice. Thanks guys

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Originally Posted by alexmurphy

I have a 4ish foot long ball python, in a locked tank in my room, and my mom is so afraid of it that she can barely even go in my room anymore. I mean, its nice not having her bother me :D but i don't want her to be so afraid of my snake. Its a beautiful animal and she's missing out.

My snake has never bitten or struck at me in any way, and I've never seen it try to do it to anything that isn't a rat. it also only constricts around my arm when I am up and moving around, but otherwise shows no signs of any kind of harsh feelings.

Is there any way I can show her that it isn't as big and scary as she thinks? I was hoping someone has been in a similar situation and could lend me some advice. Thanks guys

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Hey man,

I would sit her down and talk to let her know that you want to try to get over her fear with her. My mom was nuts too when I brought my snakes home. But now she handles them, and actually thinks there kinda cool. Once she saw how docile they are she got it really quick. You gotta start slow. Don't try getting her to handle it, but try to even get a pet out of her, just a touch. My mom had a thing when the snake looked at her. I would have one around my neck and I would walk around my house doing various things, and if I passed my mom and the snake looked at her she would get freaked and think it was going to bite her. What I did to combat this was one day she was on the couch and I brought one down and showed how little they care about human presence. I pet her head, kissed her head, did all kinds of things showing how carefree they are. After all that craziness she slowly let it go. Good luck!

Don't pressure her into it, it'll just generate more negative feelings around it. What I tend to do is always talk positively about them and reinforce positive experiences and information about them and taking care to correct any misinformation that comes up (gently, of course).

Some people never get over their phobias. It takes a lot of time and patience. One day she may develop curiosity about it. If she starts asking questions, this is a great sign!

Just remember positive reinforcement. Fostering curiosity is important.. you may even find her wanting hold or touch him some day. :)

well the thing she is most afraid of is getting bitten, it seems.

I am in no way trying to pressure her, and ive sat down and talked to her about it before. just something is keeping her from liking it at all.

Thanks for the advice though, I will be working at this...

HI! Maybe this route will work. Ask her if she trusts you(snake NOT present of course). Tell her how much you love her and how important it is to you that you and her come to a common ground on this. Ask her if she really thinks that you would ever put her in danger. Hopefully she thinks not. Tell her that you would not ever do anything that would ever endanger her. Let her know that it is something that you really enjoy and you would like her to understand how much the snake means to you. Let her know that you understand that she may never like snakes but how much it would mean to you if the two of you could come to some kind of middle ground. She must love you and is already willing to compromise some because she allows it to be in her house. My mom almost kicked me out of the house back in the day when she found out I was keeping scorpions without her knowing of them. Needless to say it was either the scorps or me moving to my dad's place. The scorps had to go. She is at least not kicking you or the snake out. That is a BIG start. Her interaction with the snake may never happen. But if you can help her to learn about them and at least get her to know that it poses no threat to her, she may be a little more tolerant. Remember, you may not ever get full acceptance. But, you may get some cooperation. Moms are amazing when it comes to the love of their children. If she knows how much you love your snake, then she will (hopefully) be more willing to work with you on this.

Good luck and Godspeed.

Do you have a cat? Pick up a cat and toss it at her. Not hard and from a long distance. Just a foot or two. Your mom if she is not also deathly afraid of cats will catch the cat. The cat will sink its claws into your mom. Your mom will say "Hey that hurt" or something like that. Then you say, ten times as much as getting bit by a ball python. Sorry I am not the nicest guy on the planet and thats how I showed my mom.

WOW!!!! LMAO!

Not really sure that's the best approach but I'll give you points for creativity.

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Originally Posted by Egapal

Do you have a cat? Pick up a cat and toss it at her. Not hard and from a long distance. Just a foot or two. Your mom if she is not also deathly afraid of cats will catch the cat. The cat will sink its claws into your mom. Your mom will say "Hey that hurt" or something like that. Then you say, ten times as much as getting bit by a ball python. Sorry I am not the nicest guy on the planet and thats how I showed my mom.

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I did the same approach, except I used ninja trowing stars.... :rolleye2:

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Originally Posted by dc1

I did the same approach, except I used ninja trowing stars.... :rolleye2:

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:8:Ok guys... as funny as that is.......:ninja:
He came to us as a new member and in need of advice. So please, can you give him at least a small crumb of advice along with the humor. He is really dealing with something heavy. I almost got kicked out of my home over something very close to this when I was young. It was most assuredly not funny to have a parent (your own mom) that against something that you love, like your snake. Or scorpions in my case.

Sorry to get all heavy and all but he sounds like he needs help.