Irrational Fear?

I was wondering how many of you guys/gals run into people with an irrational fear of your BPs. For instance; I have a video of my BP feeding on my phone, and my girlfriends mom couldnt even be in the same room with my phone. In another case, my neighbor knows I have a BP, but wont come past the front door (snake is in the basement level) My girlfriend started off really afraid as well, but Im taking special measures to make sure not to push the issue, and let her realize there is nothing to be afraid of on her own.
I am a therapeutic day treatment specialist, so I have worked with clients with phobias and some level of exposure therapy..but It is interesting to me that so many people are more afraid of a snake, that on its worst day might scratch your skin, when in my area of the U.S there are black widows and brown recluse spiders outside that can do much more damage.
THoughts?

I have some friends & family members who can't even look at photos of my snakes, they will come to my house knowing that the snakes are in a locked room :)

My mom has a deeply rooted (from childhood) phobia of all snakes. I'm so proud of her, though. She's come so far. She's really determined to overcome it, and she's gotten to the point that she'll actually hold Axel's back half, as long as I keep a hold of his head so he can't look at her.
She knows that he's harmless (Mostly. She also thinks he's slightly evil:P) and she's really trying.

I often think people with irrational fears of snakes are simply ignorant. They're been taught, all their lives that snake=bad.

We haven't had much company since we got our snakes. My friends and family always have an excuse why they can't come. Sometimes I think I should have had some snakes years ago.

My brother-in-law wont come down the basement stairs because of my snakes. My father hates them and wont come over. My "father-in-law" doesnt like them so i get to move soon:D . Its amazing how some ppl freak out over such a dosile animal, i own 5 cats(with claws ;) ) and have 3 fish tanks lol which would u worry about?

I know a native american person I work with, I think she might be Apache, and she refuses to even speak with me because according to her ancestral beliefs snakes are bad mojo apparently. Once she found out I have snakes at home she started avoiding me like the plague and won't even respond to anything I say or do...

My neighbor is terrified by snakes. When she found out that I had them she started to squeal. It was quite funny. She asked me to let her know anytime that I am going to bring my snakes outdoors so that she can hide out inside. She has also stated that she would be content if she never had to see one of my snakes in her life time. It is quite comical though when I show her one or two threw the snake room window....lol

I know a lot of people that are terrified of mine. I also have one person that is terrified of MICE and will not come over if there is feeding going on. I hope she never opens my freezer door, as there is about 100 in there :rofl:

Humans are inherently prone to attach fear with snakes. It's actually been proven in psychology studies that it is harder to attach a fear to say a flower or elephant than a snake or spider. We have an instinctive bias to become scared of snakes easier than other things. I actually wrote a college paper about it recently. My girlfriend is finishing her doctorate in psychology and helped me build a strong arguement about our irrational fear of snakes. It is a very interesting topic. We spent several evening having some great discussions about it while I was shaping my paper up.

Regards,

B

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

Humans are inherently prone to attach fear with snakes. It's actually been proven in psychology studies that it is harder to attach a fear to say a flower or elephant than a snake or spider. We have an instinctive bias to become scared of snakes easier than other things. I actually wrote a college paper about it recently. My girlfriend is finishing her doctorate in psychology and helped me build a strong arguement about our irrational fear of snakes. It is a very interesting topic. We spent several evening having some great discussions about it while I was shaping my paper up.

Regards,

B

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Totally Agreed.. This is not a thing to be laugh at. Fears of Snakes or Spiders are one of the fear deeply encoded in Human mind from our past when this creatures was deeply misunderstand and most of them was deadly for a humans...

I totally Agree that some of our fears come from lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of source of fears.. but is not that simple at all. I'm arachnophobic... And even if is a fear mixed with fascination.. there are situation when I gonna be near panic... I can watch spiders behind the glass, or in natural environment taking Photos and all... but If I can choose be alone in room with roaming free rattlesnake or wolf spider... I CHOSE RATTLESNAKE!!!