This made me a little sad

Ok so, my mom loves my new BP. She has always loved my pets and my sister's pets, whether they were hamsters or mice or fish or rats or a tortoise or whatever. So she came over to my place one day and took some pictures with Onyx and posted them on facebook. Here's one of them:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...BP/momonyx.jpg

And then here were the comments that followed (my mom is 'green'):

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...nakeedited.jpg

I think I spend so much time around reptile-friendly people that I forget that there are people who think snakes are scary gross things. Anyway, it made me a little sad cause Onyx is such a sweetheart and these people are dismissing him without even having met him. Yeah, I know it's pretty common for people to feel this way, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Yes, there are always haters. You could post the link to the photos and we could hook her up with a bunch of positive comments and "likes"...

I get the same response when I post this stuff, and a lot of it comes from my own mother/ex mother-in-law. My mom has an excuse as she nearly died from a bite from a baby western diamondback when I was 6 (many units of anitivenin later she survived, but at one point a Dr. walked into her room and was surprised that she was still in there, as in still alive!). It is unfortunate that so many people have such an irrational fear. I blame the snake in the bible fable about Adam and Eve as well as something that we have evolved with to help stay alive. Most primate species will flip if they see snakes and attempt to kill them.

That's why I have my FB in my sig :P. It's cool to see more "thats awesome" or "aww" than "ewww!" or "poor mouse :/" <-even though it's a rat..

I have a friend of mine that blocked all my photo uploads on facebook cause according to her I was posting too many snake pics. Apparently she was tortured by a childhood friend who used to shove his pet snake in her face.

Yeah, I mentioned the other day to the "Ladies" I work with that I was going to be getting a BP soon, and they all looked at me like I had just said something very vulgar and ask me "WHY!?!?!" Then me, the the obnoxious ass that I am, proceeded to show them the awesome pic I had on my phone of my soon to be BP, and smiled and cooed as if it was a baby.. which he is and said " Oh but see he's SOOOO cute." Needless to say they really didn't like that ... lol It does for some reason still amaze me at how intolerant and close mined some people are.

My brother tells me my snakes are gross. Annoying! Especially when he has chickens and ducks and they are messy and smell like crap constantly!! Snakes and other reptiles will always be misunderstood! :-(


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Almost everyone I know has random unfounded excuses for why they don't like snakes. "Snakes smell bad", "Snakes are super mean and aggressive", or "Snakes feel slimy" are three common ones I hear that just make me shake my head.

:P You're mom looks good with her new scarf!
I've actually had some of my friends de-friend me because of my banner (its one of my BPs all balled up looking adorable). Not that I really care that I'm not "friends" with someone on facebook, but I find it rude and unbecoming. I don't de-friend you because you post pictures of your ugly baby (literally, my friends have some of the ugliest children on earth) - why are you going to de-friend me because of something that isn't even near you??

Many people around know I have snakes, and our neighbors (who I dislike greatly) won't come over (not complaining) even though all my snakes are in my room - well away from the livingspace.

Haters gonna hate - and you just gotta deal with it. Knowledge is the only way to assuage the animosity and distaste for our wonderful friends and pets.

It's been kind of an awakening to me that other people don't just 'not care for snakes', but REALLY dislike them. We got our new baby a few weeks ago, and of course my son has told all the other kids at school.

Today I took my son to his friend's tenth birthday party. My son's friend ran up to me and asked if it was true that we really had gotten my son a python? Wow, am I in trouble with the other moms, who are explaining to their kids why they can't have a snake! (Telling them that this is the only pet the allergist will allow usually gets me off the hook.)

On the bright side, apparently I'm a "cool mom" now, which is a new experience. :D