Don't be a girl about it.

I've always been scared of snakes, but my husband loves them. I told him I wanted to get over my fear, so he bought a cornsnake a whilr back. We had issues and that snake didn't make it. He bought a ball python recently and (s)he seems way healthier and friendly. I don't mind holding Fuzzy, but I can't bring myself to reach in the tank and grab him/her.

Any tips for getting over this?

Give a little time for yourself. I go over it when I was 12, but I didn't have no one to grab the snake out and clean the vivarium. Your mind knows that Fuzzy cannot kill you, but the fear from them is coded in the human nature. Now just hold him sometimes, and with time everything will change. :gj:

Uh, I think that being patient and getting more comfortable with the snake is the best thing to do. Give yourself time and maybe put your hand inside the enclosure and maybe stroke the snake, but not too much and not too often. Then some day, you can just say to yourself, "Don't be a girl about it" and go in and pick the snake up. The snake will probably be able to tell if you're nervous, so go in there with complete confidence and tell yourself that you're not going to get bit.

You could try at first using leather work gloves like the kind you can get at Home Depot/Lowes and get use to learning how to read the snakes behavior and attitude when opening their tank and going in for them. Last night I had to take my Super Pastel female out to clean her tub and pick off a piece of stuck shed. She did not seem happy to see me going in for her and snapped at me once or twice, likely because I had just fed 4 of her rack mates but not her though sometimes they're just grumpy. I used one hand to distract her, keeping it in front of her, and then used my other hand to reach in behind her and take her out. Once you get them out and out of that feeding mode they calm down and chill out. Keep at it you can get over it, better to get comfortable doing it now before it's 1500g's.

In my experience both males and females of the human species are both equally afraid of
snakes. My husband and many of his big Marine buddies wont go anywhere near any of my
ball pythons. They'll cringe when I take one out around them and back away.
Give yourself time to get used to your snake. Know that a ball python is more afraid of
you than you are of them. Think about it, you're HUGE compared to them. Plus you're not,
and never have been, on their menu.
And please refrain from any "like a girl" labels. We are still desperately trying to get away
from people saying you throw/hit/run or whatever "like a girl" being used as a dig toward anyone.
I hear enough of that mess from being around so many Marines. It's their go to insult to each other.
Please, you may have a daughter one day. Thank you and good luck.

You can try using a snake hook.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by qegalpal

In my experience both males and females of the human species are both equally afraid of
snakes. My husband and many of his big Marine buddies wont go anywhere near any of my
ball pythons. They'll cringe when I take one out around them and back away.
Give yourself time to get used to your snake. Know that a ball python is more afraid of
you than you are of them. Think about it, you're HUGE compared to them. Plus you're not,
and never have been, on their menu.
And please refrain from any "like a girl" labels. We are still desperately trying to get away
from people saying you throw/hit/run or whatever "like a girl" being used as a dig toward anyone.
I hear enough of that mess from being around so many Marines. It's their go to insult to each other.
Please, you may have a daughter one day. Thank you and good luck.

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Pretty much this. I've loved snakes all my life, and I'm encouraging that appreciation in my daughter, who also loves our snakes, the spiders we find in our house and garden, and pretty much all of nature, even the weird creepy bits. Fear reactions are a learned behavior that have nothing to do with what's between your legs or how you relate to it. That means you needs to give yourself time to UNlearn them. And when the time comes, do be a girl about it! :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by qegalpal

In my experience both males and females of the human species are both equally afraid of
snakes. My husband and many of his big Marine buddies wont go anywhere near any of my
ball pythons. They'll cringe when I take one out around them and back away.
Give yourself time to get used to your snake. Know that a ball python is more afraid of
you than you are of them. Think about it, you're HUGE compared to them. Plus you're not,
and never have been, on their menu.
And please refrain from any "like a girl" labels. We are still desperately trying to get away
from people saying you throw/hit/run or whatever "like a girl" being used as a dig toward anyone.
I hear enough of that mess from being around so many Marines. It's their go to insult to each other.
Please, you may have a daughter one day. Thank you and good luck.

---

I didn't mean any thing bad by it. And I do have a daughter, she's three and loves fuzzy.

Learn how to use a snake hook. That way you can control the snakes head (even if it was never going to strike anyways), and you might feel more comfortable taking her out.

My husband is jittery handling my garters and won't even go near the BP. Neither him nor any of his buddies will even stay in the same room when I'm doing something with the tarantulas. Nothing to do with sex or gender. :)

I have a lot of family members that are really afraid of snakes... Like REALLY scared of them. It usually helps them if I'm holding the snake so I've got some control over where its head is going, then they can touch the snake's sides or whatever. Maybe handling the snake while someone else that's more comfortable with it is around would help. That way you can build up your confidence without worrying too much about trying to read the snake's body language since you've got someone else there to do that?