Anyone else here afraid of snakes???

Confession time.

I'm afraid of snakes. Not like deathly afraid. But sorta afraid. When I encounter a snake out in the wild I have that purely instinctive SNAKE! *freeze up* reaction. Heart starts racing. The adrenaline gets pumping. Occasionally I've been engrossed with YouTube snake videos and the dog will brush up against me and I jump and scream like a little girl.

I've been like this ever since I was a little kid. My dad used to catch every snake he saw in our yard, he'd hold it and make me touch it. If it wasn't a super squirmy one he'd make me hold it. I guess he was trying to help me get over my fear but it didn't really work.

My love of nature and studying zoology and ecosystems really made me learn to appreciate snakes as I got older. Now when I see a snake outside, after I get over that initial jump scare - i can watch them for hours! I even stand guard over them when out on the greenway to make sure no one bothers them. I almost got arrested once for protecting a baby copperhead someone wanted to stomp on its head.

But still... there is that initial 'EEP' moment. I'm ok with having my bps. I know they're in the tub so no I'm not surprised by them.

But it's kinda weird that someone afraid of snakes has them as pets right?

Am I the only one out there?

I do think a phobia of snakes is innate, half the time... For some other people, the fear is learned through myths or whatever.

Just an example, I know for a fact that my mom has an innate phobia, even though she's really gotten used to all my snakes. If I'm holding one and haven't NOTIFIED her of their presence in my hands yet, and she walks into the room, she'll actually cry out and kind of jerk her arms up as a first reaction... And then she goes, "Oh, right.. It's just Cake... haha" or something a second later.

I don't personally have a phobia of them and have been genuinely interested in seeing wild snakes or pet snakes ever since I was a kid.

Not with snakes, but I'm scared of spiders, seeing a wild spider scares the crap out of me, yet I own a tarantula and would totally love to own more.

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Not with snakes, but I'm scared of spiders, seeing a wild spider scares the crap out of me, yet I own a tarantula and would totally love to own more.

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See, I'm terrified of spiders, even dead ones, and I can not fathom that you're both scared of wild ones and have one. :O LOL!

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

I do think a phobia of snakes is innate, half the time... For some other people, the fear is learned through myths or whatever.

Just an example, I know for a fact that my mom has an innate phobia, even though she's really gotten used to all my snakes. If I'm holding one and haven't NOTIFIED her of their presence in my hands yet, and she walks into the room, she'll actually cry out and kind of jerk her arms up as a first reaction... And then she goes, "Oh, right.. It's just Cake... haha" or something a second later.

I don't personally have a phobia of them and have been genuinely interested in seeing wild snakes or pet snakes ever since I was a kid.

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Yes. That's me! I need to be notified of their presence lol

I can't remember the name of the scientist - but they did studies showing primates different pictures while reading brain scans and found that there was definite instinctive 'RUN' reactions to snake pictures. Even when the snakes were 'hidden' in the pics. They were able to spot them quicker than other hidden objects. Except lemurs. No venomous snakes on madagascar...

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

See, I'm terrified of spiders, even dead ones, and I can not fathom that you're both scared of wild ones and have one. :O LOL!

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Lol! Yeah, I don't know what it is, but I'm okay with the big, hairy tarantulas.. a lanky spider, big or small, though is EUGH. Nothing more terrifying than relaxing in bed and seeing a spider on the ceiling or wall, looking away for a second, and then the spider being GONE. No thank you!!

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Not with snakes, but I'm scared of spiders, seeing a wild spider scares the crap out of me, yet I own a tarantula and would totally love to own more.

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

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Oh i love tarantulas! Hehehe

The only time I was afraid of spiders was when I decided to clean the basement wearing only shorts and a sports bra... Guess where a big hairy wolf spider ended up???

Funny story. I wanted my first pet tarantula when I was like 12 or so. My dad said no way no how. The same man who always MADE me try to get over my fear of snakes and fire. My mom was terrified of rodents, but dad vetoed her and let me have a wide variety of hamsters, gerbils, mice and even a chipmunk growing up. My dad was also a practical joker, he would often take a napkin and crumple it up like a ball with a tail and throw it at my mom yelling "watch out! It's a rat!"

Well, mom took me to go get my first rose hair, the first time it molted mom took the shed... and dad woke up with it on his face.

Payback is a *insert proper term for female dog*

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

Oh i love tarantulas! Hehehe

The only time I was afraid of spiders was when I decided to clean the basement wearing only shorts and a sports bra... Guess where a big hairy wolf spider ended up???

Funny story. I wanted my first pet tarantula when I was like 12 or so. My dad said no way no how. The same man who always MADE me try to get over my fear of snakes and fire. My mom was terrified of rodents, but dad vetoed her and let me have a wide variety of hamsters, gerbils, mice and even a chipmunk growing up. My dad was also a practical joker, he would often take a napkin and crumple it up like a ball with a tail and throw it at my mom yelling "watch out! It's a rat!"

Well, mom took me to go get my first rose hair, the first time it molted mom took the shed... and dad woke up with it on his face.

Payback is a *insert proper term for female dog*

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Oh God no, CRINGE.

Your poor parents, hahaha, that's awesome. 😂

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Oh God no, CRINGE.

Your poor parents, hahaha, that's awesome. 😂

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The cleaver family we were not. But I wouldn't have traded them for the world :)

My momma especially. Apparently at some point before I was born my dad did something... and my mom retaliated with super glue and icy hot. Many arguments ended with her saying "remember. Just a dab will do you".

I didn't get it until I was older :P

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

The cleaver family we were not. But I wouldn't have traded them for the world :)

My momma especially. Apparently at some point before I was born my dad did something... and my mom retaliated with super glue and icy hot. Many arguments ended with her saying "remember. Just a dab will do you".

I didn't get it until I was older :P

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Noooooo, ahahahah 😂