cruel world

To be honest - Other people's reactions are my one of my favorite parts. My coworkers have told me that my snake is "nasty", "disgusting", and "evil." I just soak it up.

Personally the fear is part of the attraction. Handling my snake is in a fashion like swimming with sharks. I'm aware of the illusion - that she's harmless, but it goes against everything I've ever been taught. I'm still kind of new at this (I've had her going on 3 wks.) so the initial fear is still there.

Right on w/ the educating the masses. Snakes are a great way to meet the people, especially the best kind - the ones that can get past their original misgivings or preconceptions and allow wonder an d curiosity to overrule fear and hatred. We need all those people we can find. A tip of the cap to you.

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Originally Posted by Thor26

man is it bad that when i read your incident that when the old guy came up and said that i had a vision of me uppercutting him in the face to many video games i guess. =D Its not right what they did and you handled it very well.

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I am exactly the same way, but I doubt its video games. I just hate people who choose to be stupid. Some people are just generally uninteligent and they have no controll over it. But some people have like a religion of stupidity. And they try to convert people. But it might not be the same with you.

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Personally, I don't agree with taking snakes into 'public' places like you did. It is that sort of stuff that causes problems.

...last time we had to go to Baton Rouge to protest the restrictive legislation was because some guy kept a burm in his back yard and the neighbor decided they should be illegal to own because they could harm his kids.

...next time we will probably have to go fight legislation because a pissed off old man saw a guy walking around with a snake on his shoulder in public and was offended.

Keep your snakes at home. They are not dogs you take for a walk.

Not to mention the health risks to the reptile by being dragged around without proper conditions....

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I couldn't agree more. I've had some of mine for almost 15 years. With the exception of vet trips, I've never taken them out in public. Whenever I see someone with a snake walking around in public, I think they are looking for attention, negative or positive. They are not like dogs, they don't enjoy a good walk. They are solitare animals and would prefer to be left alone.

If you are doing it for "educational" purposes, contact your local schools. I'm sure you could get a science teacher to let you educate the students on snakes.

Try to be considerate of the fact that some people are really afraid of snakes. No amount of education will ever change that. My wife is afraid of snakes. She won't be in the same room if the kids or I have one out. I respect that. I don't let her walk in and get surprised by it. We always let her know if they are out. Had I not had the snakes longer than my wife, I would of picked a different hobby. She knew it was a package deal:).

some people do have a legitamate reason to be afraid of snakes. when i got my first bp one of my housemates was really afraid of snakes and I just wrote it off as "one of those people" and since she was moving out i kept the snake. i found out tho that wen she was home in China she was bitten by a venomous snake on the hand. so i guess we can try our best to educate but there will always be some fear of snakes that humans have evolved with (to protect us from ones that are dangerous) or other reasons that are valis for phobias

To the OP...I was just wondering if your snakes have leashes on them when you go into the pet store? I only ask because when I go into most pet stores around here they have a sign saying leashed pets are always welcome. :D Ok, sorry I was being silly!


As for the health risks of the snakes you take into the stores. Do you keep these snakes separate when you come home? I mean I wouldn't have thought much about it except I recently read the sticky thread on quarantine procedures and one thing that seemed to be consistent was when a person came home from a pet store or reptile show that they showered and changed clothes before handling their snakes. Which also makes me wonder if all the snakes taken to a reptile show to be sold or shown, do they go into quarantine as well? Sorry, just some things that I wonder about.

It is great you try to educate those who are willing to learn!