The "How to Educate Others" thread

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When I first got Bob my mother in law said "OMG well I am never staying overnight again"

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Sounds like a hidden Bp benefit, Mac!
One of my boyfriend's quite-educated friends was over a few days ago. I got my big male Bp out and the friend was quite nervous around it. Seems he had the false belief that pythons were venomous! And like I said, he is an educated man who has been through college. I guess that many people go through their lives without getting to learn much about snakes.
Many friends of ours were amazed to learn that snakes are not slimy. And my visiting older sister actually said that she thought my bci was cute yesterday. It is kind of neat, to know that because you own snakes, that friends and family of yours can get to learn stuff about them that they never would have known.

I don't think my stepmother will ever come into my house again. She and my dad came for Easter dinner. She was scared of my dog (who weighs all of 7 pounds), so I put him upstairs. She was scared of my cat, so I put her downstairs. They ate dinner and afterwards my niece asked if she could get one of the snakes out. I said, "Sure." (She loves them and is very good with them.) My dad said, "What snakes?" My stepmother said, "You didn't tell me you had snakes." I said, "I know. I did that on purpose." She looked at my dad and said, "We really need to get home." And they left! Guess they won't be coming to dinner anymore.

Smynx...is that a good thing that she won't come over anymore? How sad to see someone so afraid of ALL animals!

Mostly, I don't worry about trying to convince anyone they should love snakes, or anything. The only person I care about "educating" is my hubby. And with him, it's just a matter of being very patient and letting him come around at his own pace. Hopefully, just by watching my interest only increase over time, he'll begin to want to share it with me. Seems to be working so far...so long as I remember that most key ingredient...patience! :)

It is fun when my daughter brings her friends over though. We'll get Caesar out and their eyes get so wide. They're so tentative about touching, and almost everyone says "He's not slimy!" LOL So hopefully, through the kids, we can bring up a new generation that is much less prejudice against snakes.

Yep, I think the key is to be considerate and patient. We used to have to put Max the 45-lb mutt up whenever my stepmother was in the house because she was so frightened of him. Now she has two boxers that she won't put up when we have to be in their house, and they are very poorly behaved (paws on your shoulders, trying to knock you over leaning on you, climbing on your lap if you sit on the furniture, etc.). If I could bear in mind and be considerate of the fact that someone like her was afraid of Max, I can certainly be considerate and respectful of the fact that people are frightened of snakes and, in most cases, have never touched one or seen one up close. Lately, though, the people I run into who are most frightened of snakes are people who have moved here from the natural habitats of anacondas or Afrocks, and it's not difficult to understand why they would be frightened of snakes.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Smynx...is that a good thing that she won't come over anymore? How sad to see someone so afraid of ALL animals!

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Judy, I'm pretty much indifferent to her, so it really doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I did find it a little sad, though, that she would be afraid of the cat. The 7 pound dog was sad enough, but a CAT?!?! That is sad.

I don't try to force the snakes onto anyone. The only person right now that I'm trying to "educate" about them is my sister because her kids and her husband really want one, but she won't allow it . . . YET. :wink: We're all working on her.

i strangle them with a cord and tell them there are a lot of better things to fear then that snake whatever i can do to help.

on a serious note if you saw someone being put down because of race, religion or appearance you wouldn't ignore it you would want to educate that person in a unpolitical correct way same for a snake if someone has false opinions of your snake you are not going to stand by and not at least try to change that opinion if they don't screw them.

P.S violence is the last resort kids. lol :)