Ophidiophobia

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Originally Posted by Annageckos

I'm not afraid of snakes, I grew up spending a lot of time in a tattoo shop surrounded by all kinds of reptiles and creepy crawlies. I do, oddly enough have a fear of spiders. I try to fight it, and sometimes the rational side wins. But often I run instead. I hate it, it's stupid. I'll freeze up if I try to go closer, I can't move myself closer. Saying that I did have a rose hair tarantula and even held her once. I'm ok if they are behind glass.

I have a couple of thoughts of people being afraid of snakes. One is education. Many people are not exposed to snakes and if they are it's negative. Religion, I don't want to get too much in to it but the bible make snakes out to be evil. Many people honestly think that snakes are satan. Then you have evolution. Most primates are afraid of snakes. There have been studies with captive primates and snakes. The researchers put a fake snake in a paper bag, the chimps I think it was, would reach into the bag looking for food and when they saw the rubber snake they would drop it and run, alarm calling. All the rest would run too. This is seen in wild primates too.

My dr is afraid of snakes, I'm not sure how we got to talking about it. But he wants to learn, he ask a ton of questions and I explain that snakes will not chase after you and attack. That most snakes are harmless and will try to get away from you if they can. He thought that snakes are aggressive and will attack if they see you. I'm not sure if this is a common misconception or not. He's getting better, he wants to learn and is open minded.

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I don't have a strong fear of spiders or multi-limb insects in a sense that i cant approach them or in the case of tarantulas actually hold them or keep them as pets as i did have a pet tarantula. My issue is the surprise of the insect being there lol. If i just find it on me unexpectedly or very near me and not expecting it i kind of flip lol. If i know its there and can have an eye on it then i'm all good lol. Last year near my garage i had a huge orb weaver. She was beautiful. I would like to go out and look at her from time to time with my son. But if i would go in the garage and couldn't see her in her web i would be looking around constantly hoping she wouldn't decide to land on me out of the blue :rage:. lol irrational i know. Unlikely i know. But still in my mind the possibility is there.

I was good with spiders until I came across a wolf spider while hunting.

Me, being just over 5ft, maybe 115lbs at the time, blonde blue eyed little pixie did the only reasonable thing.

I shot it.

Lets just say the hunting club doesn't take me anymore, just brings me back some venison. Apparently they've never heard about the quiet ones.

Now if I get surprised by a spider, its a "kill it! kill it with fire!!" moment. Which is not good, when I'm surprised in the bathroom while holding a can of hairspray. Yes, I thought about it. Really hard...as I was running away looking for someone with a boot to squish it. Or a tank. Either one. Ive made my neighbor send over one of her boys to get it once.

Irrational yes. Gonna change anytime soon? Nope.

I'm fine with a pet tarantula, and I kill the numerous black widows around here without fear. (Sorry, but those bites are bad news, and I don't want them reproducing on my place.) Nevertheless, while visiting Costa Rica a few years back, I found the country crawling with big colourful spiders. They were everywhere. I would like to say I was enchanted by the glorious, gorgeous diversity, but no. I was increasingly, and eventually totally creeped out.

Grew up in the woods on a river bank, and chased every ribbon snake I could find. With that history, I'm just fine with a green striped snake, but I still fear other wild snakes. I had to get up the courage to pick up the tiny king hatchlings that showed up in the house last fall. Used a stick to pick up a crushed obviously dead Pittuophis on the side of the road this winter, and still felt fear. I ordered a cornsnake over Christmas, and felt fear rise as the unboxed snake writhed around in its cloth bag.

All three of my pet snakes (and, esp. the new corn) have easy-going temperaments. I couldn't ask for better pets, and I handle one or more of them daily, but I expect there are some circumstances where I may always feel some fear.