Coping with Closed Minds

I'm pretty sure that you don't actually HAVE to explain yourself to anyone.

You like them. You have them.

If you don't explain, they can't complain.

It's not like you need permission.

Any more I just simply tell me people that they miss understand the reality of snakes, and that there fear is out of miss guided education. I tell them to try to open up there eyes, and allow a good education, and face the fear and and find for them selves they are not dangerous.

I have people come into my house all of the time who are afraid of snakes. The majority of them leave thinking they are pretty cool and have handled or touched a few of them. I've even sold a few snakes to people who when I first met them, were very afraid of snakes.

There are always some people who you can not teach because of irrational fear. For those, just smile and keep your snakes out of their sight. I have had some of these people in my house and they never come close or saw a snake. My ball room is kind of hidden away and off the main path for visitors to the house.

I love it when someone new comes into our home and finds out we have snakes and their first reaction is shock or fear. It gives me an opportunity to expand their horizons and show them what a cool pet they make.

And, as far as the religious thing goes, I name all of my snakes from the bible. Also, the serpent is both a symbol of good and evil in the bible. It is good, when Moses turns his staff into a serpent. Lots of people forget that!

i luckily have not encountered the "all snakes are evil and must die" attitude, most of the ppl ive told about mine have said they dont like them but when i start talking about them more they realize snakes arent that bad. whats the funniest is when i tell them that snakes have normal looking turds that look a lot like most other animals, ppl usually just laugh and ask a bunch of questions about that part.

i wasnt allowed to have snakes as a kid because my dad is super scared of them. the first time i showed him my normal, he ended up running down the driveway and hiding behind a car. i had even told him i was gonna go get it but i guess he didnt believe me. ive usually got one of my snakes out and with me in the mornings which is their time to be held and my dad will come over, it used to be he wouldnt even come inside but now thats he's realized they're pretty slow he'll come in the same room but just stare at it to make sure it stays over with me.

mostly i just keep my hobby to myself because of all the things ive read here about different ppl's attitudes and try to figure out whos cool with it or not and it seems to have worked pretty well so far.

Usually I try to equate my PET snakes with thier PET dogs(or cats or birds, whatever) and inform anyone with the "You should kill it!" mentality that I don't appreciate them saying I shoudl murder my pets anymore than they would appreciate me saying they shoudl euthanize their dog before it mauls their kids.

And if anyone said I should kill my snakes on facebook, I'd unfriend and block them with a note saying "Look, I don't suggest you euthanize your dog and say it'll maul your kids, so if you want to make hateful statements, make them elsewhere." Then block them.

I have run across this a time or two myself and must say the best defense is a solid knowledge of the animals you wish to defend. Also it doesn't hurt to try and understand where they are coming from. I have read many research pieces from different universities and they all seem to come to the conclusion that the fear of snakes is a learned behavior. Take a look at the website in the link at the end of my post.

People can take it to biblical extremes and those people are best left to themselves because some people just can not be reached. A person who truly believes that snakes are the devil should seriously stop reading bible passages that only suit what they themselves believe. There are a ton of bible versus on animals and some more specifically mention snakes but these should cover it nicely.

"I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth." (Genesis 9:9-10)

another mention

"In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety." (Hosea 2:18)


http://www.psychologicalscience.org/...12_1/Ohman.cfm

My mom is TERRIFIED of snakes (grew up in an area with quite a large cottonmouth population), and she just won't budge on it. Makes me sad, because my little sister is living at home for college and desperately wants a bp. I've offered to let my mom pet mine in a controlled environment, tried to explain how slow and fat my bumblebee is, told her a fat little bp won't even be able to get under my sister's door into the rest of the house, and she just won't have it!

I told my sister she gets first pick of my first clutch; I'm hoping she'll be out of my parents' house by then. XD

Simply show that person the number of injuries from pet dogs compared to pet snakes

Or

"My how well informed you are. Your research must have been exhaustive and the knowledge gained by such hard yet earnest work will no doubt stand you good stead for the remainder of your natural life. It's people like you, who take the time, who have the courage, the guts, the gumption, to thoroughly, painstakingly, at huge personal cost, research a subject you so obviously feel so negative about. And to have done so without bias, with no forethought to the outcome you came to, to dedicate yourself to such adherence to truth and the never ending quest for it, to have so openly, freely and with eager enthusiasm not seen since the cat and canary first realized that Granny wasn't waking up from this nap, you present your knowledge so tenderly, gently, as an old and familiar lover's caress, so softly does it brush against all that I and all the rest of the reptile world these many years have obviously mistakenly taken as truth.

Thank you for that, from the bottom of my peanutbutter filled heart, thank you for that.

Several people I know think my BP is the most atrocious thing they've ever seen... I just laugh it off and go about my merry way. No need to make a fuss.