How do you deal with negative reactions about your reptile keeping?

Just brush it off and educate those willing to be educated.

This subject gets discussed on a regular basis. As the keeper of any unusual or outside the society norm pet, you understand from the get go you will have to deal with this. And I don't mean strictly reptiles either. Certain breeds of dogs, cats in general, large birds, ferrets, rats, the list goes on and on. While most people will react more out of ignorance than anything else, and don't really mean to be hurtful, some DO mean to be hurtful, and those are the ones that are a challenge sometimes.

For the most part, I try to be patient and explain things to most of the people who freak out when they find out what kinds of pets I own. Some I just get a kick out of teasing. One lady overheard me say something about owning mice. She wanted to know why on earth anyone would willingly own mice. I told her, with a completely straight face, that my snakes had to eat something. She nearly died on the spot when I said I owned snakes. Her next question was why on earth would I want to own a snake of all things. I told her the facts: They don't make noise, they don't need walked, they don't destroy my furniture, they don't shed hair, they don't smell, they don't make big messes, they are hypo allergenic and only need to eat once a week. I asked her why would anyone NOT own a snake. Well she had to think that one over for a little while, then she wanted to know what kind of snakes I own. I told her ball pythons. Then came the inevitable "You mean those giant killer snakes that are loose in Florida". So I had to explain that no, not all pythons are huge, that even a true giant python wouldn't really attack a person for no reason, and no python in the world could survive the winters outside of a small area in Florida, despite what the media says. By then she was interested enough to ask me how I could feed those cute little mice to my snake, that was cruel. I told her, just like with any pet you care about. I like to know what my snakes are eating. If I breed and raise the mice I feed, I know they are a good food source. Instead of the diseased animals sold in mass at pet stores. She then agreed that was a smart idea on my part. She'll probably never be a snake fan, but at least she listened long enough to loose some of her blind ignorance.

As to your friend saying Ewww and that the skink and snake are why you are single. I would have agreed with her and said, " Well yeah, because most girls are as idiotic as you are, but there are plenty of girls out there who dig snakes, so I'm not worried about finding the one for me.

Gale

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Originally Posted by UltraViolet

How do you deal with feeding rats to your snakes when you also have a relationship with and understanding of rats as pets? No judgement here at all- it just seems stressful to me and I'm curious how you handle the cognitive dissonance.

As far as people having issues with snakes as pets: Whatever. My son thinks snakes are cool, my roommates aren't interested in interacting but don't mind Pandora being here or out of her tank (as long as I'm in control). Beyond them, I don't give a fcxk. I'm single at the moment, and I just figure if a man objects to a snake in my bedroom, he's got no business being there in the first place because we are not going to get along.

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Well, I understand that snakes need to eat and the snakes that I have kept eat rats. I have even gone as far as keeping them in the same room. My pet rats are a part of my animal family. I also have a cat and a dog and I love them very much. I also just happen to love snakes and I realize that they need to eat rodents. Hope that helps you understand.

Brush it off and go home to play with my balls!

Ill usually try to educate them a little but we kind of just have to know its not for anyone and some people just wont budge from their opinions no matter what.

I usually get a good enough reaction because people want to know a little more about my hobby and the animals, but a there's a few people I know who try to use it to insult me making fun the fact that I have snakes and lizards.. Generally I can just brush it off, but sometimes it gets to me a bit but I can shut them up by being condescending right back and pointing out how stupid they're being.
I also face these same problems with what people think of my pet rats, the types of dogs I like and just generally anything outside society's norm. Something that annoys me is when people slag the names of my animals which are mostly names from films I used to watch as a little kid. It's surprising just how closed minded people can be.

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