preconcieved notions, and ooooh scary python..

What the hay.. I am in collections.. one step away from being a darned accountant! lol.. but I love our workplace; individualism is well tolerated (there's a girl with a mohawk, another dude with huge stretched earlobes, etc.) As long as you produce, it desn't matter what you look like. I am glad that people who enjoy their individuality are slowly being allowed to express it in certain workplaces.. but then, what will people have to do to look "risky", pierce their eyeballs or thighs? Get tattoos on their tattoos? Have 36 facial piercings instead of 24? lol ;)

i have no peircings or tattoos , but i do have long hair . i've been very lucky in that my father was always very supportive of my love for reptiles . my mother was a bit unsure about them but tolerated them anyways .

i run into people all the time who think i'm weird for keeping snakes and i just dont sweat it . most of the people that live near me know i keep snakes and probably think i'm strange , but i have thru time educated alot of them atleast to the point of not running away screaming when they see my critters .

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Originally Posted by Amy05

oh, and my father seams to think that anybody that has a snake has piercings, tattoos, and is lower class. Has anybody else found that people think that? it annoys the hec outa me.

any other experiences with this? If so, how do i convince people like that that no, my snake is not going to eat them.

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A lot of people have tattoos and piercings...but anyway...

Best thing to do is try to teach them a thing or two about reptiles. Knowledge is pointless if it's not shared with people. Most of the people I talk to about reptiles seem interested. Though, people with phobias are harder to teach. If someone hasn't researched reptiles and such they most likely won't know anything about them. Noone knows about everything and thats why there are so many people on this earth. We can all learn different things and teach eachother. :salute:

4 piercings, 2 stretched ears, eyebrow, and tongue. Took out my nipple piercings scared of ripping them out while snowboarding. 1 tattoo. No where near lower class though. Got only 1.5 years left and I'll get my degree in structural engineering.

My dad and one of my sisters Don't like my snakes. I couldn't take out my snake in front of my dad. My sister will let me but she is scared she doesn't want to be though but just can't get over it. My other sister likes them but is scared of them I put a little girl I have in her hands and she was trembling and just said "take it. take it. take it." My mom is sort of alright with them. My girlfriend fed Elvis once in front of my mom and all she said " thats a sin. thats a sin" but the whole time she had her nose pressed to the glass mesmorized by the feeding.

Most people I talk to about snakes or reptiles generally seem interested. But you do still get the slimey/ dangerous/ poisonous questions .

For trying to explain to people BP's by relating it to passions only works if the person your talking to actually have a passion. I've run into some people and for me my greatest passion would have to be snowboarding don't get me wrong I love my herps but snowboarding for me is heaven. I was talking to someone and asked what they do or have that they love as I was trying to relate snowboarding to it and they couldn't think of anything. I felt a little bad especially when the person said them self that they can see it in my eyes the passion I have for it and they wish they felt so strongly for something. But thats just me the things I do I have great passion for.

Shoot wow I never thought of it as being low class I love my snakes my tatoo's my rats dogs family. I go to work I pays the bills I pay taxes. I believe that everyone has the right to freedom of expression as long as it dosn't impigne on anyone elses peson. I served my country to make shure these rights are Protected. If That Makes me low classed then shoot I'm proud to be that way shoot thought this country was founded so we dindn't have class system lol Hey if it makes you happy enjoy it. In the long run you have to live with and for you and if your family cant live with that then love them anyway just maybe from a distance.

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Originally Posted by McAdry

Shoot wow I never thought of it as being low class I love my snakes my tatoo's my rats dogs family. I go to work I pays the bills I pay taxes. I believe that everyone has the right to freedom of expression as long as it dosn't impigne on anyone elses peson. I served my country to make shure these rights are Protected. If That Makes me low classed then shoot I'm proud to be that way shoot thought this country was founded so we dindn't have class system lol Hey if it makes you happy enjoy it. In the long run you have to live with and for you and if your family cant live with that then love them anyway just maybe from a distance.

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Great post! You hit the proverbial nail on its proverbial head. :)

Fist off thank you for serving our great country! Anyone who has served in the military or even in public service domestically deserves the utmost respect!


As for snakes, I just explain that I am an animal lover and think that reptiles are beautiful and fascinating. Same with fish!
I do get the reaction 'you're just trying to be risky/macho' and I hate that!
I also get a lot of 'you want to work with dangerous animals' routine - which is totally untrue. I have no interest in keeping anything that can hurt me - including jumbo snakes. But I do tell these folks that the dangerous ones are gorgeous as well, though not a pet for me.

Mostly I explain to people that it's all about having an open mind and ejoying all types of animals. I also think you need to have a genuine love for learning, since keeping a non-mammal requires that you learn a completely different set of needs and behaviors from our own. With mammalian pets you can pretty much wing it :lol:

I introduced my little BP to my mom the other day. She loves animals in general so no problems there. I also showed him to my grandmother who was scared of him at first, but after petting him and seeing that he was harmless, liked him. I like it when things work out. :P