People find keeping reptiles, especially snakes, weird in general...male or female. But it is more accepted if you are male because "boys" are expected to play with critters found outside while the common misconception is that girls only like cute fluffy animals.
That said, I didn't get hassled nearly this much when I had fish.
What I think is very interesting is that, regardless of gender, I'm sure everyone would "expect" me to have reptiles if I was a biology major / teacher, etc. Since I'm the art teacher, however, it is considered weird.