The same sad comments about my snakes... (vent)

I know I'm lucky that my coworkers are interested in my snakes and ask questions about them, even though a few of them admit they are afraid of snakes. Certain family members on the other hand, are a little rude and passive a greasiness in Facebook about my snakes and snakes in general. I've sort of learned to ignore it, but it still gets under my skin when people are overly rude or ignorant about my pets.

My boyfriend's mother is probably the worst right now, she keeps insisting that I'm wrong when I tell her my ball pythons will never even be close to 16ft, and that I am rude when I politely say that the species I keep will never get that large. At least I've never mentioned that I have far more reason to worry about her poorly trained dog than she does about my lazy snakes.


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ppl who freak out at the mere mention of a snake are weird.

I hope you don't mind me posting about a recent experience with snake nay-sayers here.

So yesterday, I had some free time and decided to go pick up more frozen rats and mice at my favorite reptile shop. As soon as I come out and placed the frozen goods in my pack, I am BOMBARDED by this woman who says I am a terrible person for 'buying cute animals to feed to monstrosities'. I sat there for a minute, stupefied at what she was yelling at me for. When I tell her to relax and stop yelling, its like the air pressure built up in her head passed the normal capacity.

'Rats are good pets not snake food!'
'How dare you hurt an innocent intelligent animal!'
'You should be ashamed!'
Were among the things she yelled out.

All the while, she had a bag of McDonalds in her hands. After awhile of not being able to stand her yelling anymore, I stood up and pointed at her bag.
"What's in there?" I ask

"A cheeseburger. Why?"

"That was an innocent animal too. You're eating one. Why can't my snakes?"

"Well. Because rats are intelligent animals! They help science in so many ways!"

"That cow could've been intelligent like the rat...could've cured cancer for all you know. Those 'experiments' could've been far more cruel than what my snake does." I replied. She sat there with a shocked look on her face as I started to leave. I had a bit of a laugh when I got home. I know I could've that a bit better but I just got so fed up with the yelling.

Having a level-head definitely helps when dealing with nay-sayers.

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Originally Posted by gaitedappy

I know I'm lucky that my coworkers are interested in my snakes and ask questions about them, even though a few of them admit they are afraid of snakes. Certain family members on the other hand, are a little rude and passive a greasiness in Facebook about my snakes and snakes in general. I've sort of learned to ignore it, but it still gets under my skin when people are overly rude or ignorant about my pets.

My boyfriend's mother is probably the worst right now, she keeps insisting that I'm wrong when I tell her my ball pythons will never even be close to 16ft, and that I am rude when I politely say that the species I keep will never get that large. At least I've never mentioned that I have far more reason to worry about her poorly trained dog than she does about my lazy snakes.


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I love how people who don't know $&!# about these animals become absolute blowhards with their mis-information monologues. I also find the conversation (monologue) tends to turn immediately to all the world's most venomous snakes...how such-and-such will kill you IMMEDIATELY...blah, blah, blah...

(I actually like listening to that that Venom Doc guy, Bryan kyle (( IIRC, that is close to his correct name - not that any of them would even know who he is)), but when the original conversation was about a boa, or a colubrid...so, how does that relate?)

I recently watched an otherwise highly educated fifty-something year old man turn into a babbling ten year old. My theory is that people watch too many of those sensational "nature" shows.

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Originally Posted by MysticMoon001

I hope you don't mind me posting about a recent experience with snake nay-sayers here.

...

"That was an innocent animal too. You're eating one. Why can't my snakes?"

"Well. Because rats are intelligent animals! They help science in so many ways!"

"That cow could've been intelligent like the rat...could've cured cancer for all you know. Those 'experiments' could've been far more cruel than what my snake does." I replied. She sat there with a shocked look on her face as I started to leave. I had a bit of a laugh when I got home. I know I could've that a bit better but I just got so fed up with the yelling.

Having a level-head definitely helps when dealing with nay-sayers.

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The person who accosted you clearly has no experience with animal research and you're absolutely right about the potential cruelty of the research. I've worked in three different university animal facilities. The way the animals were treated at 2 of them was horrible beyond description and with no scientific rationale. The third tried to do a decent job but was incompetent at basic husbandry.

A few highlights:

-A study was being conducted on ticks. The white rats and white rabbits were literally solid black from the thousands of ticks they were covered with. The animals lived their lives, sometimes for many months, being bitten by hundreds to thousands of ticks every single day. The research could have just as easily been conducted with a few ticks on each animal. The director hated the way the animals were treated but really had no control beyond providing food and water. She would point out every violation to the inspecting agent at certification time but the agent never really cared.

-I've walked both sides of the line and can tell you that advanced hobbyists are much more capable than researchers at animal husbandry. This facility also included venomous snake research. At cage cleaning time, the researchers would don soccer shin guards, put an empty aquarium on the floor on its side, put the aquarium with the venomous snake on the floor on its side, and try to shoo the snake from one tank to the other. Sadly, I'm not joking and there were 70+ venomous snakes.

-A different lab was conducting a study on the effects of alcohol on fetal development. To do this they intubated pregnant rats without anesthesia or even an anesthetic which is excruciatingly painful. No reason pain management could not have been part of the protocol and it should have been. There is no ground for any person to complain about rats being fed to snakes, either live or humanely frozen, while torture like this goes on. This facility, at a very well known and respected university, was so horrible that the director forbade any visitors for fear the treatment of the animals would be leaked to the media by someone who couldn't be held accountable.

So there's some animal research stories from someone who has worked in several different facilities. If groups like PETA and HSUS, or the stranger who came up to you out the blue, really cared about the treatment of animals, they would start their focus on these research facilities because the daily treatment at many of these makes the worst treatment by the worst pet owner seem like a trip to Disney world.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

I realized that my lip always quivers (in alertness) when people ask me more in-depth things about my snakes/snake info now, because I get on high alert if they're going to insult me again/make fun of me/make another pointless joke about putting my snakes with my birds to see what will happen. -__- ??!?!?

Why would anyone think this is funny to me? What do they expect me to do, be like, "OH HA HA YEAH, THEY'LL EAT THEM!!! HA HA HA!"

God lol.

It's weird how in the brief few months I've owned my HARMLESS, NON-VENOMOUS snakes, I have already gotten enough crude comments towards me and my pets to last a lifetime. They are ALL my PETS, just like a cat or dog is somebody's pet. Am I going to make stupid comments like, "Just wait one day, your dog is going to kill your other dog! FUNNY JOKE!" How does that make it okay for my small snakes, who in reality are just another harmless reptile?

Suddenly angry about this, because of the realization that I'm ALREADY hypersensitive/anxious when people talk to me about snakes. And that should not be happening unless I've already experienced hurt by it. *pychoanalyzes myself*

What kinds of sad comments has anyone else gotten? How do you guys keep your chill/respond? I wish I was a bit more stoic.

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If anyone you know or associated with is making these comments and are upsetting you. Just tell them point blank; i don't appreciate those comments and would like you to stop. No need to beat around the bush, if they continue end whatever friendship/relationship with that person. If someone undermines your feelings or beliefs then that person isn't worth being around in life. It may seem harsh in the short term but in the long term you're saving yourself from having to feel frustrated/upset.

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Originally Posted by distaff

I love how people who don't know $&!# about these animals become absolute blowhards with their mis-information monologues. I also find the conversation (monologue) tends to turn immediately to all the world's most venomous snakes...how such-and-such will kill you IMMEDIATELY...blah, blah, blah...

(I actually like listening to that that Venom Doc guy, Bryan kyle (( IIRC, that is close to his correct name - not that any of them would even know who he is)), but when the original conversation was about a boa, or a colubrid...so, how does that relate?)

I recently watched an otherwise highly educated fifty-something year old man turn into a babbling ten year old. My theory is that people watch too many of those sensational "nature" shows.

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Or they read one article on the internet titled "Python" and is instantly an expert on all snakes. Especially since "a girl lived across from me one time and had a huge snake, I think it was a python."

I know there will always be people like that, I just wish some of them would actually be more open to learning instead of getting offended.


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