Misconceptions Of Reptile Keepers..

I am doing an essay for my english class and the topic is misconceptions about yourself. I want to do it about peoples reactions about me and keeping snakes. I dont want to use my own only though, I'd love for some of you guys to let me know what people say or think about you when they find out you keep or breed reptiles.

Thanks!

Something like "Uh, excuse me, can you repeat that?"

and then "You keep the mice in the freezer? Like, next to YOUR food?"

My parents don't let me talk about it in front of family friends, business associates, or grandparents, but anyone else is fair game. My parents are pretty tolerant of my eccentricities, but they're still very traditional and I respect their wishes since they respect mine--snakes are not considered lucky animals and my parents seem to think it hurts my chances of ever getting married. Like that's my biggest fear. -_-;;; (sarcasm spasm) However, I do keep it on the DL because I know there are people with phobias and there are people who just don't like them--do unto others. =)

People who notice I peruse this site a lot (sometimes in class ^^;;;) will ask why and I'll tell them--they're usually incredulous and curious but I haven't met anyone ever reacted really badly to it. Then again, I haven't told my neighbors yet. >=D

Many people misconceive that they are messy and space consuming animals, as well as problematic to care for. Once you get the basics down, they're really easy animals to take care of, unless your afraid of dead rats.. which most people find weird and nasty.
Others also perceive me as a hypocrite because I feed rats but am a vegetarian.. another misconception because my rats live good lives, and I'm a vegetarian because of mistreatment during LIFE.
Another misconception is that they will all get huge and EAT ME. And I also get "how do you deal with the ones that are poisonous". :rolleyes:

Petite, don't worry about the marriage thing. It shouldn't really matter. My boyfriend loves my snakes (I may give him his favorite eventually), and my best friend Joe has some snakes of his own.
Most guys aren't afraid of them either, so no worries!

"Snakes are slimy!" "What if they escape the cage and kill you?"
Also my favorite one "what if it eats my dog?"

How can you kill poor defenseless rats??

They are so gross and slimy and carry diseases!

YOU have a snake?!?!?!

i have had all of that....but by far this is my fav...."that animal represents the devil" or "it is the devil"....sometimes i tell people yes and i say at night it has little horns that come out...some people are so ignorant and act childish so i act childish in return, now if they are just not educated about the subject i will spend a whole day with them educating them...

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

Many people misconceive that they are messy and space consuming animals, as well as problematic to care for. Once you get the basics down, they're really easy animals to take care of, unless your afraid of dead rats.. which most people find weird and nasty.
Others also perceive me as a hypocrite because I feed rats but am a vegetarian.. another misconception because my rats live good lives, and I'm a vegetarian because of mistreatment during LIFE.
Another misconception is that they will all get huge and EAT ME. And I also get "how do you deal with the ones that are poisonous". :rolleyes:

Petite, don't worry about the marriage thing. It shouldn't really matter. My boyfriend loves my snakes (I may give him his favorite eventually), and my best friend Joe has some snakes of his own.
Most guys aren't afraid of them either, so no worries!

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Woah, I'd like to know what guys you hang with--the ones around me are more scared of them than the girls! Sometimes they literally shriek with fear. Two-three years ago when I was still in high school, my girlfriends and I were at a handball game practice and it was garter snake breeding season so a few slithered onto the courts. The boys FREAKED THE HECK OUT--10-12 of 'em shrieking and jumping and OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO GET BITTEN. I ended up shooing them out into the grass. Now, get this, my girl friends didn't scream when I began to move them, they just shook their heads and sighed and they're, like me, are about as girly as you can get.

Even now, the girls that I meet are less afraid than the boys.

Ah... see, the problem with the marriage/relationship issue is that it's not just the potential partner but his parents as well--and boy, do asian parents give it to you.

-_-;;;

Gee, the devil, huh? I would've told them I'm sure the big bad devil has more important things to do than play pet snake, like, oh I don't know, world domination? =p

Most commonly I get "You just have them loose in your house?" And "What about your cat/dogs?"

Less common "You feed them mice and stuff?" "Where do you keep them, not in the house??" "You have HOW many?" "Rodents in the fridge/freezer???" "Are they poisonous?" "They'll get 20 feet long".

Usually I tell people I'm more concerned about my 20 lb lizards injuring me than the harmless ball pythons. That usually snaps their brains, and they stop asking.

"Do you keep anti-venom in case they bite you?"

"You are wierd for not having a "normal" pet."

"You can't love a snake."

My personal favorite, from a woman in the vets waiting room...
"Excuse me Sir! How do you get the snake slime off after you hold them?"

I've gotten some silly questions about snakes....but as far as misconceptions about myself personally as a keeper? None, that I know of. Folks are often surprised, but so far as I've ever been able to tell it doesn't change how they think about me as a person. Well....I take that back. It seems to increase the "cool" factor for a lot of folks....and I'm anything but "cool". :rofl:

And I quote "How can you keep those things? You must have a screw loose." from today at work.
"Did you hear? Someone's snake ate their kid the other day, I saw it on the news."
"I don't like animals that carry salmonella."
"Those things get to be twenty feet long."

Most people look at me twice, and can't seem to fathom that an average soccer mom can enjoy snakes. I swear they seem to take a step back, as if I'm contagious. Many have expressed concerns about my sanity and how, as a mother, could I allow animals that might kill my kids into my house. :rolleyes: That is the most common reaction that I get, but in rare instances I find another animal lover who has genuine curiousity and interest.

Most people aren't shocked when they find out I keep snakes, more so they're shocked at how much their worth and how many I have.

ive heard them, i like this one the best

oh you have snakes that figures... how many... oh thats alot of snakes...do they bite...oh

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Originally Posted by JLC

I've gotten some silly questions about snakes....but as far as misconceptions about myself personally as a keeper? None, that I know of. Folks are often surprised, but so far as I've ever been able to tell it doesn't change how they think about me as a person. Well....I take that back. It seems to increase the "cool" factor for a lot of folks....and I'm anything but "cool". :rofl:

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That is some what the same for me. On rare occasions I get comments like "Don't you have enough snakes?" But for the most part when I do tell people I own snakes they are just curious about how many and what species.

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Originally Posted by JLC

....and I'm anything but "cool". :rofl:

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I beg to differ. ;)

Do they bite?
Do they have fangs?
Are they "poisonous"?
Are they friendly?
Can they recognize you?


Oh and, unfortunately I had someone say "I don't like snakes, I heard a snake ate a baby in Florida." :(

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Originally Posted by icygirl

Do they bite?
Do they have fangs?
Are they "poisonous"?
Are they friendly?
Can they recognize you?


Oh and, unfortunately I had someone say "I don't like snakes, I heard a snake ate a baby in Florida." :(

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Tell me about it, I catch all sorts of heat explaining to people that there are no bad snakes just bad owners out there ruining it for the rest of us.

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Originally Posted by icygirl

Do they bite?
Do they have fangs?
Are they "poisonous"?
Are they friendly?
Can they recognize you?


Oh and, unfortunately I had someone say "I don't like snakes, I heard a snake ate a baby in Florida." :(

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I have gotten all of these plus that "you have how many?!!?"

And everytime I get the baby comment, I usually give them a long enough speech that they agree with me or will never ask that question again... cuz it usually goes into great detail about irresponsible people reproducing, and that the snake hobby in general is filled with tons of good people, and it sickens me when people associate someone so stupid with a hobby that I love. And usually throw the story of the dog that chewed off the babies toes as an example of how people are dumb and its not the snakes fault.

And my all time favorite question I was asked was by a first or second grade girl that was curious to know..." if the fur of the rat tickled the snakes mouth when he was eating it."

For the most part I think the majority of people are curious more than they are disgusted about them.

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Originally Posted by p3titexburial

Something like "Uh, excuse me, can you repeat that?"

and then "You keep the mice in the freezer? Like, next to YOUR food?"

My parents don't let me talk about it in front of family friends, business associates, or grandparents, but anyone else is fair game. My parents are pretty tolerant of my eccentricities, but they're still very traditional and I respect their wishes since they respect mine--snakes are not considered lucky animals and my parents seem to think it hurts my chances of ever getting married. Like that's my biggest fear. -_-;;; (sarcasm spasm) However, I do keep it on the DL because I know there are people with phobias and there are people who just don't like them--do unto others. =)

People who notice I peruse this site a lot (sometimes in class ^^;;;) will ask why and I'll tell them--they're usually incredulous and curious but I haven't met anyone ever reacted really badly to it. Then again, I haven't told my neighbors yet. >=D

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Whenever you hit 18, you come down to Louisiana, and you have a husband waiting ok? lol.

Anyways I see a lot of people that have horrible misconceptions, even other hobbyists. I'm not going to say any names but I talked to a friend and she knows I have a yellow conda, or atleast a conda, and shes like wow that thing is going to get 20 feet. I mean, yes they can, but the likelihood? Not really. Even the females average in the teens. People think because us as a hobbyists own snakes, we have no fears. We are cruel and such.

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Originally Posted by Neal

we have no fears. We are cruel and such.

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Some don't.

Some are.

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Originally Posted by wilomn

Some don't.

Some are.

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I mean as far as animals go or anything like that, I have no fears. The only thing i'm really scared of is dieing, which is probably the sole reason behind me acting stupid.

I'm not cruel, I do kind of feel bad for the rats/mice when I feed them, but it's the circle of life.

Oh man, EVERYONE thinks I'm crazy! They say things like
"you keeps snakes as PETS!?"
"how many?!"
"you're crazy"
"I hate snakes, I'm never coming over to your house"
"those things kill people!"
and my FAVORITE
"are you some sort of Satan worshiper?"

That was an honest question too!!! She apparently thought the only people who keep snakes are people who worship Satan?! :rofl:

Oh and she went on to tell me how the Bible says that the serpent is Satan so I'm in fact worshiping Satan. I should have told her I don't believe in God, and therefor I don't believe in Satan, she would have REALLY liked that!

I'm in college, so most people my age think that its pretty cool and they will ask a lot of questions about them, the most popular:

-Are they venomous?
-Do they just roam around your house?

I also have ferrets and for some reason people think that this is a great questions to ask:

-Do you ever let the ferrets and the pythons fight?

...seriously I have heard that one like 20 TIMES!!!

As far as misconceptions about me...I get a lot of "You are so weird!" from older people.

My best one I got form my dad "Will I die a slow death when it gets out and chokes me to death?", about a ball python. :confuzd:

i get the normal questions about them killing me or my dogs
the you're strange stuff
i also get the you must be into witch craft or something.
where are your tats at, you dont look like a freak that would have snakes.

the real kicker though is the fact that i'm 43 and single

(keeping this clean) why would you want to keep those things when you can have a real snake.

i also get the whole do you kill your x-boyfriends and cut em up to feed your snakes ?

(and yes i admit it i have told a few of the idiots that i have :O )

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Originally Posted by Dusty

i also get the whole do you kill your x-boyfriends and cut em up to feed your snakes ?

(and yes i admit it i have told a few of the idiots that i have :O )

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Good. I would. Basically for any of the stupid questions listed in this thread. I would just take time out of my day to come up with the stupid/craziest answers and see if the dumb people actually believe them. I cant see how anyone who would make such assumptions should even get an honest answer, or a moment of my time.

Oh yea, I forgot about the poisonous one, I had somebody ask me that about my conda. Not to mention a snake isn't poisonous, a snake is venomous, and not mine.

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Originally Posted by Neal

Whenever you hit 18, you come down to Louisiana, and you have a husband waiting ok? lol.

Anyways I see a lot of people that have horrible misconceptions, even other hobbyists. I'm not going to say any names but I talked to a friend and she knows I have a yellow conda, or atleast a conda, and shes like wow that thing is going to get 20 feet. I mean, yes they can, but the likelihood? Not really. Even the females average in the teens. People think because us as a hobbyists own snakes, we have no fears. We are cruel and such.

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LOL I hit 18 a while ago. I can see the look on my parents faces right now--"You want to go WHERE to marry a snake boy?!?!" That'd be priceless.

To be fair, with all the media about snakes killing babies and people and such, a lot of the general public would be scared, especially since no one else is educating them on the flip side of the coin.

I mean there are plenty of things to be scared of that have human origins (carsairplanespollutionCOpoisoningfoodpoisoninggunsknives) why be scared of something with proper control, wouldn't harm anybody?

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Originally Posted by p3titexburial

LOL I hit 18 a while ago. I can see the look on my parents faces right now--"You want to go WHERE to marry a snake boy?!?!" That'd be priceless.

To be fair, with all the media about snakes killing babies and people and such, a lot of the general public would be scared, especially since no one else is educating them on the flip side of the coin.

I mean there are plenty of things to be scared of that have human origins (carsairplanespollutionCOpoisoningfoodpoisoninggunsknives) why be scared of something with proper control, wouldn't harm anybody?

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Because people are dumb and the media makes it look like its a huge problem and everyone believes it.... Sort of like people and dr phil.... Some of that stuff is just plain garbage.

I cant even understand why people are afraid of snakes or any reptile.... Unless its like a full grown alligator that your right next to or something like that....
The media is supposed to be the educator but they just fuel the fire now a days...

Wow thank you all so much for the responses. I am going to include some of these in my paper!