What do people say to you when you tell them or show them your snakes?

When I tell people I own snakes, or show people my snakes, they always say, "Man, how did you get into loving snakes?"

What do people say to you when you tell or show them your snakes?

when i show people my snakes they usually try to act interested while they are thinking to themselves this boi is crazy. i got a whole room for my snakes and feeders tho

They are scared. Horribly. :( He's only about 39" long.... ( I eyeballed him/her at 29", my bad) either way, it's a him, because I won't be breeding him. :oops:

I get mostley scared to see them. Then i get the your crazy and what a waste of money speech. They just dont get it.

I love showing off my kids. Most people think I'm a little crazy, but most are pretty amazed. A lot of people have never seen these kinds of animals before.

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Originally Posted by Soterios

I love showing off my kids. Most people think I'm a little crazy, but most are pretty amazed. A lot of people have never seen these kinds of animals before.

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very true many people havnt seen these animals but most people only see the # of animals we own at a zoo :rolleye2: we're a diff. kind of people IMO

"You seriously have a SNAKE???"

"Couldn't he, like, kill you?"

"Hasn't he bitten you when you're holding him?"

I'm in high school, so these are my freshmen friends' comments, :rofl:

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Originally Posted by abuja

"You seriously have a SNAKE???"

"Couldn't he, like, kill you?"

"Hasn't he bitten you when you're holding him?"

I'm in high school, so these are my freshmen friends' comments, :rofl:

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LOL the comments I get from friends are:

"Are they poisonous?" <--- I get that one ALL of the time.

"Did they bite you before?"

"Don't they get like, huge?"

Last night was the first time I got a shocked surprise. "When did you decide you were interested in snakes?!?!" "Can't they like, constrict you?" "You have a python constrictor?! Can't they kill you?!" Of course, I was at a wedding so people were slightly drunk. I tried to explain it a little more, "No, NOT a 'Python Constrictor', a Ball Python." And what did that do? In one ear, out the other. I tried to spread the word about how awesome my little Snickets is, but these people did not want to listen and learn a little. There was one girl who did want to know more, and I told her and she was totally cool with it. That was nice.

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

LOL the comments I get from friends are:

"Are they poisonous?" <--- I get that one ALL of the time.

"Did they bite you before?"

"Don't they get like, huge?"

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Yeah hahahaha same here. In my biology classroom, there's a rat snake and EVERYONE is always telling me "c'mon, Sam, hold the snake!" and "sam will hold it" and most of the girls in class except for me pretty much shriek every time they even see him lol. I'm ashamed of them....

How did you get into snakes? You breed ball pythons? That's pretty cool!

My co-workers are so used to it, it's no big deal. A lot of my PTO (personal time off) is used to attend reptile related functions. I get 26 PTO days a year, so there's a lot to spread around! LOL

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Originally Posted by rabernet

How did you get into snakes? You breed ball pythons? That's pretty cool!

My co-workers are so used to it, it's no big deal. A lot of my PTO (personal time off) is used to attend reptile related functions. I get 26 PTO days a year, so there's a lot to spread around! LOL

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LOL even though adults hear me talk about my snakes they sometimes don't even take me seriously when I'm trying to explain something to them. And even though adults know me and know I have snakes, they still sometimes don't even take me seriously even if they are used to hearing me talk about my snakes LOL.

Ive gotten the venomous question from about half the people that have seen my snakes. Surprisingly none of them have ever asked if they were poisonous. My all time favorite question was "your not afraid it will kill you in your sleep?" I was also told that snakes are sneaky. Then there was the time a few weeks ago when I had to clean my normal girls tub while my friend was over. As soon as I pulled her out all I heard was my friend scream and jump onto the arm of my couch, mind you that there was at least 20 feet between her and the snake. I could go on and on....
Man i need more herp lover friends lol

Its kind of unfortunate really, some of the stuff people think*.

From my little brothers friends who are like ages 12-14 when he told them I got a snake they wanted to see it and asked if it was big and stuff. Want to see it kill a mouse... (i feed F/T)

Then my cousin whos 22 now i think? Asked me why I wanted one/got one, like its a bad thing. Then hes like it looks mean. And when I was holding it I would move my arm around so her heads up side down and she can climb around my arm and my cousins like if i was that snake i would bite you. Because he thought i was trying to make it mad or something???

Then my whole other side of the family likes it. My uncle used to own a pet store, and all the other people from my dads side of the family were interested in it and thought it was really cool and were interested in the care, size, husbandry, etc. They took pictures too...

Also I know, Iloveleucie63's mom thinks that a ball python will eat her dogs puppies/ or their pet birds so hes not allowed to get one....
My mom thought they were smelly and all this other garbage that she just made up to try and make me not want one.... (doesnt work)

idk. lists go on.

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Originally Posted by HeartAche

Man i need more herp lover friends lol

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:welcome:

It's always a different response, some love it and want to know more and interract with the snakes, some don't like it, and some just don't understand. My boy friend is one of the those who just doesn't get it, and he's a little fearful of them to. No one else in my life shares my passion for snakes unfortunantly. That's why I have to spend so much time on these crazy snake people forums, lol!

most of them usually tell me Im a horrible parent for keeping them around my children and that one day one is going to consume my child.

I really don't get much attention from it... I only tell people who I know well, and anyone I know well knows I've always been into snakes. So it was no big surprise when I got him.

"Has it ever squeezed you?" is the one I get the most.

My grandma is convinced that my ball pythons are burmese pythons, and that they will kill me in my sleep... *sigh*

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Originally Posted by Tek48

"Has it ever squeezed you?" is the one I get the most.

My grandma is convinced that my ball pythons are burmese pythons, and that they will kill me in my sleep... *sigh*

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My mom is the same way. She think my ball pythons are going to get huge and eat me and she never comes over to my apartment anymore. I've tried many times to explain how small/harmless balls are but she still fears for my life.

My younger brother (I'm 31, he's 27) has several snakes & geckos, and I've got a couple of geckos, and while our mother doesn't really believe that they have as much personality as we see in them, she's at least able to appreciate the beauty, especially that of my brother's rainbow boas. I think that iridescence and color could mesmerize just about anyone, presuming they're not irrationally fearful. Last time we were all over at his place, she had said she was even going to try holding one of his recently born litter of rainbows, but somehow that didn't happen. I have to say it's pretty cool that she even considers it, though.

"Damn it's small in here!"... my snake room is 5' x 7'

I don't tell many people because I'm pretty shy about it to be honest. A lot of people are surprised and/or horrified. My little cousin asked about it once and couldn't wrap his head around it when I told him I thought they were cute. But my two best friends are WAY into them. They caught the bug from me. :-) My mom pretends like she thinks they're disgusting, but I catch her peering into their tanks quite a bit.

Most of my friends are curious and want to see them up close, a few want to watch them feed, and some just would rather they stay in their tubs.

My mom was all over them, she of all people asked to hold my biggest snake right away which shocked me.

I usually get questions about how big are they and should I worry about my cats or my 4 year old son.

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Originally Posted by Ash

I don't tell many people because I'm pretty shy about it to be honest. A lot of people are surprised and/or horrified. My little cousin asked about it once and couldn't wrap his head around it when I told him I thought they were cute. But my two best friends are WAY into them. They caught the bug from me. :-) My mom pretends like she thinks they're disgusting, but I catch her peering into their tanks quite a bit.

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My mom was like that as well. But before I moved out she was talking about getting a bearded dragon. And in San Diego she was amazed by some of the boas

Oh EM GEE ARE ANY OF THEM POISON??!!?

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Originally Posted by Denial

most of them usually tell me Im a horrible parent for keeping them around my children and that one day one is going to consume my child.

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My god, that's horrible.

Your really experienced with large constrictors, so I don't even see how that could happen. People have crazy thoughts:weirdface

I have found that many of the people that come to my place are scared but intrested none the less..They may stand across the room and look at the different morphs, and I tell them thats fine. When people want to see the snakes I usually am more than willing to show them anything they want.

I can also remember my mom telling me they were disgusting..No when she comes over she goes straight for the Pied or for My very first snake.. She likes to go rifling through rack and see how everyone is growing..

I get a mixed bag of reactions really... some people are like "eww! ew ew ew ew..." some are like "Oh dude that's so awesome!" and then there's the ones that are like "That's cool, but I think I'll stay over here on the far side of the room and just watch...."

Some of the most common questions are things like:
"Aren't you worried about them getting out?"
"How can you sleep with these in here?" (all my reptiles are in my bedroom)
"Do they bite?"
"Are they poisonous?"
and "What do you feed them?"

I'm actually pretty suprised the number of times people ask me what I feed the snakes XD and then I get to explain the whole frozen mice process which usually promotes the "and those are in your freezer!?" question.

What I love most is how you never know who reacts in what way. I've seen some of the biggest, toughest guys simply bug out when I mention I have snakes, while the little kids want to hold them and touch them and think they're so amazing. There was this one boy I showed around once, who was literally like a kid in a candy store while I gave him the grand tour of all my reptiles, and the ideas and info really clicked with him too. He was able to instantly understand how to hold them, how you feed them, how to interact with the animals, etc. I think that could be a future herper right there :gj:

Oh one more is (from the girls in my class) "and you feed them LIVE mice??? aww, the poor things...." and from my vegetarian best friend "couldn't you feed him, like, tofu or something?" Lol, they're hilarious! There are even guys in my class who ask me to take out the biology class ratsnake for them. People are very paranoid about snakes.

I have two friends that love them and enjoy holding my two boys. One of them has actually asked if I would give her my normal boy (1st one she ever held) :rolleyes:

My mom has actually grown to like them a bit (she really likes my baby geckos). She has never been scared. She just doesn't want to have to wash her hands so she doesn't touch them.
My dad thinks they are cool, but I think he feels they are a waste of time and money.

Then there's people who won't come into my house or room because they are deathly afraid of the buggers no matter how much explain about them. I get asked if they can kill me, or if I've been bitten.

My favorite reaction is when someone just looks at me like I'm a wierdo, as if I didn't know that already! :D

In the barely a month I've had my BP, I've heard most of these. One of my step-sisters is a total freak about snakes and once moved out of her house for something like six months until she bought another house because she found a (non-venomous) snake in her house. Her poor husband was calling herpetologists and Googling away in an attempt to stop the madness, but obviously didn't convince her.

My family members all seem to think I've purchased a retic or burm, no matter how much I try to tell them that a BP is unlikely to even see 5', much less devour me/the other pets/neighborhood children.

My favorite is when friends/family declare they're never stepping foot in my house again. I am thrilled at the prospect of never having to tidy up again. I'm getting more snakes! Snakes, the cheapskate's answer to a housekeeping service...

They dont say much anymore, just cant wear long trenchcoats anymore and cant go by schools.

I get all kinds of responses, most of which have been mentioned here already.

"You have WHAT?"
"You have HOW MANY?"
"What do you feed them?"
"Don't they bite?"
"Aren't you afraid of them getting out in the middle of the night and strangling you/crawling into your bed/biting you?"
"Aren't you worried about getting salmonella?"
"You...are crazy!"
"Why would anyone want a pet snake?"

One of my favorites:

Person: "But aren't they kinda like fish: you can't get them out, pet them, cuddle with them, etc."
Me: "Ohh, yes, you can! They're great cuddlers! And they give fantastic neck massages!"
Person: O.O

My mom threatened to never visit if I got a snake (my first snake), but I managed to convince her it would be okay. That's pretty much all the leeway I've ever received from her, especially since I told her I have not one, not two, but MANY snakes. She still doesn't know exactly how many I have, but I'd like to keep it that way. If she knew, I'm not sure she'd even talk to me anymore! She is phobic, and she thinks snakes are awful creatures ("the only good snake is a dead snake"). I've asked her why she feels this way; she responded with, "I don't know." :confused:

It's rare, but sometimes I get more unusual reactions:

"Really? COOL! Where'd you get them?"
"Oh, I used to have a ball python/corn snake when I was little!"

My landlady pretends they don't exist as long as they are kept behind a closed door whenever she pokes her nose around the place to check up on things ;)

hmmmmm...
for me the most common ones are,
"What are you going to do with him when he gets 10 feet long"
" Are you alright"
" You have a whaaaat?!?"

My friends just told me I was crazy when I told them I was getting a ball. I'm waiting for someone to visit and go to get something out of the freezer....hahaha. We've got "our food" and "mousesicles" seperate, but I know they're bound to freak.

Also "Won't it strangle you?" "You'll get poisoned!" I mean, even before I was researching for buying my first snake I knew that BP weren't poisonous. o.O People are so weird.

Hmm let see....
Well when my neighbor saw mine she ran in horror. I wish I was joking. lol. They are good people so I am not worried about it. Lately seems to be "OMG thats DISGUSTING!!! Thats about the time remind them of how their dog licks its junk all day and licks them in the face or eats its own excrement. :) :rolleye2:

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Originally Posted by Kuba

"What are you going to do with him when he gets 10 feet long"

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I am in the process of training him to eat vagrant children from the neighborhood. :8::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Or

I was thinking of letting him loose in a nursery. You know since snakes eat small children and everyone of them has a taste for human blood. :rolleyes:

Everyone thinks it's cool, I've met dozens of people who say they have always wanted snakes, and girls always seem to want to come over to see them.

Forget puppies, go to college and own snakes, they're the best girl magnet ;)

I've never met anyone who called me crazy in any other way than a joke, and the people who joke are the ones who want to see the most pictures. I've had people tell me not to talk to them about it because they have phobias, and I just apologize. The best reactions are when you find other snake owners, or better yet when you find out about that guy with the alligator in his apartment who lives in the section 8 housing complex.

I told my girlfriend I was getting a Boa and she asked if it was venomous.

I told my boss and he said, "wait 'til that thing gets ahold of your arm and then you'll change your tune". Lol.

One girl asked me if I was affraid my ball python would get out at night and strangle me. Lol.

Its really hard to explain to people that balls don't get very large. They just don't understand, and usually don't believe me.

I tell people that I keep my snakes in tubs when they as me what I keep them in, and then they say thats cruel and I should keep them in a 100 gallon aquarium, and I'm like riiiight...you--who knows nothing about snakes--want to tell me how to keep my animals?

I just tell people that they're great pets because they HATE being in large open spaces so really the more cramped you make them the more psychologically satisfied they become.

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Originally Posted by sg1trogdor

I am in the process of training him to eat vagrant children from the neighborhood. :8::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Or

I was thinking of letting him loose in a nursery. You know since snakes eat small children and everyone of them has a taste for human blood. :rolleyes:

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I am soo going to use that when the next person says that:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Well I am a 43 yr old mom to a t'mhird grader. I work as a teachers aide at my sons school but other than that I am pretty much your average soccer mom.

Of course the kids at school and my sons friends think it is soooooooooooooo cool. My sons friends come over to watch them eat. I have made a deal with my kids at school...they all get an A on their test and I will bring one in. It is actually pretty cute....they draw pictures of them and come to me each day telling me things they learned about pythons. (I'm sure their parents are mortified...lol)!!!! To me....I'm creating future python lovers!

Now as far as MY friends...wow...I have a few that wont come into my house for fear they will be attacked. Ok...their loss as I have great wine!!! But I have heard it all mainly ppl being afraid it will get out and eat their children. :rofl:

I do have one friend that LOVES the snake and comes over and has to hold them. Actually I have to tell her that is enough snake love!

It never ceases to amaze me the misconceptions regarding snakes. Now granted ....being in AZ and living out in Sahaurita (in the desert)....rattle snakes scare the bejezus out of me.

I receive most of the standard questions. "Are they poisonous?" (keep in mind there are no "poisonous" snakes), "Do they bite", "are they all in cages?" etc.
I have had a few people think that my ball pythons are going to become huge and "kill me" or "eat me". :rofl:

And of course, everyone at work that knows that I have snakes has to send me every snake related video or new article that they see (that I've already seen).

Most common question - have you ever been bitten? "yes - just yesterday - see?" LOL

lol> "Why did you let your bf talk you into this?"

"uh, acutally only the first one was his idea. The other 5 were me begging for more."

AND STILL, "Didn't you hear about that little girl that was killed?" I hate that one. It still bugs me. I say "yes, but I know how to house my snakes properly. Also, I have BALL Pythons. Not a burmese, not yet anyway." That last part just kills them.

I'm just going to start telling people i have balls. Every time you put that python in there, it's "OMG!"

I definately know where you are coming from there. Many people have the misnotion that all "pythons" are giant, lethal man-eaters no thanks to Hollywood, and all of the sensational Press coverage about Burms in the Everglades. The widely publicized incident with the Burm and the 2 year old in Florida certainly doesn't help our cause either.
But I tell people that most species of pythons do not attain large enough sizes to significantly harm someone. Examples being the ball python, Aspidites, Morelia, and Antaresia for example. I'm not sure how much of it goes out the other ear though in some cases.

They say nothing. My 29 foot red tailed ball python has already constrictored them and eats them. BWAHAHHAHAHA.

That is all.

^^^LOL! That's awesome.