family members who don't like snakes........

So I noticed that a couple of my friends (cousins) deleted and blocked me from FB. No biggie IMO. So I told my brother and he was like hum, I wonder why? I said IDK, really don't care. So my brother called me the other day and told me that our mom saw these (cousins) in WM and they said that they deleted me because of my snakes........crazy I know...They told her that everytime they went to my wall, they saw one of my snakes. ROFL. They even said that I sould not have these snakes in my house with my kids. I have 3 BP, 1 corn, and 1 KSB. Eat my kids, yea right.

So Im on the phone with my dad last night and I told him about what happened, he really did'nt say too much about it. My dad usually has a fish fry at his house every summer and invites the whole family, I told him that when he has a fish fry, that I was bringing two of my snakes and they were going to get SCHOOLED IN SNAKE AWESOMENESS! He just laughed a little. I think its time for some education to say the least.

I guess when you get exotic pets, you find out who your real friends are.

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Originally Posted by snakemomma77

I guess when you get exotic pets, you find out who your real friends are.

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More likely, you find out who really doesn't like snakes. I've heard of people who won't read/touch/allow it to be face up, a book because there was a picture of a snake on the cover.

I don't think friendship has anything to do with it......

My girlfriends retarded step father just told her today that he was going to call DSS on us because it wasn't safe for our 4 year old to be in the same house as my snakes..... GOD I HATE STUPID PEOPLE SO MUCH!!!!!!!:rage::rage::taz::taz::rage::rage:

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Originally Posted by Wes

My girlfriends retarded step father just told her today that he was going to call DSS on us because it wasn't safe for our 4 year old to be in the same house as my snakes..... GOD I HATE STUPID PEOPLE SO MUCH!!!!!!!:rage::rage::taz::taz::rage::rage:

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That's RIDICULOUS!!!

Honestly, it may not be as personal as it seems. I would ask your friends(cousins?).

One of my best friends messaged me one day and told me she blocked me on facebook because I posted snake pictures all the time. It's not that she thinks they're gross or slimy. She's terrified of snakes and has a real phobia of them. I totally forgot about her phobia and apparently she freaked out every time she saw a snake on her computer screen.

I eventually just blocked her from seeing that particular snake album and she unblocked me. All is well.

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Originally Posted by Wes

My girlfriends retarded step father just told her today that he was going to call DSS on us because it wasn't safe for our 4 year old to be in the same house as my snakes..... GOD I HATE STUPID PEOPLE SO MUCH!!!!!!!:rage::rage::taz::taz::rage::rage:

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Tell him that the common family dog has a higher chance of attacking a child.
I don't have the exact statistics, but something like 20 children die each year from dog attacks. The humane society states that pet snakes have been responsible for only 12 deaths in the US in the last 30 years. (These were larger breed snakes that were most likely not housed correctly too)

Many of my relatives ask me "Why?" about my snake and leo's. I just tell them it's my hobby; why does my step-dad make medieval jewelry? Why does my mother bake and decorate cakes? Why does my grandmother paint? Those are usually my responses and I say it's what I love to do just the same as anyone else who has a hobby. It's just that my hobby is living. ;)

My step-dad who used to say "I'll kill a snake if I see it" has moved from that into telling me about a guy at his work who usually is hatching snakes out. I've heard some GREAT deals, just don't have the room or money right now.

I understand your urge to educate your cousins in how awesome snakes are. However, I hope you think twice about forcing it on them at a fish fry. If they are so afraid that they unfriended you on FB, then they may have a real phobia and exposing them to a surprise snake show at the fish fry, may just make it worse. Not to mention, create more hostility in the family.

I have family members who do not like snakes. The way to convince them is to allow them to become accustomed to them on their terms. When these people come to my home, they don't even see a snake, unless they ask. If they are comfortable with seeing them, I take them to the ball room (what I call my snake room). I will pull out a small very pretty one, like a pied or spied and handle it so they can see it. Then maybe go to a larger adult. I will hold the head and allow them to touch the tail, if they want to. Many people like the feel of the bellies.

The whole time I'm doing this, I talk about how cool they are and how they are cared for. Normally, before they leave they not only hold one, but seriously think of owning one. Bring people along at their pace. Sometimes it takes two, three or four times visiting the ball room before they will touch or hold one.

Of course, some of my phobic family have still not seen them and that is OK. We progress their education at their pace, not mine. It is your job as a snake owner to make sure your snakes and guests are comfortable and safe.

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Originally Posted by snakemomma77

That's RIDICULOUS!!!

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Tell me about it! Especially since he has never been to my house or seen any of my snakes, and is proud of the fact that the only snake he has ever held is a dead one and that is the "only way he would ever hold one" as he so proudly likes to brag about... I have met a lot of people who have a irrational fear of snakes, but this guy takes the cake.:mad:

How sad. Thankfully, all of our family has come around to at least not thinking they are evil. Some of them even enjoy them, now having been around them. Kinda hard to be terrified of them when the small child is holding them, lol. :)

I have family that truly believes that all snakes are venomous and that if Quetzal should ever bite me, my skin will turn black around the area and fall off. They also believe that he's completely capable of constricting me to death at his current size of 2ft and that in a few years he'll grow large enough to eat my cat and their dogs (all breeds that are 50+lbs). They're positive he'll grow to be large enough to swallow me whole and that it's a good thing I have locking clips on my tank as otherwise he'd get out and make babies in the wilderness of Pennsylvania. It's not phobia but misinformation spurring their fear and, quite frankly, rudeness. I have no separate snake room so when they're visiting my apartment they're going to see the tank on the now-defunct dining room table.

On the other hand I have friends that are absolutely terrified of snakes remarking on how calm and laidback Quetzal is when I take him out even though they won't get near him, touch him, or even look at him. They are truly interested in the way he's kept and the way we interact, even though they say they could never do it themselves. When they say something spurred on by misinformation and myth, and I correct them, they're always interested to know how they might be wrong and adjust their knowledge accordingly, even though they don't want to have anything to do with snakes.

There's a difference between the two and I think finding out which one your cousins side with should be first.

I haven't had anybody to my face say anything bad about my snakes... However I know my other half gets a barrage of abuse from people at work. I understand it is their opinion, but it's not exactly needed. Especially when it's comments from ignorant lips such as:

"It might not be as big as an anaconda but it'll wrap round your throat and choke you and Aimee will have to look after you forever if it doesn't kill you first"
and
"Snakes are a waste of money!"
and
"You can't take it out and walk it, or play with it"

Now...my partners work colleagues don't have a lot of dealings with me. I don't have respect for a lot of them, I can count on one hand the ones worth having a conversation with. But when someone turned around to me and told me Pretzel and Pringle "aren't cute" and a waste of money and why don't I get a dog.... I got rather annoyed. Nobody bad mouths my littluns.

I'm not under the illusion that my snake is in the same category as a DOG. They're different animals that's why. If I wanted a pet that would fetch me the paper, bark at the door, pee where it wanted, take ages to train, and cost me masses in vet bills - I'd get a dog.

Point is I don't want a dog, cute is a matter of opinion ("my baby's so cute!" - nah love, it's the ugliest thing ive seen all week, don't kiss it), I can fetch the paper myself and I both want and love Pythons.

They also rip him because he was scared of snakes a month ago. He's currently setting up Pringles new viv in his bedroom. Belittling my other half after he worked through his fear is also a bad idea. I will eat you. :)

I've been taken off peoples news feeds cause they got sick of looking at my snake(s). So I deleted them. Mainly because if they don't think my updates are worth looking at, neither are theirs, no point having someone on your friends list when neither of you look at each others status updates.

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Originally Posted by CherryPython

I haven't had anybody to my face say anything bad about my snakes... However I know my other half gets a barrage of abuse from people at work. I understand it is their opinion, but it's not exactly needed. Especially when it's comments from ignorant lips such as:

"It might not be as big as an anaconda but it'll wrap round your throat and choke you and Aimee will have to look after you forever if it doesn't kill you first"
and
"Snakes are a waste of money!"
and
"You can't take it out and walk it, or play with it"

Now...my partners work colleagues don't have a lot of dealings with me. I don't have respect for a lot of them, I can count on one hand the ones worth having a conversation with. But when someone turned around to me and told me Pretzel and Pringle "aren't cute" and a waste of money and why don't I get a dog.... I got rather annoyed. Nobody bad mouths my littluns.

I'm not under the illusion that my snake is in the same category as a DOG. They're different animals that's why. If I wanted a pet that would fetch me the paper, bark at the door, pee where it wanted, take ages to train, and cost me masses in vet bills - I'd get a dog.

Point is I don't want a dog, cute is a matter of opinion ("my baby's so cute!" - nah love, it's the ugliest thing ive seen all week, don't kiss it), I can fetch the paper myself and I both want and love Pythons.

They also rip him because he was scared of snakes a month ago. He's currently setting up Pringles new viv in his bedroom. Belittling my other half after he worked through his fear is also a bad idea. I will eat you. :)

I've been taken off peoples news feeds cause they got sick of looking at my snake(s). So I deleted them. Mainly because if they don't think my updates are worth looking at, neither are theirs, no point having someone on your friends list when neither of you look at each others status updates.

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VERY WELL SAID! congratulations on the new addition. I can't wait to see pics of him....The people at my husband's job thinks he is crazy, but there are two people at his job that actually had snakes at one time. I too used to be scared of snakes until I held one and then did ton's of research....

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Originally Posted by snakemomma77

VERY WELL SAID! congratulations on the new addition. I can't wait to see pics of him....The people at my husband's job thinks he is crazy, but there are two people at his job that actually had snakes at one time. I too used to be scared of snakes until I held one and then did ton's of research....

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Sounds like us! I was petrified of snakes until I was 18. I worked with a particularly lovely Ball Python at college and I was turned. I really respect and am proud of my partner for conquering his fear, because I understand it is difficult, and really throwing himself into the world of reptiles! There are a couple of people at his work (one of whom helped me get him over his worries) he can talk to now, so I have just said to ignore the ignorant comments people make and talk to the people who make him feel good about it. Just don't get why people think a snake is a waste of money just because they're supposedly not a "conventional" pet, and why they have to criticise my choices... Don't want a dog cheers! I get out of Pretzel and Pringle everything I imagined from a snake and a LOT more! Lol! :D

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Originally Posted by CherryPython

I haven't had anybody to my face say anything bad about my snakes...

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I mean compared to people telling me they'll have me done for keeping snakes, and telling me they're disgusting and all that rubbish :) Obbbbviously it's bad someone telling me Pretzel and Pringle aren't cute. Just...Just don't do it. Im 5ft and dangerous.

I keep my tank in my room and my GF sleeps on the other side of the bed as far from the tank as possible because "if he gets out get is going to eat you first"

Interesting this thread should come up now.

As you can tell from my profile I will be leaving the Commonwealth of Virginia (Where the wealth ain't very common) to head home to Gainesville, FL at the end of April. My current military civilian job is being eliminated, and I've been accepted into a Surgical Technology program at Santa Fe College. I’ll be using my G.I. Bill to go back to school for 14 months.

Last year when the cancelation of my civilian position was announced and I started the planning for this move, my brother offered to allow me to stay at his place and kick in a little rent. He's single and owns a 4 bedroom house, so I thought that sounded like a great plan.

This offer came shortly after I lost my entire collection to a thermostat malfunction, and at the time he offered, I did not have any snakes.

For the entire last year I've been making my plans and getting things in order so I could move in with him. We even discussed the fact that I have once again started collecting BPs, but that I would keep it to one rack only while I was living with him.

Two Sunday's ago when I brought my Pastel Lesser home from the Richmond Show, my GF posted some of the pics I took on facebook. My brother saw those pics the next day and sent me an email at work that said, "You can still come stay with me, but the snakes cannot."

Needless to say, I was thrown for a bit of a loop. I'm less than 50 days from moving down there, and now I have no place to live. I will figure something out when I get there, and even though I don't have a clue right now what that might be, I do know the snakes are going with me.

So yeah, you might say I have a family member who doesn't like snakes...

My mother in law is petrified of snakes and when she saw a picture of our 5 y.o with one on his shoulder she wigged. She wigged out more when she saw Lucy around his neck (she wasn't squeezing and he was fine he actually loved it) I'm trying to tell people that snakes aren't bad its just all the crap you were taught when you were kids...terrified misinformed parents, teachers etc. My boys can tell you snakes aren't yucky at all...only part yucky is their poo! (yeah they're boys!) They aren't slimy and they won't eat you unless you're a mouse or rat. They don't bite......unless you're dinner and we haven't heard ours hiss. They have tried telling their grandma that but well she's not hearing it. All of my side of the family are insane reptile people anyway and when my brother visit i have to frisk him before he leaves to make sure no one is missing. My husband's side well like "normal" pets, dogs cats etc. Which i am allergic to. So family well you can't live with them and you can't live without them!

I can understand why some people don’t like reptiles, we don’t really have anything in common biologically speaking, so they are sort of alien to us... Also alot of my friends have mentioned that they just don't like the way they move... it gives them the willies!

On that note, I hate spiders.. in my opinion they have too many feet... and my boyfriend loves them... I think after reading this thread I will let him get one... I feel bad that I have stopped him from getting something he loves just because I can’t understand it..

yea, my dad has a tranchula as a pet. I would not have one, B/C I am scared of spiders, but I still go to his house.

This thread is getting good. keep them coming.

I went to check on the pool a little while ago and pulled up the skimmer basket, which was full of grass and a dead snake.:tears: So sad, we (my daughter and I) are going to bury it.:gj: It was a water snake, I will spare the details on how i think it died. I was not scared to go near it when I first noticed it. I am so overcoming my fear of snakes in the wild too.......but I have not ran across a water moccisan or rattle snake yet, hope I never do. lol

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Originally Posted by sissysnakes

On that note, I hate spiders.. in my opinion they have too many feet... and my boyfriend loves them... I think after reading this thread I will let him get one... I feel bad that I have stopped him from getting something he loves just because I can’t understand it..

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I also hate spiders.. I just don't really like things that can inject venom in me lol. Venemous snakes are cool looking, but I would never EVER own one.... Spiders to me are ugly - 8-eyed, 8-legged, fuzzy bodies with fangs that scare the hell out of me. LOL. (sorry spider lovers :P). I don't find anything cute about them. I think some of them are quite intimidating, and cool in that sense, but just not a pet I'd want to get.

I'm pretty lucky that my family loves my reptiles. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My brother wants a snake. My oldest sister loves them, and she even has a corn snake, but she prefers fish lol. My other sister is a dog person. She acts afraid of the snake, but she doesn't seem to get legitimately scared when they come close to her. She thinks some of them are "pretty" lol. My mom thinks their little faces with their heat pits are cute XD. She loves the snakes, and she'll want to hold them when I'm cleaning their tubs. My dad hasn't come over to my house in a while, but he was never scared of them either. He's fascinated by them.

I've never had a problem with my family and my snakes :D. At work, my manager is the only one who hates snakes and other reptiles. Doesn't bother me :P. When my grandma was alive, she would enjoy looking at the pictures I took of my snakes, but she wasn't really interested in holding them, or letting them into her house. She wasn't really into animals, but she was happy that I'm fascinated by them, and she loved hearing about them :D.

Also.. My best friend used to be terrified of reptiles, but now she likes taking them out and holding them. She gets excited to hold the little ones, and less when I'm cleaning the bigger ones. She thinks its awesome that I'm really passionate about these =]. She's come a long way lol.

My best friend is is really into weight lifting, he's a big guy.. but he won't even be in the same room as a snake. There is something about them that for some people it elicits terror. Whether it's rational or irrational I don't think we should force people into confronting their phobias without their informed consent.. but deleting someone from facebook because of pictures of snakes is absurd, and a little funny.

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Originally Posted by drezden

My best friend is is really into weight lifting, he's a big guy.. but he won't even be in the same room as a snake. There is something about them that for some people it elicits terror. Whether it's rational or irrational I don't think we should force people into confronting their phobias without their informed consent.. but deleting someone from facebook because of pictures of snakes is absurd, and a little funny.

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My grandfather has lived through like 6 wars and fought in one too. But if i ask him to hold one of my bps he says he'll chop its head off. I doubt hes really serious but i dont wanna find out. Hes never said this but my personal theory is that while he was in Vietnam the USMC may have taught him to kill snakes just in case they were venemous or something. I would imagine living in those jungles, encounters with snakes, both harmless and deadly, were daily events...

my fiance hates snakes says there disgusting and he is scared of them...but for my birthday this month he let me have one...and in the 3 weeks i have had it he has only touched it once..and our deal is i can have it out as long as it does not come near him, or touch him, and if he is in the house the snake has to be up in the cage....luckly he only comes in to go to eat use the bathroom and go to sleep...and im home during the day so i can play with it and clean its cage out while he is at work...oh and he ever gets out of his cage and i am not home he will be a dead snake....thank you to the people who made clips for the cage tops.....o and the one time he did pick him up when punishers head go too close to his hand he startted screaming like a little girl lol...the only think i could think of is seriously this little bitty thing is going to hurt you who is 200lbs....

last year I had to move in with my mom and stepdad. they told me at first I could not bring the snakes to there house. My stepdads biggest concern was the dog getting to the snakes cage (This never happened). but anyways, kept the snakes at a friends house who ended up going out of town (this wasn't what really happened, someone lied and his dad didn't want me coming around but we will stick with the other story instead) and I had to get my snakes from his house. So I went home and talked to my mom, she told me know I couldn't bring them to her house no way. We want on for about 20 mins when finely she told me to call my stepdad but she just knew he would say no... Well the room I was in had a really good size walk in closet that I could of put up some amazing snake racks. So I called him and I told him before he answered to let me explain. I said I can keep them safe and secure in the closet in my room there is plenty of room. He said yes on the first try. blew me and my mom away. so I went to get them. He actually kind of warmed up to them but not as much as my mom had over the few months I lived with them. I was a proud son

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2..._2535601_o.jpg

but I was even more estatic when she came in and picked her up out of her tub

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...906_214322.jpg

Now my stepdad loved them more because of the fact, one night my mom was talking to my grandmother and she told her that I had my snakes there. my grandmother told her that if she came down from dallas to visit the snakes would have to go outside. my mom and stepdad both said that they may not care for the snakes but respected them enough as animals to tell her that if she don't like she aint gatta come down to visit. She already hated the dogs and hated that my parents allowed the dogs to set on the furniture... heck that couch was for the dogs. and yes they have a dog that is half retriever half husky
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...3/IMAG0063.jpg

yes this dog sheds a lot. my mom told her they are as much apart of the family then any other person and would not go out of the house just because she didn't like them. My stepdad was like "WOW, if thats what it would of took to keep her from coming around I would of had snakes a long time ago"