This made me a little sad

Ok so, my mom loves my new BP. She has always loved my pets and my sister's pets, whether they were hamsters or mice or fish or rats or a tortoise or whatever. So she came over to my place one day and took some pictures with Onyx and posted them on facebook. Here's one of them:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...BP/momonyx.jpg

And then here were the comments that followed (my mom is 'green'):

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...nakeedited.jpg

I think I spend so much time around reptile-friendly people that I forget that there are people who think snakes are scary gross things. Anyway, it made me a little sad cause Onyx is such a sweetheart and these people are dismissing him without even having met him. Yeah, I know it's pretty common for people to feel this way, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Yes, there are always haters. You could post the link to the photos and we could hook her up with a bunch of positive comments and "likes"...

I get the same response when I post this stuff, and a lot of it comes from my own mother/ex mother-in-law. My mom has an excuse as she nearly died from a bite from a baby western diamondback when I was 6 (many units of anitivenin later she survived, but at one point a Dr. walked into her room and was surprised that she was still in there, as in still alive!). It is unfortunate that so many people have such an irrational fear. I blame the snake in the bible fable about Adam and Eve as well as something that we have evolved with to help stay alive. Most primate species will flip if they see snakes and attempt to kill them.

That's why I have my FB in my sig :P. It's cool to see more "thats awesome" or "aww" than "ewww!" or "poor mouse :/" <-even though it's a rat..

I have a friend of mine that blocked all my photo uploads on facebook cause according to her I was posting too many snake pics. Apparently she was tortured by a childhood friend who used to shove his pet snake in her face.

Yeah, I mentioned the other day to the "Ladies" I work with that I was going to be getting a BP soon, and they all looked at me like I had just said something very vulgar and ask me "WHY!?!?!" Then me, the the obnoxious ass that I am, proceeded to show them the awesome pic I had on my phone of my soon to be BP, and smiled and cooed as if it was a baby.. which he is and said " Oh but see he's SOOOO cute." Needless to say they really didn't like that ... lol It does for some reason still amaze me at how intolerant and close mined some people are.

My brother tells me my snakes are gross. Annoying! Especially when he has chickens and ducks and they are messy and smell like crap constantly!! Snakes and other reptiles will always be misunderstood! :-(


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Almost everyone I know has random unfounded excuses for why they don't like snakes. "Snakes smell bad", "Snakes are super mean and aggressive", or "Snakes feel slimy" are three common ones I hear that just make me shake my head.

:P You're mom looks good with her new scarf!
I've actually had some of my friends de-friend me because of my banner (its one of my BPs all balled up looking adorable). Not that I really care that I'm not "friends" with someone on facebook, but I find it rude and unbecoming. I don't de-friend you because you post pictures of your ugly baby (literally, my friends have some of the ugliest children on earth) - why are you going to de-friend me because of something that isn't even near you??

Many people around know I have snakes, and our neighbors (who I dislike greatly) won't come over (not complaining) even though all my snakes are in my room - well away from the livingspace.

Haters gonna hate - and you just gotta deal with it. Knowledge is the only way to assuage the animosity and distaste for our wonderful friends and pets.

It's been kind of an awakening to me that other people don't just 'not care for snakes', but REALLY dislike them. We got our new baby a few weeks ago, and of course my son has told all the other kids at school.

Today I took my son to his friend's tenth birthday party. My son's friend ran up to me and asked if it was true that we really had gotten my son a python? Wow, am I in trouble with the other moms, who are explaining to their kids why they can't have a snake! (Telling them that this is the only pet the allergist will allow usually gets me off the hook.)

On the bright side, apparently I'm a "cool mom" now, which is a new experience. :D

We take the snakes to my daughters school each year for a "informative show & tell". It's really neat, more kids than not will come up at the end to touch them. And we have actually seen a few from a prior year that were scared, come up interested the next year. I like to think that we are exposing and educating some of these kids, so they don't grow up with irrational fears. I know I have heard a few of them saying they want a snake, as we are putting everybody away. :D

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I have one friend in particular on Facebook who really dislikes snakes. When I posted my new babies she said "eww, yuck yuck yuck, give me some warning next time!" however most friends are aware of my hobby and just laugh at me as I post how cute my new babies are eating and anything else they happen to be doing at that moment. Luckily my mom and youngest sister are right there with me commenting and counting down hatch dates : ). My mom just told me today that I needed to name my YB keeper girl quick or she would be named Hope.

I hear ya. I have a three year old who's a big reason we got a BP. She loves snakes!

I'm fortunate to have friends who do a great job of being tolerant, even when I know they haven't found a way to be comfortable with snakes themselves. Iv'e had quite a few of my fellow Mom's mention they'd perhaps come over and hold Herman to "get over their fear", which I think is pretty cool.


I also have Mom's who send me articles about python's killing children. Not only do I correct them that I have a Ball Python (only to clarify on size), but I also very subtly point out that I'm far more worried about a dog bite while out on a walk than a snake attack given statistics. ;-) I also am always courteous when I send pictures to people of my snake.

See how ferocious Herman is? Look at the terror on my child's face. Clearly, this child is being needlessly victimized by reptiles:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...BPs/photo1.png

I honestly dislike people who make comments like those. Especially within my family. I already posted a few times about my family's view on snakes so I won't post it again because I'm pretty sure most of the users here already read it. Well, I tried bringing it up last week at a family party and they all thought I was psychotic. Then one of my cousins said that they wouldn't visit me, and another said he'd come and hack off all of their heads. My response was, if you loved me enough as a family member you wouldn't judge me and if they touch any of my future snakes, I'd make sure they would regret it haha. But, yea, my family is just like that, very one sided view based on superstitions and unneeded fear.

Also, while working at my local zoo, I heard a bunch of comments from guests about how they disliked snakes. I'm an interpreter and my job is to give info to people about the animal in the exhibit. Many people didn't want to hear or see anything that had to do with a snake and a few went even to tell me that I need to talk to a psychologist. Another one said that he had a ball python that was 14 ft. long and killed his dog. Yea, sure. Even small kingsnakes they hated. Well, it was fun to talk to those experienced and who enjoyed it. I thought it was kind of funny that the majority of the guests who were interested in snakes were female and telling their boyfriends/husbands to grow a pair because the snake was harmless haha. Nevertheless, it was a good experience to inform guests about how snakes really are and disprove MANY of the myths that they had. Especially what's going on in Florida.

I don't have a lot of friends. One or two maybe. And none of my friends have met my snakes.

My family is awesome though. My grandmother has become quite attached to my little group :) she goes to expos with me and has no problem reaching into a tub to grab one out (especially miss shayla ;))

My mom used to be scared of snakes, but I think after seeing me with Bobba all the time, she got curious. She won't hold them yet, but has no problem touching them! She especially likes when I have to feed :p

I have met a few people who dislike snakes. I find that if they're near one enough and the snake isnt forced upon them, they'll learn to love them.

My grandmothers sister actually touched Bobba the other day. I was really shocked. ;) my snakes are just too lovable l guess :p

If you are going to keep snakes, you will have to get used to that. People are completely irrational about snakes and spiders.

I had a few of my girls out, showing our neighbors across the street. They are kind of nervous, but it's more not knowing than fear. While I have them out, these young girls, around 14 or so, who know my daughter come down on their bikes. When they see the snakes, both start freaking out and shouting and take off as quick as they can in the other direction.

A little while later, I have my eyeless girl Athena out. The girls come back, because they figure by now I must have put the snakes away. Well they see me still holding one, so they won't come near. Then one of them overhears my daughter telling the neighbor she is blind. And then they edge closer, wanting to know if she is. So of course I brought her a little bit closer, and held her head so they could see she was born with no eyes.

The girls are fascinated in spite of themselves, and they come a little closer. Then they start asking me the questions. "How does she eat with no eyes?" "Does it hurt her that she can't see?" "Can she move around on her own?" Stuff like that. So I explain that no, it doesn't hurt her. Yes she can eat and move around just fine even though she's blind. Then one of the girls says, "It looks like she's looking at me." And I told her that yes, Athena was looking at her. I told her Athena sees in heat, and she knew they were both standing there, and that one of them was bigger than the other. They were completely entranced by her. Eventually, they even grew bold enough to touch her back. And they couldn't believe how warm and soft she was. So I made a few converts by showing them they aren't as bad as they thought.

But, almost daily I still face people who behave completely irrationally when they find out I have snakes. They will eat my kids, my cats, my husband and I, and then take over the world if I don't get rid of them at once. They are filthy, nasty, slimy, disgusting creatures. They carry diseases, they can cast spells, and are channels for demons as well. I've pretty much heard it all.

Gale

The church I attend was having Vacation Bible School and it was taking part in Babylon. So as part of the activities they would bring animals in for the children to see and learn about. Well a member of our church brought his adult female bp. Since I was the only other member of the church that had dealt with snakes before I gave him a hand with his presentation. It went wonderfully! The children loved her. Most of the adults stood at the very back on the room as far away from the snake as possible. While he held her I told the kids a basic bio of a ball python. All the little tidbits that make bps unique. Like their heat pits, all the designs and colours they come in, why the call them ball pythons, where they are from, things of that nature. And at the end if someone wanted to touch her they could. Just about every kid came up to check her out. It was my job to make sure those little guys and gals sanitized after the touched her. But overall they had a blast and I felt I had done a bit to educate people on the reality of snakes.

I was at a business lunch this week, and it came up that I had gone to Myrtle Beach. They asked why I didn't gonto the Gulf Shores since they are closer. I said, "because that wasn't the reason I went".

For the rest of the lunch, I couldn't eat my lunch because they were fascinated and asking me tons of questions.

And these were three women. One was my vendor for several years now. She's like "Robin, why haven't I known this before now? I would have never guessed!"

Most of my friends, co-workers and associates are more fascinated than repulsed.

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