How do you deal with people who hate snakes?

Almost everyone I know hates them :( They all laughed at my sweet little baby and talked about barbecuing him :shock: :evil: You guys are my friends now :D

I try to educate people mainly...most are afraid or hate snakes because they don't really know anything about them. If that doesn't work, I just ignore them, lol.

I just feed them to a big fat AfRock,

LOL! I know I tried my best to enlighten them about these wonderful creatures but alas to avail. A friend of mine wouldn't come within ten feet of me if I'm holding my balls :lol:

Like Bruce Lee up there says, most people hate snakes because they fear them. It is natural to hate things that you don't understand. I was one of the masses that hated snakes when I was younger. I just always saw them depicted as representing Satan & evil or as being dangerous. But, when I was 15 or so, a friend of mine had a Boa. I am not sure what kind it was cuz this is goin back 10 years now. But, He brought the boa out & I was freakin. I told him to get the damn thing away from me or i would kill it. I was just scared, that was all. My friend asked me to just trust him. He said "Just put your hand out & TRUST me."

I did as he said & the boa nestled his head into my palm as he wrapped his body around my forearm. I was ok with that. Then, the boa started to work his way up my arm & I started to freak. Keith just told me to relax & continue to trust him. Wouldn't ya know the boa just crawled up my arm & coiled up on my head & sat there. He was just lookin for the heat. He musta sat there for half an hour. Every now & then he would peek his head out & take a look around. After that, i realized that snakes are not nasty or evil. Then of course my suitemate brought his Ball Python up to school & I fell in love with him. I wanted my own after that.

My girlfriend was one of those snake haters too. But, she is already falling in love with Jack because she is starting to see that the only reason snakes strike or hiss is because they are scared. I love my Mr. Man! Now she does too. It is all about trying to educate people. The problem is, people who have lived with the mis-conceptions for some 30 years are not too likely to change their minds.

Sometimes it feels like owning a snake is one of those social issues that you have to keep in the closet. My daughter is one to pipe up in the middle of any adult conversation to tell everyone about her pet snake. The looks I usually get when she does that could cut glass or scare little children. LOL I usually try to explain that snakes are really neat pets that don't bark or poop on the carpet or eat you out of house 'n home....but generally to no avail.

It's always a pleasant experience on those rare occassions when someone's face lights up at the news...or they at least start asking interested questions, rather than dismiss the whole thing as some evil to be tolerated.

Personally, I really don't like tarantulas or any other invertebrate...but I don't get revulsed at the idea of people keeping them...I actually want to know more about it, even if I don't want to keep them myself. I don't think I'll ever get why more people aren't at least that accepting. :shrug: (We really need a shrugging smiley...LOL)

I put sugar and ants in their cars. :twisted:

Actually, some I educate, some I convert, some I ignore, and some I just see away from my home. It all depends on how important the person is to me.

Educate those who are willing to listen, ignore the others. I brought Eleanor into school for my science class and there were only maybe three people who were still afraid at the end of class. Then my art teacher (who was terrified of snakes) wanted to see what she looked like, and now she's begging for me to bring Eleanor back in at the end of the year for a good-bye visit :) Eleanor was a great visitor, she never balled up or tried to hide from when we left the house in the morning to when we got home. She was more curious than some of my classmates were! It helps to have a really docile snake to get people over their fears.

Well for me the family hates snakes and it is all my grandmothers fault, not really, but she has been bitten by 2 snakes in her life. Once when she was a little girl I can't remember what kind but I know that it was venemous. The other was watersnake in the country and I was there when it happened. That is what really made me dislike snakes. Now I absolutely think they are amazing and want more. I don't intend to convert the rest of my family because I understand why they don't have a nice warm feelings about snakes. They try not to disrespect our love for the animails though.

Judy, I agree. It does sometimes seem like something you have to "keep in the closet," even though I do sometimes take delight in telling people we have 9 snakes. :twisted: I think you're even more wary of telling people about your legless pets when you're supposed to be a responsible parent.

My experience with people has been that people who have an intense aversion to snakes are people who have had no contact or experience with them. They know nothing about them except what they see in movies, and they are convinced that they'll feel slimy. So I guess I'd say education is the best way to deal with people who hate snakes. Of course, you're not going to convert everyone. Some people won't even listen to what you have to say, but the least you can do is try, and maybe, every once in while, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Everyone has their own opinions on everything regardless what it was. There is nothing we can do about it. I know i love snakes and all critters of this world, but that is one voice out of the 6+ billion people on this earth. Just try and educate, then deal with it, or ignore.

Win them over with a round of mousecicles.

Well luckily I come from a long line of Herp lovers. Most of family either own herps right now them selves, or have owned previousley as has most of my friends, so I have not had to deal very much with this issue. There is one person that told me that as long as that snake is in my house that they will not come over to visit. I replied with these words as i walked out of her house "Why do you think I got the snake"? We do still talk, but it's via the phone. :mrgreen:

A great example of this was tonite. I was drafting a baseball team online & mentioned my new friend. One of the guys said that they could never live in a house with a snake. Almost everyone else agreed. After more talking, one of them said "If your snake escaped & you were in the dark you wouldn't be afraid?" I said absolutely not. The only thing that i would be afraid of was steppin on him on accident or sumthin like that. This same person said, "Did you have your snake de-venomized?" After explaining to him that pythons don't have venom, i realized just how uneducated people can really be on this issue.

As a keeper of over 40 tarantulas, some scorpions, other spiders, and currently 6 snakes, I have to say that there are two things that are largely responsible for peoples uneasieness with these creatures:

1: Hollywood. They have really done an injustice to them and given them a very bad reputatation. People go to the movies and see these "evil" and "menacing" creatures and are taught that they attack without provacation. That their behavior is premedated and that they "attack" people for the sole purpose of hurting or killing them for no reason. Wrong! These creatures are primarily shy and if one gets bitten, it's ususally because the creature felt threatened and acted out to defend itself. How one approaches and body language sends a lot of information to the spider/scorpion/snake.

2: Lack of education. I too was one that was "afraid" of spiders/scorpions/snakes until I took the time to educate myself. Now I've opened my mind up to learning more about them and have learned that they are not the "evil" creatures that Hollywood and our peers have portrayed and taught us that they are. They are just trying to survive in this world the same as the rest of us. They wouldn't be here if they weren't supposed to be and if they didn't have the right to be. They have and serve their purpose too.

I know that we've all heard this before, but I'm going to say it again. More people are bitten by dogs every day and some seriously injured by our beloved canine friends (I have two) than by snakes, spiders, etc.

Education is the key to enlightenment. Give it to people in little doses. Don't try to overwhelm them or they will close their minds to the subject. Just little bits at a time and before you know it, they will be asking questions and showing a sincere interest in learning. Then little by little, that wall comes down.

Food for thought.

I've seen it all my life. My mom hated them, yet bought me a corn when I was young. All my friends are afraid of them.

I went to the vets once with one of mine, and had it wrapped around my neck. The lady working there decided to be mean about it and got really lippy. She got mad rather then scared. Then ordered me into a corner chair so I wouldn't scare people. Then some kids and their mom came over to see, and asked questions. I told them it wasn't venomous or mean. Then they wanted to hold it. Gotta start young, adults are hopeless.

Well, I have said it before, i didn't want the snake in my house. My oldest son is allergic to dogs, horses, and i am to cats. we treid fish, killed them all.....hermit crabs made it over a year. my husband has wanted one since i met him 12 years ago. ofcourse, i thought he was crazy. we got sixx in july after we came home from vacation. i got a tattoo for my 30th (i was feeling old.) birthday, and that was one thing my husband "used" for leverage. we went to the pet store to look, and ofcourse the kids fell in love...
everyone that knows me thinks that i am crazy...i love my snake. i even had a python tag airbrushed for the front of my car. (it didn't turn out the best, i am going to have it redone) Hunter was studying reptiles (1st grade) and i brought him to school. i am the only one that handled him, but the kids loved it.
and, ofcourse i get the cruel feeding issues........but, everyone i know put out mouse traps and decon when they have a house guest....not sure why my snake eating is wrong....
if they don't like him, and can't deal with him in his space, they can stay home. i don't push him on anyone because i don't want him scared or to scare them. it is not required to hold him when you visit......but he is here to stay!!!

People basically use media outlets as educational tools when it comes to snakes. They watch horribly stupid movies like "anaconda" and figure that every snake is venomous, and out to kill them for no reason other than pure evil. One exaple is a neighbor of mine; last spring there was a harmless 2-foot garter snake out by her garage, having babies, and she would not leave her house out of fear!
I'd say that 90 percent of the people I have encountered that hate snakes (at my work and in my family) have never even touched one. They think it's slimy, stinking, and out to get them. Maybe they picked up a garter snake as a kid, and got musked? No, i think it's more like an uneducated, unthinking knee-jerk response to something that scares them becuz it's different and pictured in some religions to be the essence of evil. In reality, it's just another good member of the food chain, a beautifully evolved and swift moving animal!
Nothing in snakekeeping is more awesome than having a friend come over who is terrified of snakes, and they handle yours for a while and completely changed their mind. :)

My 16-year-old cousin wanted a snake for her birthday in January, so I took her with me to the show in Birmingham and we picked out a nice cbb ball python for her (he's in my gallery), after setting up an enclosure for him in her bedroom. Her best friend Erica told us all about how slimy and scary snakes were and that she didn't want to ever touch him and would prefer he stay in his enclosure when she was over. Well, the next time I was over, Erica was holding Dante and cooing baby talk at him, and when I checked the new enclosure they'd set up and told Kaite her humidity was too low, Erica was the one who was determined to fix it. I love a good conversion. :)

i like this thread.

When people hate snakes, and they know that you own some, they either regard you with feelings of respect and awe, or utter revulsion. The ones who admire your "courage" may be able to be won over and enticed to touch or hold a snake. The ones that revile you for keeping such "disgusting" animals are the ones that I pity, for their lack of knowledge and ignorance.

My reptilian friends have kept many a family member from visiting. That was one of the best reasons to get them, initially!

When people tell me they do not like snakes, I don't push the subject, I have a tree year old to do that. My mother was psycologically damaged as a child when it came to snakes. She had a whiskey barrel of gater snakes dumped on her. When she found out I had a snake, she freaked, saying that she'll never come over, which is okay, we go over there enough. When my bf saw Pauliocho eat for the 1st time he became a disbeliver, but is slowily reverting back. I let people know who are coming over that I have a snake, and tell them I'll do what makes them comfortable, short of getting rid of him. I had this one girl come over and she was freaking out cuz I was holding him, so I put him in the cage, and talked to her about them, and now after seeing Pauliocho a few times she is on the hunt for a bp of her own.

Becky