Natural fear of snakes?

I've heard and read many times that humans have a natural fear of snakes. That was never the case for me. The first 7 or 8 years of my life I was taught that snakes were evil creatures to be avoided at all costs.

That all went out the window literally the second I saw a snake for the first time (An albino burm) I actually have a photo of this experience somewhere. Probably a week later I had my very first pet snake after lots and lots of begging of parents.

Spiders on the other hand, I have a completely unexplainable fear of. That seems very difficult to rid myself of. And the thing is, nobody ever tried to instill in my the fact that spiders were bad, I've just always feared them.

What is your experience with this "natural fear of snakes"? Do you believe it is natural or a learned condition?

From what I have seen, most kids don't naturally fear snakes, they pick it up from their parents. I've never been afraid of snakes. I believe it's totally learned. From what I understand the only fears we are truly born with are a fear of falling and a fear of loud noises. But many do not carry these fears throughout their lives.

There's interesting research suggesting that some fear of snakes is instinctual in monkeys, having their brains hard wired to react negatively to things that move with a slithering motion. Hard to say how much that applies to people though. Me, my husband, his cousins, and our daughter all love snakes. One of his uncles and his mom are terrified of them, but niether of them can point to any specific event or anything someone tried to teach them that made this happen. Paul (the uncle) has even tried to get over his fear by being around snakes; he helped a friend move a big retic to a new enclosure, he's held other peoples snakes, and even goes to pet shops to look at them behind glass, all to no avail. He can mitigate his reation, but he still gets bad heebee jeebees.

So, it might be a little of both and down to the individual.

Few years ago I had read some interesting study about it, but now I cannot recall from where/who.
Here some links (I don't know if the sources are trustful) for start.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0227121840.htm
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/ani...may-be-genetic
http://www.parentingscience.com/fear-of-snakes.html

I remember in the "kid myself" the curiosity was stronger than the fear. :)

My mother is terrified of snakes, couldn't look at one on TV without getting upset, my Dad used to keep Cal Kings, and catch western diamondbacks long before I was born, he has 0 fear, and a healthy interest. I think there is a fine line between fear and curiosity inherent with something so different from us, haven't met anyone indifferent to them, guess like most things it is a primordial survival skill that modern people react to in different ways. Personally I was a little afraid as a kid, but my dad kept me interested, when I got my first BP about 20 years ago it was an odd thrill, basically fear that I overcame every time I handled him, like jumping a motorcycle or firing a gun, and I grew to love and respect it, never has gotten routine or boring. Even now there is a tiny flash of apprehension every so often when I first pick mine up, it's different from most every other pet I have kept, my wife likes to look, but doesn't like handling them, although my 3 year old is 100% curious, wants to handle any snake he can, likes pointing them out in shows and any zoo we visit.

Most of it comes from lack of information of the source of fear. Most all we see are poisonous snakes or large constrictor. Most people aren't exposed to them to debunk the myths or counter the fear. My mom is deathly afraid of snakes but allowed me to have them growing up and now she holds my bp. The more exposure, the less the fear....unless there is a traumatic event

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Originally Posted by tbowman

I've heard and read many times that humans have a natural fear of snakes. That was never the case for me. The first 7 or 8 years of my life I was taught that snakes were evil creatures to be avoided at all costs.

That all went out the window literally the second I saw a snake for the first time (An albino burm) I actually have a photo of this experience somewhere. Probably a week later I had my very first pet snake after lots and lots of begging of parents.

Spiders on the other hand, I have a completely unexplainable fear of. That seems very difficult to rid myself of. And the thing is, nobody ever tried to instill in my the fact that spiders were bad, I've just always feared them.

What is your experience with this "natural fear of snakes"? Do you believe it is natural or a learned condition?

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I think that many just see either deadly Cobras on the TV and then go to the local Zoo and be faced with huge , ugly looking dark browny black Boas and Burms sleeping in a dark corner of an enclosure .
So the majority are ore- programmed to think that they are vicious , deadly , huge ugly creatures .i was in our local pet store and I was handed a stunning looking , very gentle , two foot long , bright yellow Butter Corn snake and fell in love with snakes that very moment !

Sounds like it's time to pick up a spider pet ;D

I always stayed far away from snakes. Still hate garters to this day. Getting one has made me much more comfortable with them.

SPIDERS on the other hand, no way!

I think it can be both ways, but in most cases it is learned. Some probably do have an instinctual fear, after all none of us are totally without our primitive sides, even though some won't admit it. Not hard to imagine our ancestors connecting the event of one of thier own being bitten by the strange, slender wiggly thing, then dying. Might even explain why many don't have the instinctual fear, might have to have ancestors from an area where deadly bites were common. And I could be totally off here too. But I too was one of those that was raised in an environment where "the only good snake is a dead one", but I just never had an inherent fear. And I have seen many, many children just walk right up to their first snake with nothing but wonder in their eyes too.

This is just my personal opinion, but I don't think humans are born with a "natural" fear of anything. Be it snakes, heights, spiders, close-in spaces, clowns, or anything else. I think all those deep-seated fears are brought on by something. It may be something that happened so early on that the person has no recollection of it. It may be something that happened extremely gradually (societal influences) so that no specific root cause can be identified....but none of it is "born" into us.

My mother especially tried to instill a fear of snakes into me when I was young but that ended the second I saw my first BP at a pet store. She held fast to her "not under my roof" rule until I moved out 10 months ago and bought my pinstripe:D The funny thing is now she loves my little scamp, but still hates every other snake out there.

We are (or were) also bombarded with information portraying snakes as evil, slimy and given lots of other nasty adjectives. Television shows, videos, books (including the bible) and other forms of media make all snakes out to be evil and we should be wary of them. Similar to dogs. How many feel-good stories do you hear or read that talk about nice Rottweilers, pitbulls, etc. When I was a kid there were no TV shows or movies about snakes that didn't make them out to be hideous, killing machines. I know I saw enough that scared the hell out of me. Also my father was deathly scared of snakes for some unknown reason and was taught to hate and fear all snakes even the little garter snakes that we have here in Nova Scotia. I have gotten mostly over any fear that I had for snakes but I still have a bit of hesitation when it comes to putting my hand in front of my ball (heaven knows what will happen when i receive my first bite). Large snakes still cause a bit of anxiety when I am near them so I assume that I will always be a small snake lover and stay away from anything much over 5 feet in length.

My whole family hates snakes. Which is strange because I am the one with the outdoor experience. Thus, I'm the one with the run ins with copperheads, cottonmouths, rattlers, and even the uncommon corral snake. I don't hate the venomous ones, but I shore do respect them!

I'm not afraid of spiders. I only hate what they do. They make webs all over my shop.
If I drop a part, bend down to retrieve it from under a machine, I got spider webs all over the part and my hand!

Because of that, I kill every spider I see!

If a spider is in the house, I scoop it up in my hand and flush the toilet, as the water is half way down, I throw the spider in. That way he can't crawl out!

It is very rare for a house spider bite to be able to penetrate your skin.

This topic has always interested me. I do think there is some biological apprehension for most people but I don't feel like full blown fear is natural. For instance most people will flinch or jump if they are holding a snake and it moves suddenly and I think many are just generally apprehensive around them. I also read that study that discusses the innate fear of snakes found in primates and found it very interesting. I think it is reasonable to say that there may be some holdover of "fear" or general unease found in humans, but it seems we have much more control over our response and can unlearn our fear if we choose. I really think for most people it does come down to the lack of experience and education, as I have personally seen multiple people get over their fear and even hatred of snakes after either handling one for the first time, or even just being in the same room as them enough times to get curious. I have no apprehension around my ball python, but wild snakes do still trigger that instinctual panic response for a split second. This may just have to do with the fact that I feel like I know my snake, but that a wild snake is less predictable. The first wild snake I ever handled was a bull snake (not known for being the friendliest of snakes). I work at a resort and the man trying to remove him hated snakes and had no equipment other than a rake. I didn't even have my ball python at the time but I didn't want to see the snake injured. With no proper tools, removing it by hand was the safest option for the snake but I was definitely afraid of being bitten. This guy was around 4-5 feet and extremely unhappy with the whole situation. I did manage to pick him up and was amazed that he didn't bite me, or even stike at me. I did notice afterwards that my heart was absolutely pounding, despite the fact that I chose to involve myself. He calmed right down once I was holding him and that made a huge difference in how I perceive even wild snakes now. They are just not the aggressive killers they are made out to be, unless you are on their menu. :P I really think a little experience goes a long way towards breaking down irrational fears.

As for spiders, I was terrified of them as a child, bordering on phobic. I couldn't be in the same room as one and this lasted for about 14 years. I still remember, when I was in my teens I was reading through a library book about animals and came to a page with a photo of a mexican red knee tarantula. Somehow just seeing how gorgeous it was, I instantly went from hating anything with 8 legs to wanting desperately to have one. I finally did get a chilean rose hair tarantula and loved her, she was just wonderful. I still don't know how my mind was changed so suddenly. I stayed nervous about small spiders for a while, but after enough time with her I was able to relocate house spiders by hand without a second thought. It felt like I understood them better by observing a larger example, like just seeing them in enough detail was all it took. Either way, I think the fear of both snakes and spiders comes from the fact that we have so little time with them in normal life and do not get an opportunity to see them for what they are. Many people I have known are blown away when they learn what either of these animals are really like, it is just nothing like what they have built up in their minds about them over the years. :)

Most definitely the fear is instilled and learned from parents who fear the same. As we grow from infancy through child and toddler years most everything is learned however we do have some instinctual responses to things. Those instincts are mostly related to physical survival and reflexes. Could you imagine what this world would be like without snakes? They do so much good in ridding populations of mice and rats. The farming industry especially benefits from snakes who control rodent populations. We all know what diseases wild mice and rats carry. So those of us who fear snakes and teach our children t fear snakes should turn those fears into respect and knowledge about the giant snakes of the world and the venomous snakes that need to be approached with more caution but the same respect. Stay in peace and not pieces. A.C. :colbert: :colbert: :gj: