Anyone else here afraid of snakes???

Confession time.

I'm afraid of snakes. Not like deathly afraid. But sorta afraid. When I encounter a snake out in the wild I have that purely instinctive SNAKE! *freeze up* reaction. Heart starts racing. The adrenaline gets pumping. Occasionally I've been engrossed with YouTube snake videos and the dog will brush up against me and I jump and scream like a little girl.

I've been like this ever since I was a little kid. My dad used to catch every snake he saw in our yard, he'd hold it and make me touch it. If it wasn't a super squirmy one he'd make me hold it. I guess he was trying to help me get over my fear but it didn't really work.

My love of nature and studying zoology and ecosystems really made me learn to appreciate snakes as I got older. Now when I see a snake outside, after I get over that initial jump scare - i can watch them for hours! I even stand guard over them when out on the greenway to make sure no one bothers them. I almost got arrested once for protecting a baby copperhead someone wanted to stomp on its head.

But still... there is that initial 'EEP' moment. I'm ok with having my bps. I know they're in the tub so no I'm not surprised by them.

But it's kinda weird that someone afraid of snakes has them as pets right?

Am I the only one out there?

I do think a phobia of snakes is innate, half the time... For some other people, the fear is learned through myths or whatever.

Just an example, I know for a fact that my mom has an innate phobia, even though she's really gotten used to all my snakes. If I'm holding one and haven't NOTIFIED her of their presence in my hands yet, and she walks into the room, she'll actually cry out and kind of jerk her arms up as a first reaction... And then she goes, "Oh, right.. It's just Cake... haha" or something a second later.

I don't personally have a phobia of them and have been genuinely interested in seeing wild snakes or pet snakes ever since I was a kid.

Not with snakes, but I'm scared of spiders, seeing a wild spider scares the crap out of me, yet I own a tarantula and would totally love to own more.

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Not with snakes, but I'm scared of spiders, seeing a wild spider scares the crap out of me, yet I own a tarantula and would totally love to own more.

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See, I'm terrified of spiders, even dead ones, and I can not fathom that you're both scared of wild ones and have one. :O LOL!

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

I do think a phobia of snakes is innate, half the time... For some other people, the fear is learned through myths or whatever.

Just an example, I know for a fact that my mom has an innate phobia, even though she's really gotten used to all my snakes. If I'm holding one and haven't NOTIFIED her of their presence in my hands yet, and she walks into the room, she'll actually cry out and kind of jerk her arms up as a first reaction... And then she goes, "Oh, right.. It's just Cake... haha" or something a second later.

I don't personally have a phobia of them and have been genuinely interested in seeing wild snakes or pet snakes ever since I was a kid.

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Yes. That's me! I need to be notified of their presence lol

I can't remember the name of the scientist - but they did studies showing primates different pictures while reading brain scans and found that there was definite instinctive 'RUN' reactions to snake pictures. Even when the snakes were 'hidden' in the pics. They were able to spot them quicker than other hidden objects. Except lemurs. No venomous snakes on madagascar...

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

See, I'm terrified of spiders, even dead ones, and I can not fathom that you're both scared of wild ones and have one. :O LOL!

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Lol! Yeah, I don't know what it is, but I'm okay with the big, hairy tarantulas.. a lanky spider, big or small, though is EUGH. Nothing more terrifying than relaxing in bed and seeing a spider on the ceiling or wall, looking away for a second, and then the spider being GONE. No thank you!!

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Not with snakes, but I'm scared of spiders, seeing a wild spider scares the crap out of me, yet I own a tarantula and would totally love to own more.

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

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Oh i love tarantulas! Hehehe

The only time I was afraid of spiders was when I decided to clean the basement wearing only shorts and a sports bra... Guess where a big hairy wolf spider ended up???

Funny story. I wanted my first pet tarantula when I was like 12 or so. My dad said no way no how. The same man who always MADE me try to get over my fear of snakes and fire. My mom was terrified of rodents, but dad vetoed her and let me have a wide variety of hamsters, gerbils, mice and even a chipmunk growing up. My dad was also a practical joker, he would often take a napkin and crumple it up like a ball with a tail and throw it at my mom yelling "watch out! It's a rat!"

Well, mom took me to go get my first rose hair, the first time it molted mom took the shed... and dad woke up with it on his face.

Payback is a *insert proper term for female dog*

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

Oh i love tarantulas! Hehehe

The only time I was afraid of spiders was when I decided to clean the basement wearing only shorts and a sports bra... Guess where a big hairy wolf spider ended up???

Funny story. I wanted my first pet tarantula when I was like 12 or so. My dad said no way no how. The same man who always MADE me try to get over my fear of snakes and fire. My mom was terrified of rodents, but dad vetoed her and let me have a wide variety of hamsters, gerbils, mice and even a chipmunk growing up. My dad was also a practical joker, he would often take a napkin and crumple it up like a ball with a tail and throw it at my mom yelling "watch out! It's a rat!"

Well, mom took me to go get my first rose hair, the first time it molted mom took the shed... and dad woke up with it on his face.

Payback is a *insert proper term for female dog*

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Oh God no, CRINGE.

Your poor parents, hahaha, that's awesome. 😂

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Originally Posted by Fraido

Oh God no, CRINGE.

Your poor parents, hahaha, that's awesome. 😂

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The cleaver family we were not. But I wouldn't have traded them for the world :)

My momma especially. Apparently at some point before I was born my dad did something... and my mom retaliated with super glue and icy hot. Many arguments ended with her saying "remember. Just a dab will do you".

I didn't get it until I was older :P

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

The cleaver family we were not. But I wouldn't have traded them for the world :)

My momma especially. Apparently at some point before I was born my dad did something... and my mom retaliated with super glue and icy hot. Many arguments ended with her saying "remember. Just a dab will do you".

I didn't get it until I was older :P

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Noooooo, ahahahah 😂

Heres a link to a bbc article that argues that fear of snakes is not innate.

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Originally Posted by salt

Heres a link to a bbc article that argues that fear of snakes is not innate.

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Hmm, it's a good point! But maybe it's the definition of innate. Maybe a different way of thinking about it, I think a specific fear that's consistently developed later in life within a single species should be considered innate. Like the fear is programmed, but just doesn't neurologically develop immediately upon birth, if that makes sense??

Like that baby bunnies don't have a fear of predators- they don't really have a fear of anything, but the prey behaviors always develop when they're a bit older, even if they've lived with a breeder in a hutch for their whole life. They develop an automatic response of fear of any unknown animals larger than them = predators, even if they've never encountered a predator before. We wouldn't say that prey behavior isn't innate in bunnies, just because they didn't express the behaviors yet as infants/babies.

I mean, still can't exactly compare bunnies to humans, but something to think about! :P

Once my mom came in my room to talk to me about something and then wanted a hug. Karma had been curled around my arm for the 15 minutes that she had been talking but as soon as I went to sit Karma down my mom looked a little closer, jumped up, and then ran out of my room.

Also, my mom is really religious so she was very reluctant about letting me have a snake in the house. My dad purchased Karma and everything she ever needs, but I live with my mom so everything was up to her. I still think the only reason why I even got Karma is because a minister in our church owns one named Ruben and he's the friendliest thing ever.

i guess im afraid of snakes w/ venom. other than that, i'm afraid of worms, slugs, snails, etc. i can't deal with slimy, boneless stuff.

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

Oh i love tarantulas! Hehehe

The only time I was afraid of spiders was when I decided to clean the basement wearing only shorts and a sports bra... Guess where a big hairy wolf spider ended up???

Funny story. I wanted my first pet tarantula when I was like 12 or so. My dad said no way no how. The same man who always MADE me try to get over my fear of snakes and fire. My mom was terrified of rodents, but dad vetoed her and let me have a wide variety of hamsters, gerbils, mice and even a chipmunk growing up. My dad was also a practical joker, he would often take a napkin and crumple it up like a ball with a tail and throw it at my mom yelling "watch out! It's a rat!"

Well, mom took me to go get my first rose hair, the first time it molted mom took the shed... and dad woke up with it on his face.

Payback is a *insert proper term for female dog*

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

The cleaver family we were not. But I wouldn't have traded them for the world :)

My momma especially. Apparently at some point before I was born my dad did something... and my mom retaliated with super glue and icy hot. Many arguments ended with her saying "remember. Just a dab will do you".

I didn't get it until I was older :P

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:rofl:

you're parents are hilarious.

I've never been scared of snakes, and I've gotten people over their fear. Most of the reasoning behind them being scared is what I call lack of understanding.

I've never been scared of snakes either, just cautious of the venomous sort. I actually helped a Petco worker of all people get over some of her fear of snakes, she even had me take a picture of her holding Circe to show her friends.

It's currently my goal to shoot some pretty photos of a (wild) rattlesnake.

I hike a lot, but I feel like everyone sees the rattlers except for me LOL.

when i first got into snakes i wasnt too comfortable with them, but once you have them for awhile and start handling them the fear goes away. I personally am freaked out by snakes in the wild. Bps and boas are the only snake species im comfortable with.

Yes. I keep them, and like them, but I'm still afraid of them.

Chased garters as a kid - those are the only snakes I'm not afraid of. Coming across a snake unexpectedly always startles me, even if they are dead. I may have accidentally injured a Desert king that was sunning itself on a fish tub earlier this summer. Hope it was ok. Even my own will get my heart racing if they look like they are going to bite. I gently use a snake hook, I talk to them, and I keep the head facing away from me. If the corn is relaxed, I'm ok with him around my neck, but not if he is the least bit squirrly.

Would LOVE to have a big boa some day, but really don't know if I could handle it. Will probably get a Tarahumara locality instead, maybe next year.

Interesting thread topic.
Feels good to "come clean."

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Originally Posted by distaff

Even my own will get my heart racing if they look like they are going to bite. I gently use a snake hook, I talk to them, and I keep the head facing away from me.

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I have that issue, I'm not scared of snakes... but I am scared of being bit. They just have to look at me funny and I will immediately be cautious. I LOVE my bigger snakes, I don't like their bigger teeth. 😩

It's mostly just when it comes to taking them out of the tank, but I keep my hands away from in front of their heads at all times.

It's funny, I have absolutely no innate fear of snakes at all, in fact when I see one in the wild I'm always tempted to catch it and pick it up!

That being said, I do have a snake that when I first got it I was terrified of it, in fact I put it up for sale for awhile but changed my mind later on and decided to keep it. I bought my five foot long 1400 gram Australian Woma python from a guy on Kingsnake.com and when he shipped it he didn't use enough packing and the snake got all beat up. I initially put him in a glass critter cage with a screen top and a large snake hide. He was so aggressive that he would coil up and give me the evil eye from across the room and strike the glass so hard I thought the tank was going to break! Talk about a terrifying experience. He was so mean I was afraid to even take him out of the tank or even to feed him.

After about three months I moved him over to my new ARS rack system and that's when everything changed. I finally was able to handle him for short periods, eventually he became very tame and now is one of my tamest snakes. It took him about four months to finally eat something and now he is on small rats. You can still see the scars along his back from where he got beat up in the mail. Now I'll never ship a snake to my house, I always have them hold it at the FedEx center for pickup.

If you are not afraid of snakes I'm betting you have never encountered a really big mean snake! It's like saying you are not afraid of dogs. If you met the wrong dog you would be very afraid! In general I'm not afraid of snakes, but I know there are snakes out there that can be terrifying.

I've always loved snakes and have never been scared of them. But what really does get me like a sucker punch to the gut is seeing them as roadkill. Maybe it's just because I've had them as pets since I was old enough to buy one with my allowance as a kid. Of course roadkill is never pretty, especially when it's an animal that you have some sort of personal up-close experience with. But there's something about the image or idea of a snake getting run over that is just especially viscerally awful.

I do a lot of road bicycling, and mostly don't see that many snakes on the road. But I live in fear of running over one, to the point where I hate even seeing cars run over bits of rope or skinny pieces of old truck tire tread or other long skinny pieces of roadside debris. It always makes me jump until I realize it wasn't a snake. I guess in that sense I'm sort of lucky that I live in an area where I'd be extremely unlikely to come across a live snake on the road for about half the year!

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Originally Posted by Coluber42

I've always loved snakes and have never been scared of them. But what really does get me like a sucker punch to the gut is seeing them as roadkill. Maybe it's just because I've had them as pets since I was old enough to buy one with my allowance as a kid. Of course roadkill is never pretty, especially when it's an animal that you have some sort of personal up-close experience with. But there's something about the image or idea of a snake getting run over that is just especially viscerally awful.

I do a lot of road bicycling, and mostly don't see that many snakes on the road. But I live in fear of running over one, to the point where I hate even seeing cars run over bits of rope or skinny pieces of old truck tire tread or other long skinny pieces of roadside debris. It always makes me jump until I realize it wasn't a snake. I guess in that sense I'm sort of lucky that I live in an area where I'd be extremely unlikely to come across a live snake on the road for about half the year!

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I actually almost hit a snake driving about six months ago. I was changing lanes and didn't see it until the last minute, it was smack dab in the middle of the highway. It was a coiled up rattlesnake, the biggest one I've ever seen!

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

If you are not afraid of snakes I'm betting you have never encountered a really big mean snake! It's like saying you are not afraid of dogs. If you met the wrong dog you would be very afraid! In general I'm not afraid of snakes, but I know there are snakes out there that can be terrifying.

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That's a good point, but there is a distinction. I take being "afraid of snakes" in general to mean a phobia to some degree - an automatic fear reaction. That's not the same thing as fearing a specific individual that actually has the ability to hurt you and is acting threatening. When I was in grad school, I had a housemate who was afraid of dogs and spiders. If there was a speck on the wall that she didn't remember seeing before, she'd scream and refuse to go in that room until someone checked to make sure it wasn't a spider (this was in an area that does not have any dangerous spiders or insects). If someone was walking a geriatric lap dog with three legs, she would cross to the other side of the street. She knew perfectly well that these things weren't actual threats, but she was afraid of them anyway.
She was an extreme example, but that's what I take "afraid of snakes" to mean. Being perfectly happy to keep that retic in the food mood on the other side of the glass, or even just that grumpy and defensive woma python, is not really the same thing. :)

This is a really interesting thread, it got me thinking. I do have a very particular fear of snakes, and that but s why I love them. I realize that I regard them sort of like horror movies, they both initiate a fear/adrenaline/pleasure reaction in me that i just crave (luckily snakes don't keep me up at night like horror movies do). I think that's why I'm so obsessed with getting a bigger boa soon, I am by no means bored with my little Central American male, but I have absolutely no fear of him. I think back to when I first got him (my first snake) and that aforementioned sensation as I handled him, not knowing if he was just exploring or looking for a soft spot to bite, and I miss it! Now I'm considering carpet pythons not only b/c they are a bit less predictable, but also their faces scare the hell out of me!

Compared to the sweet mustached face of a Boa, Carpets with that gangster grin can be scarey looking. But all of mine are absolute sweethearts! :)

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...dcad8d6927.png

Lizzy, Coastal Carpet

Hmmm...

I never liked snakes. I always thought they felt like leather boots gone zombie... always did my best to avoid them.

I recently got interested into snakes. One of my students brought his bp to my class, and I became hooked ever since. My brother has always said that everyone is afraid of snakes, until they meet a friendly one.

A