what do your friends/relatives/parents as well as other people think of your snake?

hello, just wondering what your people think of your snake
well, my dad liked it, he was like "does it bite?" when i said no, he grabbed it and wanned to look inside her mouth.. lol, i was "dont bother her!"

my friends were running like chickens! my mom and granma + aunts and most of the girls think its distgusting. friends are scared from her.

only just couple of people and one of my uncles who really liked her and complimented me on bringing it home . the rest think im crazy and i should throw it away!!!!

my wife!! "ahhhh!" well, i won the battle for keeping it :D argued alot with her and tried reason and after alot of explaining, she got convinced that its harmless. after a while, she held it. and now she's not scared of it :)

my brothers want to get one. but i told them it needs alot of caring. it would probably die if it stayed at my brother for a month or two.. lol..

Most of our family (relatives) don't even know how many snakes we have...they think we have a "couple" of them LOL. We don't really have that many but do plan on a lot more down the road so why bother to fuss with the extended family.

We've been asked if the BCI is a "risk" for Mikey our 4 year old. Somehow people think Rauri will break out and go strangle Mikey in his sleep. I have to show them that Rauri's cage is well made plus it actually has an area for a lock to be installed (we zip tie it just to make sure the kids don't get in at Rauri more than anything LOL). We don't allow any of our kids to handle even the smallest of the snakes unless we are home and attentive to them. This is as much for the kids' safety as the snakes.

We've gone down the "won't everyone get salmonella" road with people and had to explain to them about our handwashing rules as well as reminding them they are more likely to get salmonella at a fast food place or their own kitchen (cutting boards are dirty things!).

Seems that educating friends, family and the public is a big part of owning a snake doesn't it LOL.


~~Jo~~

My family and friends have actually been pretty good about it. There are so many misconceptions out there about snakes that it's sometimes hard to get people to understand why folks like us care so much for them. I've found that if you take the time to explain things most people (not all though, lol) tend to come around to the idea pretty well....;)

I've totally gotten my fiancee into it. She *adores* Gomez and is excited to get another bp someday, and we've already named the blue beauty we intend to get. (Ma Zu or Matsu, haven't decided on the spelling, she's an asian goddess... heck we've named the future BP for that matter, Morticia!) Our best friend is an animal nut too, the crazy bird lady, and has been around snakes and is totally comfortable with them.

Our families on the other hand... Well, they just don't really get the appeal. My mom is nervous about them but trusts me, and my grandma is totally squicked. My stepmother-in-law just doesn't get the appeal. Mostly I think they'd all be happy if I'd just shut up about them. They seem to regret it sometimes after they ask after the babies. ;) They like to tease me about our bestiary.

My family and friends have a standard comment "As long as you know what you're doing?". The reality is they are aware of my passion, knowledge and respect that I have for snakes. On occasion I do get the "What if the snake grabs the baby (8 months)?". I just reply with "It won't happen". We all have that one friend that just gets on your nerves who coincidentally is scared of snakes, my problem is solved:D. I just tend to look at the positives of owning snakes and educating when the opportunity arises.

Good thread.:)

When I told my parents, my dad was pretty excited and wanted to hear all about Cleo. He's always liked snakes and can't to visit us to see her.

My mom said something about how she won't be able to come in the house now...which for some reason totally spurred on Rick to find more snakes...don't know why. ;)

thanx for your comments
i know how people really misunderstand snakes. i have one of those friends who get scared of snake, actually my wife is one of them. but anyways . when i was in thailand. i would go to my friend at night and move my fingers slowly on his neck or his head, ofcourse you can guess what happens next "jumping,running and screaming!!" :) . i told him that i would stop bothering him for a while if he holds the snake. and he did . so im giving him a brake :)

my mom can't get used to her ..she hates animals..
oh well, good thing i dont live there.. u know she would've killed it, thats one of the main reasons why i never got a snake/pet when i was a kid. i always told her that the snake will bite her.. she's crazy. she was like "im gonna use piff paff in her aquarium and saffucate her. "SCARY MOM!!!" :D

My daughter loves ours. My sons are a bit interested when we take Caesar out, but otherwise indifferent. My husband would prefer that we not have any at all, but he understands the passion (sorta) and is willing to have one or two in the house, but not more than that.


For the most part, my family think they're pretty cool and always want to see Caesar when they can visit. Most of my friends, though, think I'm nuts.

My mom used to hate them. Heck she ran out of the house crying when I got my first BP. Now after patience and understanding on both of our parts, she loves snakes and has a snow corn snake of her own.

My dad always liked reptiles. He's kinda uncomfortable holding any animal (he's afraid he'll hurt them) but he likes seeing mine.

My co-workers mostly like them, but there's a few that grimace and hide in the corner when I bring in a snake for them to see. My boss hyperventilates when she sees a snake, but I'm proud of her because she pet my roughscale sand boa and held a baby kenyan sand boa.

Katie.........likes them, but thinks they take up too much of my time and money
My mom.......thinks I am a maniac and that I should get rid of them all
My dad........really just does not care
My brother and sister.......think they are freakin awesome(but they both keep snakes too;))
My friends......some like them, some think i am crazy, some are scared to death of them :)

I was never allowed to keep reptiles when I was living at home, for various reasons. My mom, who loves animals felt that it was unfair to keep snekes in captivity and my dad, who only appreciates house cats didn't want reptiles in the house at all.

After I moved out, I got Allister and shortly thereafter I acquired Seymore.
My family thinks its a little strange though they have warmed up to the idea. Allister and Seywour had to stay with me at dad's house while my apartment was being sprayed for wasps. He didn't mind the snakes being there, but my step-mom wouldn't come anywhere near the guest room. My mom, well, she accepts it.

So far as my friends are concerned, well, some won't set foot in my apartment. Others don't mind but think it's strange that I would dedicate so much time and energy into nurturing an animal that isn't a dog or cat. I get a lot of strange questions.

A girlfriend would just have to deal with it.

Suffice it to say, snakes are revered in my house and St. Patrick is not welcome. I don't really mind that some of my friends don't come over anymore, I've always felt that we can have more meaningful relationships with the animals we take care of than other people anyway.

I get the same response from basically everyone I tell that we have a snake - "YUCK"; "Aren't they slimy"; or my personal favorite "Because you wanted a warm and cuddly pet, huh?" LOL! I take it w/a grain of salt because I reacted the same way before I got Ziggy so I can kinda relate.

I forgot to mention that Karen has pics up of our little family in her cubical, and a couple of guys asked about our snakes and were wigged about it. She was highly amused by this. ;) Buncha babies.

lol, funny ... well, to be honest with you. all my "male" cousins think that im cool, that im the 1st one who would kick everyone against the wall "even my wife" and get a snake. but size REALLY matter, i mean imagine how scared they get from a baby snake! she's only 6 months old!!!! completely harmless. imagine how their reaction would be if the snake was fully matured ... FUN!! :D ..

my boss used to have a boa when he was studying in the snake! he's so inlove with snakes alright. infact, the 1st day when i got to work , he was like "OPEN THE BAG. GIVE ME THE LITTLE BABY!!!" :) i told him its too cold to get her out. so he's planning to come over someday "i dont know when!" .. now, he's married and got a baby. he wants to get one sooooooooo bad!!! but his wife doesn't want him to....

you know, i have respect to all women here who love snakes!! :D

I respect girls who like snakes as well, and I do, from time to time, think of what would happen if I turned up with a woman who didn't appreciate them. I am fortunate in a way, because the girl I'm seeing now appreciates my love for these animals, even though she doesn't completely understand it. I'm fortunate that she doesn't try to stifle my enthusiasm for snakes, because honestly --and I know this is totally contrary to what Zen dictates, I don't feel like I would be a complete person if I wasn't the acting care-taker for snakes. I like having them around, and I enjoy looking after them.

I have no idea how I'd react to a wife that "Didn't want me to have them ..." Like I said before, she'd just have to deal with it. I recon I ought to make sure to find me a woman who loves snakes I guess, should this current relationship crash and burn as they are wont to do sometimes.

The thing that really bothers me though is the inability of certain individuals to understand why someone would enjoy the captive husbandry of snakes. Seriously, I see people walking their dogs or rather, their dogs walking them, I go to their townhouses or apartments and their psychotic (for want of proper exercise and appropriate jobs) 100 pound german shephers and labradours jump all over me and bite me and despite this, I still visit them. I still at least try to understand how somebody would want to look after a dog (even though I disagree with keeping dogs -especially work dogs- in an environment which is too small, and with not giving these animals jobs to do. You can have a dog, just make sure it has enough room to play, a job to do and that you train him or her properly). It boggles my mind, it really does. They'll keep crazy dogs, talk baby talk to these animals and let them have free run of the house, but the moment somebody talks about building a stable macro-ecosystem to suit the needs of his prized ball python or nicaraguan boa constrictor they instantaneously regress to the level of 5 year-olds "eeew snakes are slimy and gross and dangerous ... can you teach them to eat vegetables? ... do they poop? ... why do you want one of those, you're weird and I'm not setting foot in your house!".

It's ludicrous.

I'll curtail my rant though, for the moment.

__________________
--Kenny

1.0 - normal ball python "Allister"
1.0 - boa constrictor imperator "Seymour"
1.1 - feral cats "Dante" and "Marzipan"

hehhehee, all come with time, im trying to change this idea to people around me. well, im sure if i got an adult ball python, she would really get a heart attack.

instead i got a really really small snake "common egg eater" after she got used to it. i was giving her hints that im gonna get other snakes she was like "isn't this one enough?" , then she told my mom and her mom and they even BEGGED me not to bring one home!! i told them that i wouldn't bring a scorpion "even though i love those too!" or spiders because i know they are dangerous, humen are bound to be afraid of the unknown. they were like "what if it bites it!". i told them "if you treat it right. it will never bite u. and there's a risk of biting even if you hold an insect or an ant. everything defends itself when threatened" i couldn't gotten a scarier snake. but i think BP are so cute and so innocent looking. specially with their baby eyes.

im sad to tell you that i wouldn't call those "my friends" i just call them stupid people. i mean, friends are supposed to accept you the way you are, sure they tell me that im nutts and crazy. but most of them wanna see it , although i wont force someone to hold lahsa.

I only have one or two friends who claim to not like snakes, but only one has refused to hold him. Ironically, the worst reaction I've had was from my old science teacher! heehee I've also had people wanting to watch him eat (maybe I should start selling tickets =P) But yeah, overall more facination than fear.


Both of my parents are pretty indifferent, and my sister loves him so much she wants a snake of her own! My dad keeps saying he wishes I had gotten a bird, but seems to care about his well-being.

The #1 question people ask me is "what do you feed it?" I'm like....are you serious? haha

my mom: everytime i talk to her she tells me to set if free out side (its middle of winter right now) and tells me to kill it all the time

my dad: i think he cares more for my snake then i do (our phone convosations basically revole around how my snake is )

my sis: curious but leary

my lil sis: thinks its the coolest snake ever and has a pic of him in her wallet

the rest of my family: thinks either 1. i'm insane 2. that basill is going to kill me 3. or really doesn't care

my friends: some of my friends have snakes and the other some are not comfortable when he is out (but other then that they don't mind)

I'm 35 or so. My parents and my wife's parents dread snakes and rats, and they all swear they're never coming to visit again. *shrug* If I knew it was that easy......

My wife was indifferent at first, having a master's in math logic, there isn't anything that phases her unless it really is dangerous. Think "Data" on star trek. She's well read, has a great memory, so she knew more about them than I did before I started looking. She has since been heard to say "cute" in relation to the snakes. I still have yet to hear her describe me in such a way.

My children all think they're great, though my oldest son, at 8 years old is trying hard to be brave around them. My youngest daughter (4) just loves them, and always wants to hold them. They even play with the dead rats prior to feeding.

My parents are okay with it these days. I moved out ages ago. Also, not long after I got into bp's, I told my mom to check out nerd's website and see how much the morphs were going for.

My friends just think it's a bit weird that I have so many critters, and probably a little bit on what I have, but they're used to it by now.

In the overall scheme of things, the snakes aren't really what bothers most people. It's the inverts (mostly the SPIDERS :omg:!) that bothers/confuses most people.

I've got about 50 tarantulas/scorpions, and two different feeder insect colonies.

I don't typically mention to non herp/non invert people that I have a bin of feeder roaches. :neener:

most people think i'm crazy or sick

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gncz73

most people think i'm crazy or sick

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Before or after you got snakes?

You slay me Spencer! LOL! Get those kids of yours some toys man! If they go to school and take a dead rat as show and tell you are sooooooooo going to get one of "those" kind of phone calls! :P


~~Jo~~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

You slay me Spencer! LOL! Get those kids of yours some toys man! If they go to school and take a dead rat as show and tell you are sooooooooo going to get one of "those" kind of phone calls! :P


~~Jo~~

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See, this brings up another problem altogether.

All the kids are calling my son a liar now because he's beeing telling them I have a couple of pythons in our house. The way I see it, I need to march down there with a snake in each hand and make his point for him.

..now maybe if I DO send him to school with a dead rat that will help solve his problem.

Well I get mixed views. My Dad does not mind them too much, he just thinks its better than videogames and drugs. My mother dreads them that is why they are in the separate ofice building. Everyone else in my fam like aunts nd uncles love them. My ex girlfriend didnt like them but was crazy about me. And others I get mixed reviews. We have family friends that are eagle scouts and the dad runs like a pest business. SO he often deals w/ animals like squirrel, coon, occasional snake removal. But overall I get like "Oh umm thats cool"

Schlyne :) well, seriously. if i brought a spider/scorpion. everyone will beat me to death and ask me to kill it. so i can live without them, although i have some keychains of scorpions in a jar or glass. everyone is like "yuck!!!!" :) but im inlove more with snakes and i dont wanna risk it :D .. maybe if i have a farm or something i'll start raising those .... away from my wife!! lol.

srozell
:) personally i would take it with me when i pick em up and wrap it around his neck
or take some digital pictures then print them out :D
he'll impress alot of his friends. they might even come over and u'll start giving some classes about snakes :D

everyone think im crazy before the snake. now they think im crazy/nutts / cooocooo! and have a death wish :D

well my husbands family dont like it at all but my family thinks its koolio.my brother wants one now but i told him it takes alot of time and dedication.

Most of my friends adore Bauhamat, they squabble over 'who gets to hold her today'. I even convinced a friend with a snake phobia to pet and hold her :D . My mother is absolutely terrified of snakes, rats, mice, spiders, and any other 'creepy crawly', my father thinks it's a bit funny, younger sister is terrified that my 2ft bp will eat her face while she sleeps (I MAY have helped with that one :giggle: ) Everyone else thinks I'm nuts when I talk about how cute Bauhamat is. :rolleyes:

today im getting calls about v-day and they're telling me "we heard rumours that the snake has taken your heart and soul" seems like my wife been complaining to someone about how busy i was applying the new cage with lecquer.
:)