ignorance of the world

I just watched a video of a ball python eating a rat via myspace. The video wasn't the upsetting part(although the snakes living conditions were less then ideal.) What got me was all the people commenting the video saying that the owner of the snake should die and be put in a psych ward and all sorts of hatefull things. It seems as though people won't even give snakes a chance to be accepted as good creatures. At least were around to back up our snakes.

I'm not putting up a link because there was some pretty nasty comments left to this person that aren't appropriate here.

Well! There are still alot of ignorant people in this world. :mad: But that is life.

yep ignorance is still around us...i was talking to a fellow student that was shocked an appalled at the fact that people let their children handle ball pythons!! :O her comments..."it could wrap around their neck and strangle them" with my breif come back of "that's a load of crap where do you read these things? ball pythons are small and harmless"

last year i told a kid in my class i had a four foot python and he told me it could eat me.:rolleyes:

what saddens me the most is that they think that snakes are evil and all of them can kill you....the only thing the know about them is the archetypal view on snakes-venomous deadly creatures :mad: :(

i guess were here to try to educate those people a bit

I had a Albino Burmese python sometime back and i had her on display promoting the herp club i was a member of.Well these three girls come up and when they noticed Medusa they started screaming:eek: .They kept saying that yellow snake is venomus(spelling) and its going to kill us.Well after about a half hour i explained the truth to them and they even touched Medusa before they left:D .Its true that alot of people are straight up ignorant about the TRUTH about reptiles,given the correct approach they can be properly informed about reptiles.

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Originally Posted by novato

Well! There are still alot of ignorant people in this world. :mad: But that is life.

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it doesn't have to be. by each of us becoming more informed... making better choices and supporting others in their endeavours as well... we CAN make a difference.

i choose to make a difference!

I get that same negative response from my family regarding my bp's. surprising enough, my kids' school had days where I can bring the snakes in for a "education fun" day. I love teaching kids and their parents all about the beauty of snakes

It's a shame the world see's snakes in such a neg. light.
All we can do is try our best to educate as many as we can.

When ever at work or play I come across someone who says they kill snakes even if non venomous I always ask them if they enjoy having rodents run around there homes to which their reply is no. So I tell them then stop killing the darn snakes and they usually look at it a bit different when confronted w/ that.

Face it snakes freak so many people out, kinda like spiders.
The fear w/ in the human mind is a powerful thing. It's a shame but true.

I have a ball python eating a rat/mouse on my page....I got the video off of google or utube...It's not my snake or anything but I put it on there cuz I love watching these things eat. That's me, I haven't gotten any negative responses over it but some people really hate snakes and or the thought of feeding them rodents. I tried explaining to somebody the other day that if we didn't have snakes in the world we would be over run by a bunch of rodents...Kinda like if they're weren't spiders there would be alot more bugs...


It's all part of the circle of life...People need to respect whether they like it or not.

I started a thread on this on Sunday. [Yesterday.]

I messaged the guy, and he was very polite. Turns out, an expert told him that the rat was approprate for the corn snake [if you've seen that one.] and that the living conditions were ideal for both snakes.

Even if the living conditions aren't wonderful, at least they're getting fed and look healthy.

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I messaged the guy, and he was very polite. Turns out, an expert told him that the rat was approprate for the corn snake [if you've seen that one.] and that the living conditions were ideal for both snakes.

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An "expert" once told me it was OK to use a permethrin-based insecticide directly on a ball python to treat it for mites...do a search and find out how that story ended...

Just give him a link and point him in the direction of some good info. Call my an optimist, but some people just don't have access to good info for whatever reason, so their stupidity really isn't their "fault." Now, if they don't know good info when they see it and dismiss it to protect their ego, then that is another story...

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

An "expert" once told me it was OK to use a permethrin-based insecticide directly on a ball python to treat it for mites...do a search and find out how that story ended...

Just give him a link and point him in the direction of some good info. Call my an optimist, but some people just don't have access to good info for whatever reason, so their stupidity really isn't their "fault." Now, if they don't know good info when they see it and dismiss it to protect their ego, then that is another story...

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I told him about this wonderful message board and also gave him some advice on how to care for his snakes. He's being really nice about the whole thing and seems as if he'll do his best to better the conditions.

I know a few ignorant people.....Mr Adam Wysocki is on top.:8: ;) :P

When I was a kid we did this word-association thing in my class, and one of the words was "snake". We had to write down three words that we associated with the word "snake". I put like, "beautiful" and "graceful" and everyone else in the entire class put "ugly" "scary" "slimy" "evil" etc. My teacher was so impressed that I was the ONLY one with anything positive to say about snakes he read my list aloud and then made other people justify (or try to) their answers.

And I'm a GIRL. ;)

I think i may of seen that vid on myspace , the comments about the bp were disgusting how can people be so ignorant?? , i left a message on there saying that there is nothing at all wrong with feeding live as it is what they do naturally , but i did say that i thought his tanks needed a good clean out as they wernt that hygenic looking. But thats if it is the same vid as you saw as the tanks in the vid i watched were in a awful state

People say snakes are horrible and cruel in how they treat their prey but I find that it's difficult for them to justify their answers when I tell them what domestic cats are known to do- merely play with poor mice and not even put them out of their misery until they're done having their fun. Don't get me wrong, I love cats- I'm the proud owner of one!- but I find it's a very convincing argument. I was in my "local" pet store today and it made me crack up when two girls were ooh-ing and ahh-ing at a baby bp but when they read the tag on the viv and it read "python" (which is greek and translates into "incredibly vicous and deadly snake", remember) they couldn't get away fast enough. I made myself laugh when I turned round and jumped when I saw a BRB had emerged from its hide to have a stare at me, it scared the cr*p out of me!

thats kinda funny because i let my 2 normal ball pythons wrap around me neck an they wrap around my neck about 2 an a half times if not a little more and never had them get to tight or anything and there bolth 4 foot long but who knows some people just dont like snakes all together

well look at it this way,yes people are ignorant and chances are they dont know the 1st thing about snakes.but on tv and movies all they ever put are venomous snakes killing people(like "snakes on a plane") so people obviously arent smart enough to realize that movies are movies and not documentaries so of course they'll believe anything they see in movies.my parents were like that before i got my ball python.they thought it would crawl out during the night and eat me.well i've had him for 3.5 months and im still here!! plus now that im telling my friends,classmates and other relatives that i have snakes, they ask me all these idiotic questions which in return, i give them a sometimes harsh answer.but then again people will never believe anything beyond what they see with their own eyes.

I think the majority of people who are afraid of snakes got that way growing up and from their parents and so on, my grandmother was raised in what now is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and she has told me about encountering snakes while walking to ie, school, store, etc... and she says she still has dreams about being attacked by snakes. Well since ive been into snakes ive done my best to teach them everything I know about them and to my suprise this past summer she called me about a snake in her garden (a few years ago they would haved killed it right there) and when I got there it was a good size Black Rat, well she held the pillowcase for me and even held the snake before I took it down into the woods. Ive tried to do a reptile educational program for a few local schools but they all say they dont allow animals (which I know is a bunch of bull). If more people would take the time to learn and participate in a program like that then I believe in the long run there will be fewer people scared of them. I keep telling people who are afraid, if they spend a day with me, then by the end of the day they will learn to love these beautiful creatures.

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Originally Posted by worldcupkeeper

I keep telling people who are afraid, if they spend a day with me, then by the end of the day they will learn to love these beautiful creatures.

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i do the same thing all the time and you know what i tell myself right after? "yeah like that'll ever happen."

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Originally Posted by worldcupkeeper

... Ive tried to do a reptile educational program for a few local schools but they all say they dont allow animals (which I know is a bunch of bull). ...

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In this case, I doubt that schools turned you down due to a prejudice against snakes. More like a prejudice against strangers coming into the schools. They don't know you, don't know your motives for wanting to get close to a bunch of children...or even if they believed your motives to be correct, they still don't know you well enough to know you wouldn't bring in a dangerous animal, or allow an animal to escape or bite a child or what. I can think of all kinds of reasons why a school would choose not to allow just anyone to come in and do a "reptile show."

Once you have kids of your own and through them you get to know the teachers and school administrators, then you'll have a more likely chance to get in. Otherwise, the only "outsiders" that come into schools to do shows are the ones who have built up a reputation of an honest, capable handler/educator....and the schools call THEM to come in, rather than the other way around.

Anyhow....I hope that doesn't sound critical of you or anything, cause it's not meant to. I just wanted to point out that in that particular example, its probably not the "snakes' fault."

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

ball pythons are small and harmless"

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Unless you have to reach into the back of a rack to get one out! :D:P

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Unless you have to reach into the back of a rack to get one out! :D:P

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Ha Ha Ha Ha, Oh man no he didn't... :clap:

There is always ignorance. Not everyone can know everything, the problem is the narrow-minded individuals and stereotypes. For instance, I love rats and always have. Rats make wonderful pets/companions and are so incredibly intelligent and even loving. But you still have the stereotype. That is probably a good thing for most snake folk though or they wouldn't be able to feed rats to snakes! And then you have those yappy little ankle-biting chihuahuas(my breed)...LOL. You just cannot cannot expect everyone to understand everything, many people simply aren't bright enough or have a fear imprinted on them from their parents, etc.,etc. It is frustrating.
Holly

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Originally Posted by JLC

In this case, I doubt that schools turned you down due to a prejudice against snakes. More like a prejudice against strangers coming into the schools. They don't know you, don't know your motives for wanting to get close to a bunch of children...or even if they believed your motives to be correct, they still don't know you well enough to know you wouldn't bring in a dangerous animal, or allow an animal to escape or bite a child or what. I can think of all kinds of reasons why a school would choose not to allow just anyone to come in and do a "reptile show."

Once you have kids of your own and through them you get to know the teachers and school administrators, then you'll have a more likely chance to get in. Otherwise, the only "outsiders" that come into schools to do shows are the ones who have built up a reputation of an honest, capable handler/educator....and the schools call THEM to come in, rather than the other way around.

Anyhow....I hope that doesn't sound critical of you or anything, cause it's not meant to. I just wanted to point out that in that particular example, its probably not the "snakes' fault."

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Not sounding critical at all, its just we are extremely good friends with a teacher over there and shes the one who came to us and asked us if we could do some sort of show for here class. Then we got contacted by the principle (she was me teacher when I was younger and we are good friends) and she sounded excited about the whole thing then she asked us what kind of animals we would bring and when we said reptiles she said, you mean like snakes. We said yes and then she turned completely around and said they dont do those kind of shows. I assured her that none of the animals were dangerious in any way and I would be in control the entire time. She was find with the birds and other animals includeing lizards but not snakes.

So; lions on the Serengeti, eating wildebeests.. Mountain lions attacking whitetails.. they all should be put in psyche wards, huh?