The Great Snake Debate

Anytime I have a guest over at the house or basically when people find out I have a few snakes as pets I always get hit with the "OMG why would you ever want a snake as a pet?"

This is always followed by "You can't pet a snake!"

"OMG don't they bite you?"

"What about the children?"

"OH NO you feed it mice?!?!? Thats just cruel and terrible!!!"

:puke2:

Do you guys and gals have to put up with comments like that to?

i keep mine where nobody can see them unless they ask too.

i get those responses all the time, it's ignorance mixed with lack of knowledge.

yeah i get that a lot from friends and family.you have no idea how much that annoys me and i usually say something back that shuts them up.

Yea I have bunch of pictures hanging up in my cubicle... I get these questions almost daily!

I don't associate with people who aren't familiar with my animals or who don't have snakes themselves lol.

I just act shocked! :eek: "What!?!? There are SNAKES in there"!?!?!?
lol... Actually, almost everyone I am close with is a cold blooded animal person on one level or another. The ones that aren't... well, we just don't discuss it past the basics, No it can't kill you... No, it's on poisonous, yes... I feed them cute fuzzy things.... They gotta eat too... If they spark a legit interest, there is more conversation that usually leads to them holding something... If not, then I just accept the fact that they are not going to warm up to the idea, and I put a spin on the conversation subject.... :sunny:

Everytime, without fail, that my aunt comes over she asks me if they are poisonous. I tell her each time that they are completely harmless. But somehow rumor gets around to my aunt that they are indeed poisonous and she asks me the same question again. lol

yup. i hate it. every time i tell people i have snakes, they ask what kind, and i go "Ball Pythons". And i get the "oohhhh", which is followed by the can't they kill you, or aren't they venemous, or the one i hate most is trying to explain to people that snakes do actually have personalities.

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the one i hate most is trying to explain to people that snakes do actually have personalities.

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THANK YOU! I hate explaining that as well.

I think I should get one of those Baboons for my next pet. The ones with the big pink butt's and walk that thing through my neighborhood on a daily basis. This way nobody will care about my snakes anymore and they just focus on a real concern...the mean looking animal with the big pink butt.:O

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Originally Posted by Jafis

the mean looking animal with the big pink butt.:O

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You called? :salute:


dr del

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Originally Posted by borat1

i get those responses all the time, it's ignorance mixed with lack of knowledge.

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ignorance=lack of knowledge

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Originally Posted by Amy05

yup. i hate it. every time i tell people i have snakes, they ask what kind, and i go "Ball Pythons". And i get the "oohhhh", which is followed by the can't they kill you, or aren't they venemous, or the one i hate most is trying to explain to people that snakes do actually have personalities.

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i have never had someone ask if they were venomous, but have gotten dozens of poisonous

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Originally Posted by Jafis

THANK YOU! I hate explaining that as well.

This way nobody will care about my snakes anymore and they just focus on a real concern...the mean looking animal with the big pink butt.:O

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Wow!! I was wondering where that mean neighbor woman of ours went....

The classic line:

"Ewwww, why would you want something slimy as a pet"?

But we have a seperate snake room so no one sees unless they ask....

Most of my family/friends/neighbors are pretty understanding of the collection. When I do get the occasional "what are you going to do when you have kids!?!" I usually answer quite seriously "Don't worry, I'll make sure my kids can't hurt them". :P

-Evan

Well, when people come over to the house it's typically as follows:

Knock on door.
Open door.
"Do you have anything out that can bite/kill/eat/hurt me?"
"Nope."
"Okay."
Walks in the door.

Once you get passed the first couple of years, almost everyone is done asking the typical questions (except for the occasional aunt).

justin you cracked me up :rofl:

people are used to us... they all know what we keep and if they don't we very proudly announce all the wonderful interesting critters we have... we don't really give them a chance to act freaked out LOL

the ones that do though... don't need to come back. we don't force anyone to come and visit at our house after all ;)

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we don't force anyone to come and visit at our house after all

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Unfortunatly for me my wife likes to have the family parties at our house so I've taken the evil perspective on the great snake debate. For example...

"Are the snakes poisonous?"....Why yes they are.

"What about the children?"....Well if one gets eaten I'll just make another one.

"Oh no those poor mice!"....I hate them and I love to watch them DIE!

I just say things like that with a very straight face and that ends the Great Snake Debate for the evening.:cool:

I have tons of people say that they won't come to my house due to my snakes. However quite a few of Ryan's fellow sailors have come over to oggle the snakes lol. Usually get the 'DANG, that's a big snake!' 'Do you feed them rabbits?' 'Don't they bite?'

Yup, it's quite annoying. My first BP, Jayvyn, is the best snake, always sooo docile, never strikes at anything besides rats, etc etc is always the one to change their minds. I'll tell them "just hold him". usually they will, and they end up kind of liking him.