Snake fears

[LiadanCroft]

Im not gonna beat the bush around, we all know it, people are terrified of snakes. Whether its the kind of person to shuffle into a corner, run away, yell and get angry or straight up try to get aggressive towards the snake, we have all been there. Even those with the most accepting families and friends.

Now, I dont mind someone being afraid of something or not liking something in general. My deal is the gigantic lack of education. I know tons of people take snakes to school events and talks to educate people. Some even take the risks of taking their beloved pets to local parks to educate the locals, which might work might not. There's reptile lovers everywhere trying their best. However it's highly difficult to educate everyone especially people who would rather refuse to listen or read or educate themselves or simply dont care enough and things go in one ear out the other. Even so, it highly bothers me how I might mention having a pet snake and people imagine a green anaconda and cobra hybrid with the general attitude of a starving zombie. I dont mind them being afraid, even if it is of a cornsnake or a ballpython or even a gecko. I just want more knowledge to be out in the hands of the general public. I wish people knew what they were fearing.

Im afraid of insects, yet I can understand them, if I had a child that wanted a pet insect Id allow it so long as they weren't truly harmful and the child showed responsability and knowledge. If someone were to teach me something about them Id sit and listen. I know what it's like and I'm not saying lets throw snakes at everyone and force them to be okay with it, no. What I want is for people not to give up so easily, "Oh this person probably wont react too thrilled, best avoid the subject all together." Yes in some cases that's the best course of action, yes some people are horrid and terrible, yes, avoiding conflict is good, it's encouraged.

What Im trying to get at is that it's too easy to fall into being exhausted of trying to educate people. You dont even have to say much, just try not to scoff at their ridiculous ignorant notions of snakes that hase and kill people and casually mention small facts that help dispell the rampant myths.

What I try, personally is to say a small tidbit in conversation about animals or mention a "random fact" or maybe even approach the subject, get a feel for the persons reaction, then if its negative I mention how fragile and cowardly snakes can be, these are two things that tend to take people aback and disarm them, if they react stubbornly to this I stop, if they react with curiosity I cautiously add some words of knowledge about how they can only survive in certain temperatures and humidities, or how if fed frozen thawed it needs to be done properly because if it gets cooked or stays cold they can get very sick and die. Ive even mentioned how if one is not careful a rat or mouse can kill a snake. These comments like I said, make them seem like much less of a threat than what they probably imagined previously. Ive even had a guy, to my extreme surprise, claim "Wow then we really need to change the way we look at snakes!" after I told him exactly this. Other things I try to mention is the sizes of commonly kept snakes, mainly weight in pounds compared to human weights, to show just how small of a threat they are to a human.

I want to reach out I want to help as many people as possible either get over their fears, or at least learn about what they fear, both of which are very difficult but in plenty of cases its possible. The reason I post this is because I've seen it way too often how we tiptoe around people's fears and dislikes. Now I understand it's often for the safety of people's beloved pets and for the safety of keeping a place to live in and avoid confrontations, I encourage that, I just dont like how it translates to avoiding talking about it ever or even bothering to help people understand or learn about reptiles. Plenty of people are not going to care or learn, yet theres also plenty of people who will, if given half a chance, actually listen and learn and even if they still dont like snakes or care much, one more person that understands is always better for the hobby and the animals we so dearly love and seek to protect.

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