Any former snake phobic people?

[khara]

I used to be terrified of snakes. My 7 year old daughter chose a corn snake as a pet. (Too many Croc Hunter episodes I guess. LOL!) I didn't want to pass on my phobia to her so I agreed. The first day my husband brought home the yellow rat snake and corn snake I nearly fainted. I even cried the first few times I actually held a snake. Just the movement scared the holy heck out of me. Irrational, but that is what a phobia is all about. It was a month later, while in the pet shop a day after my birthday that I saw a ball python and fell in love with it. The color was just so beautiful. I held the Sobe and carried him around the store and left with Sobe. My hubby had to help with the holding and the feeding at first. I had a hard phobia to overcome and even when Sobe would yawn it felt like my heart would stop. I've gotten more comfortable over time and my BP has helped me overcome a life-long fear of snakes. I love him and think he is so beautiful and I see all snakes in a different light now. Even when I was out back a couple of months ago and saw a coral snake I realized that he was beautiful and could handle my fear. I was just wondering if there was anyone else that is a snake owner now that used to fear them?

[greenmonkey51]

I wasn't really phobic but didn't really care for them. Till I started looking at reptiles and realized how much more work lizards seemed so I reasearched snakes and they are the perfect pet for me. Then i got ledora

[Razaiel]

My daughter works in the pet department of our local garden centre - in which there are various reptiles including an adult female BP. She was telling me how this lady came in one day and declared she was terrified of snakes - well the manager of the reptile dept then got out the large BP and dumped it in the woman's arms (don't think I agree with the method though - she could've freaked and dropped her). During that time the woman completely lost her fear of that particular snake at least and comes in each week especially to hold her.

My husband and his mother both hate snakes - he won't touch our Emily or allow her anywhere near him - he doesn't even want to overcome his phobia which peeves me a bit.

Lizards are good too - we had a beloved bearded dragon until last week - they are just a little more work (cutting up veges every morning) but beardies love coming out and being handled. I used to put mine on a (covered) hot water bottle and sit her in the french window in the sun. She was the most loving creature ever.

Sue

[Jeanne]

I was not ever snake phobic, but my husband, oh yes, he was terrified. He use to tell me "you will never bring a snake into my house, hell will freeze over forst" and a few other colorful things. One day we were in our local pet shop, I fell in love with a young bp, I wanted her sooo bad, but feared my huband would just never give in. My daughter who was 12 at the time and had and still does have her Dad wrapped around her little finger saw I wanted that bp so bad, so between walking around the store with her, and my daughter and I pretty much begging, with my daughter doing the biggest part of it, we managed to talk him to the point that he asked what all this snake needed if he agreed, so I started listing all the stuff, and while I stood there like a fool listing it all, he stared and said, "well, why dont you have all that stuff in the cart by now, you wasted all this time telling me instead of getting it and telling me as you went". I was so excited! After we got our new bp, and got in the truck, he said not to expect him to hold her - ever. I was fine with that cause I knew he would come around eventually. Within a month, he was taking Betty out of her cage on his own to hold her himself, and confessed to totally falling in love with her and feeling confortable with her. Soon after that, came my boys (bp's). soon after that, I reminded him that hell must have certainly frozen over cause we now had 3 bp's. Then I took interest in boas after many years of not having one. Bri said, "no way I am letting one of those in the house, not ever, period, over my dead body". Within a year, I had him taking me to pick up a rescue boa. Not so long ago, I reminded him what he said, and told him, his body did not look dead to me.. he just smiles and laughed it off. He is fine with the boa now, to a point, Caleb still makes him nervous, Bri wont reach into his cage for nothing unless I am not there and he HAS to do anything, but he will hold him and interact with him as long as he is out of his cage. Now almost 3 1/2 years later, Bri is just addicted to reptiles as I, and he even has a few of his own in this collcetion we have amassed.

[frankykeno]

How great that you got through your phobia of snakes Khara! I'm impressed that you originally tried so you wouldn't pass it on to your child.

I've never been afraid of snakes but when it came to ball pythons I seriously couldn't see why anyone would want one LOL. "those plain snakes that just curl up in a ball all the time....how boring!" Little did I know! LOL

I wanted a pretty cornsnake! Our first one was a Mother's Day gift to me and after looking over the baby corns for sale, my husband showed me a group of three 2 month old ball pythons. Suffice to say, I fell in love with Rionach and home she came with us a few days later starting this whole crazy fascination with Royals.

Personally I think they are fantastic snakes. Nice temperment and a good size without being too big but not as slender and fast moving as the corns are. For my husband with his huge hands they are just right. He's always nervous handling tiny baby corns.


~~Joanna~~

[Ginevive]

I was never afraid of snakes; I used to catch garter snakes all the time and bring them home. My mom just loved this.
I did notice though, that pythons and other boid-type snakes are much different than skinny little garters. Many family members/friends of ours, who fear the quick, erratic movements of smaller snakes, are pretty surprised when they see my male BP just sitting there on the table. They can get around to simply touching him, seeing that he really could not care less, and that's cool.

[Eddie_Z]

I actually had that irrational fear of snakes. It was passed down from my mother. When i was young, everytime we would see a snake she would FREAK THE HELL OUT! I mean she would go insane about it. This is even when we were inside the house & could just see one in the yard. She even freaked when she saw them on TV. Obviously her influence caused me to have the same fear.

Some years later, when i was 17, i was at a friend's house & he had a male BP. That male BP helped me overcome my fear of snakes because I got to see how calm & how amazing he was. I always had this crazy impression that every snake wanted to harm me. Any snake with venom would bite to kill & any snake that was a constrictor would try to choke me to death. After overcoming this irrational fear, i appreciated the beauty of snakes. Then i had a suitemate move into my dorm a few years ago & he had a BP. I bonded greatly with that BP (I still miss Diablo cuz i never get to see him anymore) and that eventually led to me gettin Hissy!

I try to use this story as an example for the people in my family & those that are my friends to help them overcome their fears. It is working slowly but surely!

[iceman25]

I used to be deadly afraid of them But then again I grew up in an area that had more Cobras, Kraits, and Russells vipers than Colubrids! The parents just make up the most horendous stories about snakes so that the kids wouldn't do anything stupid like pic em up or something

[khara]

I really enjoy reading about how others viewed and came to own snakes. Thanks you guys for your replies. Our other family members are not too keen on snakes so it's noce to talk to people who don't think we're nuts.

greenmonkey51 - It was researching the complexities of a keeping greek tortoise that brought snakes into our lives. A greek tortoise was my daughter's first choice but I didn't think it was a pet we could take on so she chose a snake instead and that started it all. lol

Razaiel - Lizards can be quite charming. There was a water monitor at the reptile shop and the whole time I was there he'd follow me around. I could see how easy it would be to fall for a nice bearded dragon or water monitor.

Jeanne - It was the exact opposite over here with me saying hell would freeze over or if a snake moved in I'd move out. I can sympathize with your husband though cause now I do love 'em and I get ribbed a bit for my 180 degree turn in attitude. My brother can't believe I have snakes in the house let alone that I handle them. He was there when years ago we saw a rat snake in the woods and I climbed up my husband (then boyfriend) and sat on his shoulders. LOL

frankykeno, Ginevive, Eddie_Z - It was my mother and grandmother that taught me to be afraid of snakes. I honestly thought they would chase people down and attack. I didn't want my kids to get that irrational fear. I will have to credit Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin for helping me see snakes in a different light. They started the process and having my own bp has helped me get past much of my fear. I dread a bite but know it will most likely happen one day so I try to mentally prepare and do my best not to make stupid mistakes. I do admit that the faster more erratic corns make me nervous. Not from fear but just that I don't feel confident about handling them when they are so fast. I don't want them to get away from me and lost or something. I hold our yellow rat when my husband is right there cause Basilisk is very hyper.

iceman25 - Cobras. Eek! I'm very respectful of snakes I see in the wild and yes they give me quite a start but I recover more quickly than I used to and don't climb up on people to get away anymore. LOL Yeah, it's those type of stories that had me convinced that snakes were out to get me. lol It took about ten years of Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin to get me able to see a snake in the proper light.

[HelicopterPilot]

I used to have a phobia, I once had a photo with a 10 foot rectic when I was younger and I was kinda far away from it. Now I wish I was holding it.