Personally, I'd rather take the chance of mentioning my pet snakes, either online or in person...because you cannot change any minds by staying silent.
Case in point: I recently had a whole new HVAC system installed on my house. There was a team of guys working on it, especially when they had to carry out the old
Trane & when they hauled in the new Carrier unit, but at all times there was at least 2-3 guys here. Mostly I observed on & off, but there was a little chit chat when it
was not a distraction, & the subject of snakes came up. (they come across many locals in their work) Turns out one guy especially was very interested, so before they
left, I showed him one of my 7' Florida rat snakes briefly (outside, it was warm weather a while back); it wasn't only him that got a big kick out of it & they took a bunch
of pictures of him holding it to show all the others they work with...now if that isn't influencing opinions, I don't know what is? So I'm all about taking that chance.
There's nothing more convincing that seeing a docile snake being handled easily & up close. These were all big strong guys too- I'm a gal & a lot smaller than any of
them, lol. Seeing is believing.