Anyone have a friend who is terrified of snakes?

[frankykeno]

I think you have to look at whether it's just a fear of the unknown or a true phobia. I have a family member who is truly phobic about snakes. He's a big tough guy, a truck driver and all that but he cannot even be around rubber or toy snakes. It's no joke to see an adult male literally break into a cold sweat so I'd never even consider asking him to even view one of our snakes out of consideration for him. Not everyone has to like what I like.

On the flipside, I was talking with a teacher at my son's school yesterday about our snakes. She shuddered and said she was "afraid" of snakes. So we got talking and it comes out that she spent all her early years at her grandmother's during the summer months. Her grandmother lived an area of the U.S. that has a lot of Copperheads. She was trained as a young girl to be VERY snake wary, to not touch and to run if she saw any snake (her grandmother's way I'm sure of protecting a curious young girl).

When I acknowledged that it was smart of her grandmother to protect her but that the snakes we keep are not like Copperheads and in fact our 6 year old has his own BP, she became really interested. She asked some really good questions about how we keep them, their temperment, care needs, etc. When I told her about some of the rescues, you could see her feeling empathy for the snakes. Empathy is a great first step to caring about a creature she never thought needed rescue like a cat or dog might. She may never be completely comfortable with snakes but you could see her opening up her mind to why my family is so fascinated with them.

I think education is the key. I believe you do need to be sensitive to someone's fear/phobia/life experience and realize that it usually comes from somewhere. Sometimes you can help address that, sometimes it's just what it is but it never hurts to try to pass on some real information.

[OfficialSavage]

My Brother and I live together, and he is afraid of the snakes I have. He was not against me getting them, just didn't want anything to do with them. He has been slowly coming around, looking at them, and admiring the patterns that they have. He still won't touch them, but I think it's just a matter of time. His attitude is changing constantly towards an interest in the Ball Python. Who knows maybe this time next year he will be helping with the growth of the collection.

[BLOCK 213]

My wife and I have taken our snakes into the local infant school.
The kids are about 5 or 6 years old.
What always makes me laugh is that the little kids love to touch and hold the snakes, they have no fear at all, while the teachers all stand outside the room terrified of the snakes.
I asked them why they are scared, 'they didn't know they just were'.
None of them had ever seen a live snake before !!.
The more the teachers reacted the more the kids became nervous, I think they were following the example set by the teachers. Maybe this 'fear' is something we pass on to our kids unconciously

[Louie1]

I have a friend who is terrified of snakes. I did not know this until we were driving down the highway and showed him the new snake I had acquired. Let's just say he's a lot better driver than I thought!!!