Discrimation for having snakes???

[nixer]

Jeff,

Our Cinni tired to eat my face last night. He is new, young, still settling in and a bit stressed. So you could say "Face, had her snake try to eat her face"...LOL Now everything is clear as mud!

well maybe you should not have that mouse costume on while checking on the snakes

as for the family mine dont care and they know if they did complain about it i would just get more and more.

[dsirkle]

Who else gets this from family? No one is supportive of my dh and I having a snake, let alone 3 of them. We are already talking about adding a fourth (by summer) and they think we are crazy. We are also looking into breeding but that will be a few years from now at least. My brother called me tonite and gave me the third degree for having snakes He thinks it is wrong to have snakes b/c one of my dd's likes mice and rats. Well my other dd asked for a snake?? He went into this big thing about how my other dd likes rats and it's cruel for her to see the snake eat (we haven't fed them yet and we are not planning to let our kids know what they eat yet). Basically he tried to make me feel horrible for even owning a snake b/c it eats rats and my one dd loves them He ended the convo with a snarky comment and "well whatever you want to do I guess but just be careful" We have had a snake before so this isn't something new, but I'm bothered about why this irritates him so??

Ugh! Anyone else?

I'm sure that there are just as many people that would find the idea of keeping rats as pets totally disgusting. If they are not bothered by that, why should you be bothered by your brother's opinion? By the way, I have no idea what a dh or a dd is.

[Argentra]

My favorite is... "are they all loose?"

Ah yes...that one. Similarly, I also hear "Are they all in the same tank?" when I say how many I have (12). Naturally I try to educate, or at least give the correct answer to, as many people as I can that ask those questions... but it's not always possible.

[Patrick Long]

33 responses and NO ONE has asked what the HELL a DD, or a DH is?!?!?!?!

[Demon280z]

33 responses and NO ONE has asked what the HELL a DD, or a DH is?!?!?!?!

Glad I'm not the only one that is confused...

[JamieLynn]

33 responses and NO ONE has asked what the HELL a DD, or a DH is?!?!?!?!

DD=Dead Dog? Def Dope? Done Deed?
DH=Dead Horse? Dot Hop? Dope Happy?

[mrmertz]

The fear of snakes is a learned behavior. Irrational as it is, people (like my mom) who have this fear learned it from someone else.

PS - Yeah, by the way, what is a "dd" or "dh"? I could write other initials in response to asking this question, but I don't want another nastygram from the forum police.

PSS - Oh yeah - I can top the OP. We were going to rent a house in a subdivision (they are all newer rental homes) but they agency actually has a rule on the books that they won't rent to people with snakes (lizards and all are fine, just not snakes). Naturally we got we walked out. We thought at first the guy was kidding - but he wasn't. we asked "why", but he didn't know.

This is in Tucson, Arizona. Anybody that thinks I'm making this up can contact me and you can check for yourself.

[Egapal]

I'm sorry, but any normal human being would likely be more concerned about the four dogs than the tiny snakes. I got bit in the face by a nasty dog when I was younger(only opened the sliding glass door and WHAM, yay for scars on faces near the eyes).

I've also been bit by the Ball Pythons... Wow.. The tiny needle punctures.. Wait! Where'd they go? I got bit? See that little mark there?! (friend says 'where?') You say, "here! Right here, that little... Oh wait, that's a freckle, nevermind.. ".

Yeah...

Give me the snake bites anyday. I know what it's like getting bit by mammals and I would rather get bit by my 8.5ft boa than a dog or cat. Never had a snake bite get infected either. I still have a large scar where my cat decided that getting an injection hurt and he was going to bite me. This is from 1.5 months ago, LOL. Got bit a few weeks ago by a baby ball and *snort* can't find it!

Tell them they're crazy and once you get a rabid lemur, THEN they can gripe at you for endangering your children. *big eye roll*

Well I have to disagree with your first statement. A normal human will be more concerned with a snake than a cat or a dog. A normal human is also irrational and ignorant. Most people don't have a clue. With a little education some will come around. I don't have anyone that is deathly afraid. I have a few that gave me the whole "Well you won't see me over again." They have all been over since. I explain it like this. I keep a single ball python. Its a predator that eats rodents. They stay pretty small and stay in their cage most of the time. Its basically a cross between a fish and a cat. It like a fish in that it stays in its cage most of the time and doesn't require much maintenance if setup properly. I can leave it for a few days and not worry about it. I have both the fish and the snake on a battery backup, thermostat controlled temps and a timer for lighting. Its like a cat in the fact that I can hold it and have it out of the tank. Its a predator like a cat and gets about the same weight as a cat. There is nothing insidious about the animal that I am leaving out. Cats and dogs are an order of magnitude more dangerous. I am routinely scratch accidentally by my cats or minorly hurt while playing with cats and dogs. I have never been hurt by my snake.

I have a rule. I am not afraid of any single animals that weight more than a gram and less than 20lbs unless they are venomous. There are definitely a few parasites that freak me out so I had to put in the more than a gram part and when you get into large groups of little animals I can get pretty freaked out. Once you get over 20lbs its a case by case basis. I love horses and I am scared of badgers.

[Kysenia]

I have had people wonder how I could keep a ball python in a rack like that...People dont realize that as a pet we are better able to simulate their real life environment and behavior then 95% of the dogs people have as pets...

ie...dogs in general are not meant to be indoor pets.....If you own a hunting dog and keep it as a house dog and never take it hunting....is that alright?

I understand the fear and danger of having them in the house....goes with our primal fear of the unknown and the first mention of the serpent back to adam and eve......although I have no statistics at the tip of my fingers I would find it safe to say their are more injuries and death per year from our accepted house pet the dog to children and adults then snakes....

The unknown to people means they are easily acceptable to accept and form opinions based on lore, tv, movies etc etc......Most individuals that come off that way see having snakes in a different light when you talk about it being more abnormal they way we take dogs and put them in an environment or cage that goes against their instint and the general death per year by dog statement....

[JohnNJ]

I have found that people are more grossed out about me keeping rodents in the freezer than about me having snakes.