I am lucky not to have gotten any horribly judgmental responses, then again for the most part I keep to myself. I live in the desert and work at a resort, so we get snake relocation calls from guests with some regularity. The first time I helped relocate a wild king snake came about when I overheard the security tech who was attempting removal mention that all he had to work with was a rake and a fear of snakes. I was sure the poor thing was going to get hurt and knew the snake needed to be removed by hand if a rake was all that was available. Guests were gathered around as I picked him up asking if he was going to bite me. I basically told them "I hope not, but we will see." Sure enough he didn't, and I was amazed to see how docile even the wild snakes in the area are. I have made it a point since to allow guests to come up and ask questions while I am handling the wild ones and waiting to relocate them. Most people are surprised that I am even interacting with the snakes, and actually become very interested as soon as they see that many really pose no threat.
I really think it is an evolutionary/biological thing that people are predisposed to fear them. It really seems to take direct experience to see that we haven't been told the full story about them. My mom, when I told her I was getting a ball python, was horrified because I would have to feed it rodents. She was upset about the fact that they have to kill mice/rats to provide food for the snakes. I pointed out that they kill cattle and chickens to provide food for her, which pretty much ended that argument. After linking her a few impressive morph photos she couldn't help but admit that they were really stunning creatures. She drove about a half hour to come see my new baby the day after he arrived home, and even mentioned that she may make special trips out in the future to visit him. So yeah, I really think what is driving it is just ignorance. People don't realize that although some can of course be deadly, some snakes are absolute teddy bears too.
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