Quote Originally Posted by reptilemom25 View Post
Not a repressed memory, I remember it just fine, always have. Nothing "imaginary" about it. Real snakes on both occasions i was chased and real snakes breeding in our front yard. One incident I was a young teen and the other a young adult so not really "childhood"' either.

I realize it makes you guys feel better to believe it didn't happen and that conflicts between humans and reptiles don't happen unless humans provoke or mistreat them, but that just isn't the case. Yes, leaving the area is the asnwer most of the time, but not always. Sometimes that simply isn't possible. We had a 4 year old at home when there was a den of rattlesnakes about 30 ft from our door. That was simply NOT a safe situation. I have had many encounters with reptiles over the course of my life, and I have only ever had to kill the one who wouldn't stop coming back to the den in the yard. It just wasn't safe for the children. Sorry, but I am not willing to risk the life of a child for a one stubborn snake. I am just saying that I can see how it might have been necessary in this situation, and it often is in others. I would be happy to move on if you guys could quit accusing me of lying.
I don't think you are lying. I think that there are always exceptions to the rule, abnormality, deviancy... Whatever you want to call it. It does happen and just because it is rare does not mean it did not happen.

However, it is just that: a rare occurrence. If it happened with almost every coral snake, or cotton mouth, in every encounter, then you definitely have across something extraordinary. Generalizing how something as a whole must behave based on 1 or 2 or even 3 encounters...