"Snakes are scary because they bite you!"

[Bogertophis]

...Isn't there some genuine truth to that sort of thing? Not so much that they smell fear but there seems to be this overriding phenomenon across many types of animals that they can sense if a person is scared of them. And that animal will potentially act accordingly because fear means unpredictability and they're readying themselves for the worst. Whereas if a well-adjusted animal is around someone who's calm and confident with animals, they know it's safe to be relaxed in turn.

It depends what animals you're talking about. Fear itself has no odor for creatures to smell- if only it was that simple, eh? There are pheromones, of course, but those are directed only to our own species.

Dogs & horses are social creatures & very intuitive- they actually read our faces, our voices, & our body language.

But snakes can't hear much, they don't see well, & they're not all that logical- but they do read our touch. Watch when snakes get together & mate...they read each others touch (along with scent, of course). We don't smell like snakes (I'm assuming, lol) so all they really sense from us is how we touch them. Have you ever had a snake shove you away? Or twitch after your touch. It's all about signaling. Now when a snake already KNOWS us, they recognize our scent too, so that familiarity puts them at ease. Just like us, they fear the "unknown"- it might be a predator, so it's with relief that they get our scent & touch.

The more you go out of your way to reassure a snake, even those that you cannot handle (like the hots I used to live with*), it all helps them to calm down, & when they're calm, they're eating & staying healthier. Too much stress is as bad for animals as it is for us, as far as our immune systems. Re-homing is stressful for them, always remember that- so when you get a new snake, do everything you can to help them relax & settle in with minimal fear. So their bodies can fight off anything they might have been exposed to along the way.

*To give you an example: when I kept rattlesnakes & they'd rattle at something in the room that disturbed them (like one of my dogs running by) I deliberately went to their enclosure & gave them my scent by blowing air across my hand thru the screen top so they recognized me, and rather than them being "mad at me" for scaring them, instead I very quickly noticed that they became calmer; that's when I realized that they fear the unknown, & are reassured by our familiarity. It got to where I was seldom rattled at, except by one or two "outliers" that were very high-strung, but it worked for most of them. Always try to find ways to communicate with animals- it often pays off more than you might think.