Misconceptions Of Reptile Keepers..

[Neal]

Some don't.

Some are.

I mean as far as animals go or anything like that, I have no fears. The only thing i'm really scared of is dieing, which is probably the sole reason behind me acting stupid.

I'm not cruel, I do kind of feel bad for the rats/mice when I feed them, but it's the circle of life.

[SlitherinSisters]

Oh man, EVERYONE thinks I'm crazy! They say things like
"you keeps snakes as PETS!?"
"how many?!"
"you're crazy"
"I hate snakes, I'm never coming over to your house"
"those things kill people!"
and my FAVORITE
"are you some sort of Satan worshiper?"

That was an honest question too!!! She apparently thought the only people who keep snakes are people who worship Satan?!

Oh and she went on to tell me how the Bible says that the serpent is Satan so I'm in fact worshiping Satan. I should have told her I don't believe in God, and therefor I don't believe in Satan, she would have REALLY liked that!

[PigsnPythons]

I'm in college, so most people my age think that its pretty cool and they will ask a lot of questions about them, the most popular:

-Are they venomous?
-Do they just roam around your house?

I also have ferrets and for some reason people think that this is a great questions to ask:

-Do you ever let the ferrets and the pythons fight?

...seriously I have heard that one like 20 TIMES!!!

As far as misconceptions about me...I get a lot of "You are so weird!" from older people.

[txball]

My best one I got form my dad "Will I die a slow death when it gets out and chokes me to death?", about a ball python.

[Dusty]

i get the normal questions about them killing me or my dogs
the you're strange stuff
i also get the you must be into witch craft or something.
where are your tats at, you dont look like a freak that would have snakes.

the real kicker though is the fact that i'm 43 and single

(keeping this clean) why would you want to keep those things when you can have a real snake.

i also get the whole do you kill your x-boyfriends and cut em up to feed your snakes ?

(and yes i admit it i have told a few of the idiots that i have )

[I<3Dreamsicles]

i also get the whole do you kill your x-boyfriends and cut em up to feed your snakes ?

(and yes i admit it i have told a few of the idiots that i have )

Good. I would. Basically for any of the stupid questions listed in this thread. I would just take time out of my day to come up with the stupid/craziest answers and see if the dumb people actually believe them. I cant see how anyone who would make such assumptions should even get an honest answer, or a moment of my time.

[Neal]

Oh yea, I forgot about the poisonous one, I had somebody ask me that about my conda. Not to mention a snake isn't poisonous, a snake is venomous, and not mine.

[p3titexburial]

Whenever you hit 18, you come down to Louisiana, and you have a husband waiting ok? lol.

Anyways I see a lot of people that have horrible misconceptions, even other hobbyists. I'm not going to say any names but I talked to a friend and she knows I have a yellow conda, or atleast a conda, and shes like wow that thing is going to get 20 feet. I mean, yes they can, but the likelihood? Not really. Even the females average in the teens. People think because us as a hobbyists own snakes, we have no fears. We are cruel and such.

LOL I hit 18 a while ago. I can see the look on my parents faces right now--"You want to go WHERE to marry a snake boy?!?!" That'd be priceless.

To be fair, with all the media about snakes killing babies and people and such, a lot of the general public would be scared, especially since no one else is educating them on the flip side of the coin.

I mean there are plenty of things to be scared of that have human origins (carsairplanespollutionCOpoisoningfoodpoisoninggunsknives) why be scared of something with proper control, wouldn't harm anybody?

[I<3Dreamsicles]

LOL I hit 18 a while ago. I can see the look on my parents faces right now--"You want to go WHERE to marry a snake boy?!?!" That'd be priceless.

To be fair, with all the media about snakes killing babies and people and such, a lot of the general public would be scared, especially since no one else is educating them on the flip side of the coin.

I mean there are plenty of things to be scared of that have human origins (carsairplanespollutionCOpoisoningfoodpoisoninggunsknives) why be scared of something with proper control, wouldn't harm anybody?

Because people are dumb and the media makes it look like its a huge problem and everyone believes it.... Sort of like people and dr phil.... Some of that stuff is just plain garbage.

I cant even understand why people are afraid of snakes or any reptile.... Unless its like a full grown alligator that your right next to or something like that....
The media is supposed to be the educator but they just fuel the fire now a days...

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Wow thank you all so much for the responses. I am going to include some of these in my paper!