Why People Are Afraid Of Snakes

[sorakitty]

A lot of people I have spoken to have told me that they are scared of snakes because the don't have legs. They find that a animal that can travel without using any legs is just creepy looking.
Me on the other hand, I find it fascinating. I enjoy seeing how one animal in this world has developed it's entire body into one huge muscle to move it's body. If I'm not mistaken no other animal does that, besides fish, sharks, whales ect. who have fins, and tails which help them a great deal. A snake have to choose it's direction and propel it's self along with one muscle, nothing helping it. I love how they can do that.

[BigBlue56]

Why do people fear sharks?
Why do people fear bears?
Why do people fear wolf packs?

Some snakes are venomous, and therefore dangerous to human beings, but your average Joe isn't going to take the time to see if a snake is poisonous before he gets his hatchet, shovel, or whatever.

You want to know the animal responsible for more human deaths than any other animal in the US (other than other humans)?




Deer.

But the bite of a shark off the Florida coast will get more media attention than a few dozen car accidents caused by deer across the US. As others have said, we've been taught that some snakes are dangerous, but we (American society as a whole, not those of us here on BP.net, obviously) are too lazy to identify a snake as dangerous before we kill it.

BTW, there is also a reference in the New Testament:

To be fair, there is a huge difference. Dying because you hit a deer with your car is different than and animal proactively trying to kill and eat you. One is malicious and one is not.

Media, religion and them having no arms and legs contribute to people hating/being afraid of snakes.

[PolishPython]

Why are people afraid of snake?????
That's easy its because they are all poisonous and they eat small children and your cats and dogs.

Am I right ??????

Lol sorry I have too much time on my hands ....slow day at work today !

[barres]

To be fair, there is a huge difference. Dying because you hit a deer with your car is different than and animal proactively trying to kill and eat you. One is malicious and one is not.

I know there is a huge difference, but the statistic is still valid. I was making the point that an animal that most people would consider to be completely harmless (Bambi, anyone?) is actually the statistically most dangerous animal in the US. And not all deaths due to deer are car accidents; a very small (I believe) minority of them are gorings by bucks. I would also argue that most animal attacks on humans are neither proactive nor malicious. I would argue that they are the result of the animal feeling threatened by the human.

[Charlie And Lucy]

I haven't been on the forums in a few days, so I'm gonna reply to this before I read everyone's responses, so forgive me if I'm a little off here.

I grew up Lutheran, with a Catholic mama. I went to church until I was 15, and never once were we taught to fear snakes because they equal Satan. After I turned 21, I became a part of a campus ministry group called Chi Alpha. They taught to love all creatures, no matter what (they were a non-denominational group).

Although I went to church until I was 15, I stopped believing in the Lord when I was around 13. Please don't ask, it's a really long story that involves my medical history. Just know I stopped believing. I continued on through Confirmation mostly to please my mama.

I picked back up in my faith around 18.

That being said, I do see where you're coming from, as Christianity has played a huge role in shaping the world as it is today. But I think Christians are taught many more things, and a fear of snakes comes from personal opinion, not because of Satan. Snakes don't have legs, they eat differently, they have the power to kill in many different ways... a lot of things.

However, I know a woman who is deathly, and I mean DEATHLY afraid of cats. Some say cats are half in, half out... I can't even look at a tarantula without having a death grip on my fiance's arm.

But anyway, because I haven't read any responses yet, I'm sure your post caused a lot of different opinions to come out. I just have to say, I love posts like this, because I love hearing other people's views and ideas on things.

[twoninerfan]

I think it is a combination of their reputation and the media blowing things out of control. Take spiders for instance. There are thousands and thousands of species of spiders in the world. Very very few can even bite you. Even less can hurt you and only a couple can kill you. But when people think of spider they think of something like the black widow. There is an interesting misnomer about black widows. First, most female spiders are known to eat their mate, not just widows. But the black widow legend mostly came out of Oklahoma where a suicidal man in the early 1900s tried to commit suicide by being bit by pet black widows. He did die, but probably due to overdosing on painkillers found next to his bed, not from the actual spider bite. I am not saying that widows cant hurt you because they certainly can, but their reputation is drastically over done. There are only a handful of snakes that can hurt you let alone eat you. But the media is only interested in ratings. BIG SCARY DANGEROUS SNAKE THREATENS MAN is a much more dramatic headline then "Man Bit By Python Because Of Egotistical Actions." Unfortunately many people would rather not learn about snakes and just choose to fear them. For me the biggest way to get over a fear of something is by understanding what it is I fear. I used to be terrified of snakes, spiders and roller coasters. I read about snakes and spiders, forced myself to be near them, went to a zoo and held a snake and now I love them. I love the little guy sleeping in his hide. I love roller coasters too. I think there are many people here who used to fear snakes but now love them simply because they gave them a chance. Unfortunately much of society would rather be sensational then be rational.

[Natassja]

I think being afraid of snakes is such an individual thing that you cant go finding a "General reason".

[KrazyKevin]

Well my father in-law is scared of snakes because living in Texas he was taght to fear them. One time I hace to rip up his downstairs bathroom to get a baby Garder snake out

[HerpIsAhobby]

There has been many studies done on this exact topic. One of the conclusions the researchers came up with was that the fear of snakes is a learned behavior. Through out our lives we are conditioned to be afraid of certain things fire, heights etc. Now all of us don't learn the same way so you have people that can be firefighters because the fear wasn't instilled the same way as to become overwhelming. The research is really interesting and I would suggest reading up on some of them.

[warlord]

i wouldnt say im afraid of wild snakesbut when i unexpectadly see one it makes me jump a bit but im ok with it, i used to be afraid of snakes when i was younger all together but i kinda grew out of it i guess, i always wanted one even tho i was a little afraid so i went to the pet store and just started holding them and then baught my own after lots of research...face your fears and get a new friend out of it