Advice needed

[kilabyte]

Not sure this is the correct forum to post this thread in but I'll give it a shot. I have 2 normal ball pythons that both my 7 year old son & I adore. We want to get some morphs in the future once I build a rack. I currently have 1 in a 10 gal tank & another in a 32 qt sterilite. In any case our problem is my wife who is not a snake lover nor wants anymore snakes in the house. She finds them slimy and nasty. Both my son and I have tried to get her to hold them. 1 is a little spunky but never hisses or strikes and the other is just plain docile as a puppy. My wife is not scared because she doesn't run or anything when we have them out. She just refuses to give holding them a try to see how cool thes animals really are. Is there suggestions anyone out there may have to help us to convert her to a bp lover.

[dc4teg]

time was the only thing that was on my side on convincing people....

[Jeremy78]

Hand it off to your son . The way I do ot with the gf is NEVER break rules with them. Ask her to set some guide lines to you being allowed snakes. Or cut her a deal. The gf let me have snakes because...
She knows how much I love reptiles
she knows that I always follow "the rules"

our rules are...
No going near her unexpected with the snake.
And she doesn't wanna know about feeding time.

[mbasile35]

It's hard to say. Now that i think about it, it would be pretty had convincing somebody who doesn't want to hold a BP to hold one. All i can think of is have your wife start out by just petting the snake, then at least she'll know they're not slimy! Lol. Past that i think it just takes time for her to trust the snakes enough to hold them.

Hope that helps!
Mike

[sorakitty]

I also concur with having her just pet it. My mom, who hates snakes with a passion, finally let me get my little girl, after two years of convincing. After me owning her for a month or so, my mom finally got up the curage to pet her. I held the snake myself, and told her to just run her finger lightly down the snake's side. And she did. She didn't freak out or anything. Although she still won't hold it, she isn't as freaked out by the snake anymore, and will come into my room every so often to see her even. That's just my personally experience about working with someone who doesn't care for snakes.

[Kaorte]

I have met many people who were initially very afraid of holding or touching the snake. But I guess the catch was that they were still interested in them. Almost every person I have met who were previously afraid got the courage to hold one at some point

But for someone who has no interest in learning about the animal it is much harder to convince them because they really just want nothing to do with it.

Maybe explain to her all of the good things about keeping ball pythons as pets. They don't take up much space, they don't make noise, they don't smell, they only eat once a week so you can still go on vacation, and they are normally very calm animals.

[musicalKeyes]

My friend wouldn't touch any of mine for probably three months after I got them. The trick I think is to just be patient and let her come to the snake Have it out some times, away from her, while your watching a movie or something, and have your son hold the snakes a lot too, and don't press her into holding them each time the snakes are out. Ask her if she would feel more comfortable with gloves on, and see if she would hold them then. Talking about them and why they make good pets is a great idea. Eventually, my friend just reached over and started petting them, and now she has to have one with her at all times, lol.

[stratus_020202]

Start looking at morph pics (casually) infront of her. I don't see how anyone can be turned off of a coral glow, or a nice BEL. Then, if you get the wow factor, say 'well that one is really expensive. we will have to start here.' Lol.

Good Luck!