I've never, ever had someone say to me that snakes are the devil or anything of the sort. I've had raised eyebrows, winces and "ewww"s. I've had "Why???" But I've never had any of the outrageous stuff that others claim. No one has ever said my ball pythons will kill my kids or "poison" us. I've had people ASK how big they will get or wonder if they're dangerous, but it's a respectful question from someone who just doesn't know any better....so I'm never offended. I guess I'm just lucky to never run into these crazy people?
As for those who are afraid of or just plain hate snakes...I just shrug. I can respect the fear. I've been seriously afraid of spiders and certain other bugs my whole life, and still battle with that although I'm trying to be better about it. If I can be afraid of harmless bugs, then why should I be astonished to hear that someone is afraid of my snake?
I offer to help them get over that fear if and when they ever reach a point in their lives when they'd like to try, but I don't force or insist. For those that hate snakes........I'm sure I hate something they like, too. We all have our likes and dislikes and it's pretty senseless to get offended at someone else's.
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