Villianizing Snakes

[Himitsu]

I guess I'm lucky in that my parents support me so much. Mom's only stipulation (since I'm still living with them) was to get a job first. Dad just kinda glared and grunted when I told him I was getting one. Wonder what he'd say when I tell him I want a couple more...?

On a kinda funny note with that, I bring home a mouse for her and tell Mom I'm going up to feed her (she doesn't want to watch). Five minutes later Dad comes up. Apparently he jumped up off the couch once he realized I was feeding her, like I hadn't said it already.

[enchantress62]

Yea there is the whole devil worship thing. That one always cracks me up. I wonder if those folks relies that God made snakes too. Lol Along with that i have also been called stupid, crazy, and foolish. Yet i don't have to walk my snake, feed it daily, clean out a smelly box, or take it to the groomers. Hmm but i am the foolish one. Lmao

[h00blah]

I consider myself one of the luckier ones.

My dad was born in Peru, and he used to play with the animals there.

My mom thinks all my snakes are gorgeous, and she likes to hold them and pet them XD. Especially after they shed! She still doesn't know all the names but she'll ask about them

I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My brother really wants a ball python because he likes holding my normal . He'll squeeze your arms because he doesn't want to fall, and just sniff around the place .

My oldest sister has a corn snake, but she's more into fish. The corn snake was given to her by a friend who joined the army. She works at petco and she often cleans all the reptiles because everyone there is afraid of them... They got tokay geckos in, and they attack anything that gets near their territory XD. My sister is the only one who will clean their cages! And she's the aquatic specialist! Not reptiles!

My other older sister isn't interested though. She's a dog person. I tried to get her to hold my killerbee. She said it's so pretty, but she wouldn't touch it. She thinks they're going to bite her... Even though she's gotten bumps on her head and bruises from playing with her german shepherd who doesn't know her own strength yet ... Also has a ton of scratches and bites from when she was a bigger puppy lol...

That's the relationship my snakes have with my family . Most of our friends that come over to hang out and play games are fascinated by the snakes and enjoy watching them strike the dead rodents . I convinced 2 of them to want ball pythons haha .

The local pet store I go to is pretty cool. Everyone is friendly, and they all know so much about a particular reptile. When I was explaining that I needed to try a different rodent, and maybe even a LIVE rodent for my spider who didn't like f/t, the girl there said "Ohhhh picky ball pythons! Gotta love em!" I was shocked that she understood! When I was at PETCO, they first suggested I feed in a separate enclosure... Then they said I should have a bigger tank (not tub) so they have enough room to roam.. Oh and when I went to get a new water dish yesterday for my pastel het clown girl that just came in, they said "This probably isn't the best size since it wouldn't fit in here when it soaks.. oh wait. how big is it?" me: 140 grams. "No but how long? It sounds underweight.." ?

[dart]

I don't know about you guys, but I do own snakes. I also have tatoos, I worship The Devil, my tongue has been modified to look like a snake's, I hope snakes take over the planet and my snakes have already killed my wife, children and dogs.

Seriously, I don't understand how some people can become so fearful of something they're ignorant to. If I personally don't understand or know anything about something, why would I be afraid of it? My personal ignorance on subjects causing curiousity in myself, not fear. At what point in your life do you realize you still act like a child no matter what your age?

I for one am about to have ,my first child in less than a month. Am I afraid my snakes are going to kill my baby? Absolutely not. Am I taking precautions so there is no way my snakes will interact with my baby? Absolutely. Do I fear my larger snakes would eat my chihuahua? Definitely not. Do I keep my larger snakes from being able to come in contact with my chihuahua? Definitely.

Ignorant, fearful, apprehensive and judgemental people need to learn to grow up and sit down and research what is really going on before making assumptions and judgements. Apparently, everything you see on TV is true. OH YEAH, and I forgot to mention, "1000 ways to die" is a show that tells everyone what really happened.

Sorry for the rant. Touchy subject for me.

[DooLittle]

It really is sad how misunderstood these wonderful animals are. You need to educate your Dad so he isn't misinformed. I will tell anybody who will listen all about my snakes, and encourage people to interact with them. Once you actually hold one, you realize they are big puppy dogs. We have gotten several friends and family who were terrified of the snakes when we got them, to come around. People just need to be exposed to them to see they aren't evil creatures. As for the animal planet shows when an animal hurts a human, its almost always due to a human error.

[RColemanVT]

I just started working at a Petco, and I went to check on a customer that was being shown a BP and they were holding it quite sloppily and were trying to force it to unball, and of course didn't listen to any warnings or otherwise(why do retail customers think things in their hands are theirs period?).

Anyways, when it uncurled they weren't ready for it and dropped it, I luckily caught it as softly as possible, but on the way back into the cage he took a few strikes at me(understandably of course) and everyone in the aisle acted like it was going to kill me and immediately went into villify mode. It stinks that a defensive gesture caused by poor handling makes everyone else put the snake at fault.

[Emily Hubbard]

I just started working at a Petco, and I went to check on a customer that was being shown a BP and they were holding it quite sloppily and were trying to force it to unball, and of course didn't listen to any warnings or otherwise(why do retail customers think things in their hands are theirs period?).

Anyways, when it uncurled they weren't ready for it and dropped it, I luckily caught it as softly as possible, but on the way back into the cage he took a few strikes at me(understandably of course) and everyone in the aisle acted like it was going to kill me and immediately went into villify mode. It stinks that a defensive gesture caused by poor handling makes everyone else put the snake at fault.

I HATE THAT! "It didn't behave in a way that I deemed appropriate for an animal I am attempting to forcefully dominate, therefore I don't like it." Imagine if we treated children that way! Yeah, if you freak the crap out of a snake IT WILL BITE YOU! I too have noticed that with ball pythons, people tend to be like "well, make it be a ball, I want to see!" I explain that for a ball python to ball up, while outwardly adorable, is a terrible sign. I tell them my snake has NEVER ONCE balled up because I handle her gently and in a way that helps her understand she is never in danger. I would NEVER intentionally do ANYTHING to make her ball up! If someday I accidentally move in a way that sets her off, I will feel TERRIBLE!

[kevinb]

You could just as easily get killed by any other "domestic" animal, much rather a snake. I mean honestly, can you see a ill tempered king rat kill someone or a beaten and trained to be aggressive dobby/rotty/pit kill someone. The only snake physically big and strong enough to kill someone is a large constrictor and that almost still NEVER happens....and if it does, its because of alcohol/drugs or just plain stupidity. I should make some fake articles to post online about killer Chihuahuas and see what happens.

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[RColemanVT]

I HATE THAT! "It didn't behave in a way that I deemed appropriate for an animal I am attempting to forcefully dominate, therefore I don't like it." Imagine if we treated children that way! Yeah, if you freak the crap out of a snake IT WILL BITE YOU! I too have noticed that with ball pythons, people tend to be like "well, make it be a ball, I want to see!" I explain that for a ball python to ball up, while outwardly adorable, is a terrible sign. I tell them my snake has NEVER ONCE balled up because I handle her gently and in a way that helps her understand she is never in danger. I would NEVER intentionally do ANYTHING to make her ball up! If someday I accidentally move in a way that sets her off, I will feel TERRIBLE!

Sad thing is now the poor guy is striking at everything that goes in the cage. I have been working the past few days to try to calm it back down a tad without over-stressing it.

[h00blah]

Sad thing is now the poor guy is striking at everything that goes in the cage. I have been working the past few days to try to calm it back down a tad without over-stressing it.

I don't mean to thread hijack, but I would just leave him alone for a while first. Only bother to clean/feed. After about a week or 2, you could maybe hold him for a few minutes. If he isn't even slightly better, I'd give it another week.

Note: I would start a new thread and get 10x better suggestions from people who have dealt with more timid snakes . I've only had to deal with 1. He was stressed after an expo, so I left him alone.. He eventually came around and started striking at his food, instead of waiting til I left to start eating.