Negative or ignorant comments because you have snakes?

[BHReptiles]

I am confronted with this daily! I live with my grandparents while I'm in nursing school. When I moved in, they said I had to get rid of my cat because of allergies...so I told her if the cat goes, the snakes stay. I didn't budge and got my way. They still don't like the idea that I have snakes, but when they found out that my new rack (hopefully it'll be in next week!) has a locking mechanism, they were a little more accepting. My grandfather thinks it's a waste of time and money (but that's his opinion on all pets...even my fish and two dogs) and he's a hardcore Christian and thinks snakes are the devil's doing (even when I tell him that technically he should love all God's creatures and God made snakes - no, I'm not religious but I can argue my point).

And then there's nursing school...some of my friends are really into my snakes and live to see pictures. Usually they are interested in finding out why a young woman owns so many snakes and wants more. But then there are some who don't want to hear about them. I try my best to respect their wishes and not talk about them while they are around, but when they facebook message me and tell me that my cover photo (of my lesser) and my snake album freak her out and that I should take them down, I politely tell her to unfriend me or don't look at them. After all, my snakes are a huge part of my life. I can respect someone's opinion about them, but I'm not going to bend my life around other people who are just ignorant.

I mean, I am deathly afraid of spiders (not the morph...the actual 8 legged thing), flying bugs with stingers (wasps, bees, hornets, etc.), 18 wheelers, and the ocean. But do I ask you to give up your pet spider, tell all the bugs to get out of my bubble, ask all the 18 wheelers to get off the road while I'm on it, or tell the ocean to bug off. No. I simply respect that they are there and choose not to interact with them if I can help it.

-stepping off the soapbox now-