It irritates me a little when people get all over dramatic about it. You know the ones, they run out of the room with their hands in the air screaming. You can tell their reaction is mostly over exaggerated. While they are making this big show, my 3 year old son is snuggling the snake next to his face or my daughter is giving it a kiss usually though, if you can get them to chill out, they will usually touch the snake and some may even hold it... My Mom on the other hand is truly afraid of snakes. When I was in high school, long long time ago, she wouldn't come in my room for fear of my snakes. She still fears that my ball pythons can eat my children, lol