Does this happen to anyone else?

[Chkadii]

If you think about the best jump-scare movies, what makes them so powerful is the suspense built up before the scare. With those awful prank scare videos online, they get you by showing something that makes you focus intently on the screen. "Look really carefully and you can see the ghost... WAAUGH!"

So this seems like a pretty counter-intuitive suggestion when dealing with live animals, but consider trying to pay less attention to the snakes. Don't just blindly stab a rat into a tub, obviously, but instead of watching the snake's every micro-move, glance back and forth between that and something else in the room, or another spot on the rack so you can watch for movement out of your peripheral vision. That way you'll still anticipate a strike, but you won't be in suspense while waiting for it.

With the toaster, for example: if I watch it, I'll jump when it goes off. If I start wrapping up the bread while it goes off, it's more of a background noise like a phone ringing, and feels like less of an immediate threat (even though on a higher cognitive level we understand that neither ball pythons or pieces of toast are a threat to our lives).

Hope this helps!