The same sad comments about my snakes... (vent)

[redshepherd]

Oddly enough, because I do educate calmly (in public at least), explain that ball pythons and dumeril's in particular are the most docile snake, how they just hide in a hole all day and sleep until they come out to eat a mouse, they aren't even remotely strong enough to strangle a person, my flimsy arms are much stronger than they are, ball pythons tend to imprint on a type of prey, the bites themselves are tiny and hardly hurt at all, etc.

But the same people who I "educate" continue to not believe me/continue to make such comments/think I'm just playing the devil's advocate/am just a misinformed child who naively thinks all animals are gentle. LOL.

Yeah, I definitely don't have a particularly thick skin- I'd say I'm just an average person when it comes to that, so the endless repeating comments are making me quite fed up with these people who won't sit and listen, and instead would rather believe the myths and Hollywood stereotypes they've heard before.

Theresa has some good points.

The best way to adapt is to come up with good answers to comments/questions. For example:

"Why on earth would you own A SNAKE?"
"They are quiet, docile, don't take up much room, don't make noise, are hypo-allergenic, don't make big messes, never need to be walked or have a litter box, and best of all, they only eat once a week! What's NOT to love about owning a snake?"

"Aren't you afraid it will eat your child, dog, cat, etc?"
"in the first place, my snakes don't get big enough to eat anything bigger than a rat/mouse. In the second place, do you believe everything you see on TV? Almost no snake gets big enough to eat a dog or cat, and NONE get big enough to eat a person."

"Why would you want to own the Devil/Satan?!?"
"Satan, seriously? So let me get this straight, you think Jesus was a sheep? If calling the son of god a lamb was a metaphor, why would you think the devil being a snake was any different?"

"Don't they bite?"
"Anything that has a mouth can bite. Ever had a teething baby latch onto your finger? While bites sometimes do happen, a kitten does more damage than one of my snakes. If you aren't afraid of a kitten, there is no reason to be afraid of my snakes."

"Aren't they slimy and gross?"
"Actually no, snakes are warm and very soft, like leather. And they can come in some pretty awesome paintjobs! ( morphs )"

"Aren't you afraid it will strangle/constrict you?"
"not at all. My little snakes couldn't hurt me if they tried, and even my biggest female, if she gets carried away, is as easy to remove as unwrapping a scarf."

Things like these will curb a lot of the ignorance.

Gale

I've actually gotten all of these comments/questions before already, and responded in a similar way to you. About 50% of the people I tell don't seem to believe me- look at me like I'm just a naive kid who does not understand the ~danger of the snakes I own~. The best we can do, I guess!