How adorable is my mom?!

[Kira]

That is quite the turnaround lol, my mother was actually pretty on board, unlike my aunt who is so afraid she has to hold my uncle's hand while in the same room. I really did not understand at first how people could be so irrationally fearful of such an animal.

Though she has gotten better with the animals she used to be so afraid she would avoid the one entire side of the house. But as time goes on this irrational fear she has seems to dim as like stated above she can stay in the room and she even developed a curiosity which I take as a good sign.

The same situation with my moms boyfriend was afraid not nearly as much as my aunt but he went from poking(lol) to petting and eventually now he struts around like it's his crown achievement and takes initiative to ask if he can retrieve her from the enclosure.

I have found that most people seem to have developed this fear in two parts

1. Ignorance or lack of knowledge about the subject matter.

2. Along with the VERY common association of snakes with almost anything evil or of ill omen, one of the most noticed of these I have seen is in Disney's Aladdin(jefar).

I agree that it is mostly ignorance. Usually, when I tell someone that I have a ball python they ask if she will eat my dogs...I think they just hear the word "python" and automatically assume its a huge snake. It puts things in perspective better when I tell them that she only weighs 2.2 lbs so she couldn't do much damage if she tried. I really hate how snakes are portrayed in the media! I wish that the general public was educated better about snakes. Everyone seems to think that they are mean and slimy.

My mom hadn't really interacted with snakes before meeting Winry so she didn't really have a reason to dislike snakes. She just thought that they were creepy and that all of them would bite. After meeting my ball python she said that she "looks like a puppy". She even went to a reptile exo with me in January and really enjoyed it. Recently she held a boa at a pet store and wanted to take her home It helps when people keep an open mind.