Talking to people who don't like snakes

[Shadow]

Ok. I've always loved snakes, but I know alot of people who don't. When working at the zoo if I was handling a snake and people when by that didn't liek them I'd try to educate them about it and if they still didn't like them they'd be on their way. I could live with that, but my sister-in-law is another story. She is afraid everything will eat her kids and esp. does not like snakes. She also likes to argue with me over IMs when she gets grumpy and want to let off steam. I had a conversation with her today over an IM after I sent her pictures of Karma. Normally I can be very parient with people, but she knows exactly how to push my buttons some times. Here is how are conversation went (words in pink are my commetns after the fact):
her: karma is kind of cute....
her: now
me: kind of? he is ADORABLE!
her: but i don't know about later
me: He will be just as cute, just a little longer and fater
her:those things scare the crap out of me
me:Why?
her: cause they do...
me: i don't trust them
me: BPs can't hurt you
her: they call them snakes for a reason ( note: I have no idea what she means by this)
me: ?
her:they have teeth right (note: So in her dictionary snakes are anything with teeth?)
me: Yeah, . They bps RARELY bite. You'd probably have to like kick it across the room first.
her: one time is all it takes (note:takes to do what?)
me: The only time they might is if you mess with them in mid shed when the scales on their eye cloud up and they can't see well.
me:Their bite would probably be less painful than if Sam or Peanut bit us (note: her yorkie and my shih tzu)
her: If people know their animals so well then why are all these people getting killed and bit and torn apart by the animals they have known for years
me: ???
me: a BP couldn't kill a person
her: sigfreed and roy.....and tigers......and the sting ray guy...
meL: He isn't a tiger, he is a ball python
her: they are all sweet and predictable until something happens
me: I don't think They couldn't hurt you bad even if they went insane
her: it's a wild animal though
me: Sam would have a better chance at killing me
me: He isn't wild and even adults would be too small to kill a person
me: only big pythons like Burmese could possibly kill perople
her: you think a 3 to 5 foot snake can't squeeze the crap out of you
me: they can't (note: at this point of the conversation I'm getting ticked off)
Her:or jasper or a cat (note: my 14 yr. old lab x)
her: or the bird
her: a guinea pig (note: Oh yeah I'm going tohave my bird and GP visit my BP. Why don't I throw my hamsters in with them while i'm at it. psh.)
me:They biggest prey they can eat is a big rat
me:They couldn't swallow anything bigger than that
meL The cats would kill the Pigs, and tweeter too (note: I have five cats, I think they are the bigger threat)
me:i'm just saying it is a wild animal and don't take it for granted
me: not wild
me: they have their own way about things
me: can't hurt you badly
me: even if they wanted to
her: all animals were wild at one time
her:even dogs
me: then I better put Jasper behind bars
me: Peanut too
me: they both coould kill me easier
her: they have been civilized longer then snakes have (note: yeah, I didn't hear that when I had my ferret)
me:BPs are NOT big enough to hurt you (note:Getting frustrated )
her: not now
me: not ever
her: but 3 to 5 feet later
me:nope
her: when it is bigger then you (note: I didn't bother to correct her but I don't think it is getting longer tha 5"5")
me: They are too small
me: Belive me
her: ok (note: she doesn't mean it)
me:No one has ever been killed by a bp
her: yup
her:k (note:still doesn't mean it.)

::sigh:: I don't get these irrational fears over snakes. Normally I would not argue with somebody about it, but my gosh, they come up with soem pretty wild idea about why tehy tink they should be hated.

[Kristy]

I totally know what you mean.
My husbands grandparents freaked when they found out we had a ball python ( in their minds pythons means gigantic snake that is going to eat you) and were saying it was going to eat our children and so on and so forth. There are some people that there is just no convincing. Its really sad because a lot of people base these fears on what the media has portrayed snake to be. Monsterous man eating animals, which they are not. But unfortunately the media will continue to make them out that way everytime an accident happens involving a person and a snake.

Then theres my mom who comes over just to see my snakes and handle them. She loves them and they really interest her.
Kristy

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

It was obviously partway through you wouldn't convince her . It is ok that some people have irrational fears and irrational thoughts, I would just say to let them be with their thoughts, because arguing the point won't get you anywhere.

Easier said than done

[Emilio]

The classic for me is , Are they venenmou's? NO NO NO I would never own some thing that can severly hurt me or my family.

[SPJ]

Try having to explain to people that childrens pythons are not named that because they eat children. Very frustrating.


I have had contractors refuse to do work because there were snakes in the house. I also have some family members that refuse to come in the front door because there are snakes here.

Sometimes no matter what you say, people will not listen.

[duffmanrc]

i'm 19 years old, and ill be moving out in a few months. My mom will not let me have any reptiles in the house. i've been trying to talk her into allowing me to have a snake, but she will have none of it. as soon as the word snake comes out of my mouth she is already saying no. It doesnt matter if i'm just telling her about a friend of mine that breeds snakes, or something cool i read on here. So right now im just *PaItEnTlY* wainting until i move out, then i'm gonna get a snake or 2 lol.

[kplunk]

i'm 19 years old, and ill be moving out in a few months. My mom will not let me have any reptiles in the house. i've been trying to talk her into allowing me to have a snake, but she will have none of it. as soon as the word snake comes out of my mouth she is already saying no. It doesnt matter if i'm just telling her about a friend of mine that breeds snakes, or something cool i read on here. So right now im just *PaItEnTlY* wainting until i move out, then i'm gonna get a snake or 2 lol.

When I moved away from the parents house to go to university I was finally able to get my first snake. When they came to visit I hid him and his tank in a top closet shelf that had its own closing doors. I thought I was pretty sneaky. So my mom found it, but she didn't think I had a snake since there was a light and I had fake plants in there she thought I was growing marijuana. LOL

Funny thing was she wasn't really that mad about the plants so I just said ya thats whats in there. Thinking that the snake would be worse. Cause I told them I wanted to get one and they said they'd never come over if I did and to not get one.

But she was able to tell that I was lying about my grow op and something else was going on. So all I told her was

"mom the plants in there are fake"
She says " well then why is there a light"
I say " I don't know mom why don't you go look and tell me"

oh so funny this conversation in the middle of Costco... Thats how I knew she wasn't that mad cause she didn't remember to bring it up till we were already there.

[Kojak]

This is just the sort of ignorance that has given snakes a bad reputation. And by ignorance I mean the true definition of the word. My mother is one of those germ freaks, you know the kind. I sent her a pic of my 6 year old daughter holding our 7 month old, 141 gram Ball. Wow, did that open a can of worms!!! Here's how that went:
Mom: "You know that most reptiles carry Salmonella."
Me: "Some do, but this one wasn't caught in the wild, and he's been to the vet."
Mom: "Well do you make sure you and her(my daughter) wash your hands afterwards?"
Me: "No mom, as a matter of fact we have the snake at the table during dinner and let it pick food out of our mouths...yes we wash our hands...before and after!"
Mom: "Well you don't let it run loose do you? It won't get in there and choke my granddaughter to death while she's sleeping will it?"
Me: "No mother, it doesn't run loose. That wouldn't be healthy for the snake!"
Mom:....Long silence....."That's not funny!"
But really, education is the key. We live close to Silver Springs and they have a pretty good non-venomous show several times a day to educate people. It's not nearly enough, but it's a start. I say keep spreading the word. "Those armed with knowledge will better fight their wars!"...Me!

[joepythons]

The classic for me is , Are they venenmou's? NO NO NO I would never own some thing that can severly hurt me or my family.

Emilio i had the same thing happen to me when i was showing my albino burmes python outside a pet store(herp club social).Three ladies walked up and yelled its venoumus its gonna kill me!!! She told me its YELLOW so its venoumus:eek: .

[Shadow]

The classic for me is , Are they venenmou's? NO NO NO I would never own some thing that can severly hurt me or my family.

Oh, I know what you mean. When I was volunteering at the local zoo, we'd take out various animals and let people touch them and educate the people. Just about everytime we would take out a snake and ask somebody if they'd want to see it they's ask "Is in poisonous?" or "is it venomous?" and we'd have to say "No, we would let you touch it if it were venomous, we wouldn't be touching it either."
You'd think in MI where there is only one native venomous snake, people would not quickly jump to that conclusion.