I'd like to survey the crowd around here about what everyone thinks about ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), either minor or major cases.

I always ask myself, why the huge number of ophidiophobes out there? Every non-snake-oriented person I have ever met, when I talk about my BP, first thing I get asked is: "Does he bite?" I like to give the answer, "Nearly any animal will bite when provoked enough." But dogs and cats can bite and are certainly capable of lots of damage, and yet snakes get the worse rep for it.

Some people would point to the venom factor, that some snakes are deadly, but the fact is that snake phobic people exist even in areas where there is little to no danger of venomous snakes in the area, or even many wild snakes period.

I am starting to form a hypothesis that it has to do with snakes in our culture as symbols. It all started with the Adam and Eve story, as we all know. But it continues with the media and entertainment industry. E.g.,
-movies like Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, etc. etc.
-the constant stream of shows on Discovery/Animal Planet about "snake wrangler" types and people who go after the most venomous snakes and almost get their heads bitten off when they get right up in the snake's territory and face. (Well, duh!)
-lack of information available that most snakes are not venomous

What does everyone have to say on this topic?