Hate

[Pythonian]

I am probably going to be flamed for asking such a stupid question, and this is a real question, not a hypothetical one.
Why do people hate snakes? Especially Pythons?
I have never ever ever hated snakes, even before I had my babies. so i don't know, but are people afraid they will bite? or is it that they were just taught snakes are bad? I am really curious. if anybody can help answer this, i will really appreciate it

[K-DOG]

Its the the news guy, they are allways giving use herpers a bad rap. Remember just keep having fun!!

[Dom]

Its mainly instincs..

theres just something in ppl brains sub-conciously telling them to feear snakes..

I also find ppl to be more scared of small then large snakes..

[C.Marshell]

IMO...It is the fear of the unknown,usually from a very young age we are taught fear and hatered of things that are different.
Take a child that grows up in a home that keeps snakes as pets..this child is far less likely to have a fear of snakes,than another that has had no contact or education on them.

That, coupled with the fact that the olny time you hear anything about reptiles at all in the news....it's allmost always bad!

In my opinion education is probably the key,and we must concentrate on the younger generation,if we plan on having a more reptile friendly world in the future.
(my two cents anyway)

chris.

[sSNAKESs.com]

Good question actually! :) I think like others have stated, people are scared of what they dont know about... when you dont know what or about something the brain tells you to be weary of the unknown... some people react as wanting to know and others react by getting scared... its like if you hear something upstairs in your house but nowones home.. some would go right away up to see what it is and other would ball up like a bp and wondering in fright... I also think it has to do with ignorance.. and tolorance.. alot of people dont want to get to know the animal because they are "gross" "slimey" etc.. when in fact a snake isnt slimey at all! just my 0.2cents

[AzR@k]

from the ppl i know that are afraid of snakes it is the fact that they dont have legs and there eyes from what they told me

[corr]

Quite a fascinating topic actually.

It's true that snakes and lizards have developed a bad reputation over the years. Stories of "slimey", "vicious" "man eaters" are all over the world. Like Chris said, whenever a herp makes the news, it's when a missing golfer in Florida is suspected to have been eater by a gator!

Many would argue that God has instilled a fear of snakes in us because of what happened in the garden. Some of us having turned that fear into a great respect. I'd like to get Rob Carmichael's take on this...

Cheers

[Jeff_Favelle]

Its just chemicals in the brain triggering a reaction man. I'm deathly afraid of spiders. But I used to breed tarantulas. Can't say that I'm afraid of the unknown because I had a dozen of the largest freakin' spiders in the world in my house! But the site of wolf spider scrambling across the room is my worst fear. Its just chemicals man. The visual of a snake striking or slithering is brutally frightening for some people. It doesn't mean that they don't understand them. It just means that they get a freaky visual from them. Sure some people are just scared because they've never been near a snake and don't have a clue. But not all people.

[Yve]

I think it partially stems from the bible.......the snake is envisioned as a bad symbol....but mainly it is the media.....aside from the news you've got film that always aligns snakes and other reptiles with symbols of creepiness & evil.....
I don't think it has a great deal to do with the unknown....snakes can be found in most places. Sure we don't see them everyday but neither do we see porcupines, racoons or skunks on a regular basis....and most people think them to be 'cute'. Nothing annoys me more then people squeeling over a lil' garter snake, I know...they're a product of their environment but still....it gets to me...:rolleyes:

[AzR@k]

lol.....my mother is extremly afraid of snakes she fainted and had a mild heart attack when i brought a garter snake home when i was a little kid...and she has know idea why she is afraid of them..so it could be chemical

[rattekonigin]

I think it depends on the person...a lot of people dislike animals in general, probably because they were never really exposed to them much when they were young...I have an aunt who is absolutely terrified of birds and rats but was just thrilled when I got my snake, she loves it.

[CornBall]

I did a project on this actually and this is a short summary of what I found out.

People are generally afraid of snakes because as we evolved there were two different kinds of people, the risk takers and the people who got scared. The risk takers if they seen a snake got interested by it and went to play with it, and eventually the snake bit. Through all the bites, the hot snakes killed people which got other people scared of them. This being scared of the snake made them avoid the snake and this was taught to younger generations to the point where it evolved with people to stay away from snakes so they would not get killed by the snakes venom. Over time as we evolved into what we are now this fear became a natural instinct so that we could live longer lives and to provide food for family. So basically all the people that were afraid of these snakes aquired a phobia about them. (you must avoid your fear as much as possible for it to be classed as a phobia).
So the fear of a snake comes from our ancestors that were afraid of them and it just evolved in us as they evolved into what we are today to stay away from snakes so they would not die.

The way I see it is that US (snake lovers) are actually the kin of ancestors that lived and never aquired this fear.

This is just a really short explanation of this fear, I actually did a full HOUR presentation on this in front of my class with my snakes (well 2 of them). A few people in my class actaully had to leave for my presentation because they could not be even in a room with a snake.
I helped some people see what a snake really is (not as a slimy, scary reptile that grows a hundred feet long and will eat you or search you out just to stick their fangs in them to inject their venom.

I hope this helped.

-Ryan (helping one person at a time to get over their fear of snakes)

[jason h]

LOL jeff favelle!!!! you know it man ive got tarantulas and the same as you that little spider in the corner of the bathroom or the dandy long leg that comes up the tub drain etc actually paralize me with fear!!and it doesnt matter how small it is either LOL!! but hand me a rose hair and ill let it climb all over me no problem,as for snakes i used to be terrified of them then i saw a ball in the local pet shop and it was beautiful (as long as it was behind the glass) i used to stop and look at every time i was downtown then one day my now ex girlfreind gave me a box for my birthday(at the coffee shop) i opened it and near S*** myself but she made me take it aout of the box and before long i was buying ever reptile in the place (really every paycheck bought me a snake or monitor scrpion etc) it just takes bitin the bullet and makin yerself over com yer fears!!! unless of coarse its spiders then theres no helpin ya LOL!!!:bugged:

[Jeff_Favelle]

There is NO way I'll ever overcome my fear of those damn spiders!!!


This thing was crawling on my ceiling a couple weeks ago. Dude, I could HEAR it walking!! Actually, that's what woke me up!!!

[CMR]

It because of those old COWBOY MOVIES… With those DEADLY RATTLERS...:eek: Hissing and biting people on their butts & legs… LOL…

[jason h]

jeff man i dont know how you could even stay in the room ong enough to take that pic id bin outta there and fast (providing i could even move)!!:bugout:

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ha ha, I was still half asleep man!!

[Yve]

Jason, Jeff....you guys would end up in a white rubber room if you entered my basement....its an old Victorian with an unfinished basement, wet stone walls and floor, cobwebs, dust, really low ceiling and damp air everywhere, everytime i do my laundry (yep down in the hell hole,lol) i get webs in my hair and face. Sometimes there's the odd spider hanging down on his thread. There's some monster size ones running around on the floor too. I'm not really afraid of them but when they get you by surprise its enough to make the hair on your arms stand on end!:bugged:

[Pythonian]

Please don't ask me what kind, but my fiance, has a spider as a pet (I don't think it is a tarantula((it isn't too hairy)) ) and it looks like the little guys on the movie Aliens! that suck your face! That Mutha is HUGE!, I;m not afraid of any animals, I guess if I would it would be spiders, but am not afraid of them, i just can't stand the way they feel when they crawl on me :( They tickle me and go into scratching frenzy's when I take them off. I mean hell , the other day i stopped my mom from killing a Black Widow, and her egg sacs! anyway, back to the subject, This spider this kid has, seriously can wrap it's legs half way around my face. and he said it isn't even full grown yet!!! :toilet: :weeble:

[Jeff_Favelle]

Niether Jason nor I are coming to visit you or your basement!


:-)

[jason h]

yep i second that!!:eek:

[python146]

dont come where i live- there is about 4 spiders per square foot in my backyard:eek:

[Jotun]

You know, I work at a pet store and I hear the crap everyday "Who would want to own such a disgusting, slimey, cruel animal [snake]?" and my response everytime is "Well me" and I smile. They ask me why and i just bring about the point that they find a hamster, gerbil, or rabbit to be cute or something and I feel the same way about snakes. They continue their preaching about how horrible snakes are (and at sometimes under handingly add how horrible i am for owning them) until they finally finish and buy whatever inane pet product like a hamster sweat or rabbit leash for their wonderful pet (which I'm sure has bitten them 10x more than my snake has even come close to) In conclusion, I dont entirely understand a person's fear for any animals, even spiders. I guess it must be chemical but I have yet to find a phobia for any animal. But with snakes, when someone insults the snakes or says crap about em, at least one hair raises on the back of my neck. I really REALLY dislike that crap :mad:

[Pythonian]

I agree Jotun, i am not afraid of any animal (that u can buy in a pet store) now... put me alone, in a cage with a huge, hungry polar bear, yea i might have a very tiny problem with that, and I just may even explain to you exactly what that problem is ;) ... but yea, whenever i take my kali or vertigo outside everybody is like
"ewww look at that!" it has been so bad as someone even saying "What does that ******* think he is doing? that snake will eat him alive!" ... okay .. Kali was at the time about 15 inches long. Please curret me if I am wrong but i am 5'6 , I really really really don't think, that this 15 incher will eat me alive.... I have 3 dogs, and 2 cats. and Kali (My python) is the sweetest out of all of them. Vertigo (corn snake) is a bundle of nerves so no matter what he will have too much stress, but i have NEVER EVER been bitten by a snake (that is a pet) in my whole life.
So, I think there is a certain orfifice that some people need to remove their heads from. Before they are allowed out in public. Just my Humble Opinion, of course :)

[Big Mike]

I really think that there is some natural fear of the unknown, including animals, in humans. Obviously it's different for each and every person but it's there none the less.

Snakes and spiders are especially scary to some people because of their unusual body type. The familiar physics of human body movement does not apply to such animals so we are not sure what they can or will do.

It's makes people nervous because they wouldn't know how to react if they were attacked by these unusual creatures. These fears may be unfounded because in a survival situation a human would win a fight with just about any animal.

Some people are confident enough to subconsciously know that they could defend themselves and therefore they have less fear for animals etc.

I know that I could probably kill (defend myself) a spider if it jumped on me to attack (however unlikely) but it would still freak me out because of the uncertainty of how it moves etc.

I may just be talking out of my *** here but do you understand what I'm getting at?

[PoiSoNouS]

My mother told me that they learned at school that snakes are bad and all the bad stuff they could have said to make them scared because they didnt know what it really was... its ashame.

[Pythonian]

Okay all please ignore this post, this is just for PoIsOnOuS, what kind of snake is ur avatar?? it is gorgeous! and is it your snake?

[Jeff_Favelle]

My guess is White-lip, black phase.

[Pythonian]

it is a gorgeous snake!
anyway back to the subject!! I always take Kali at whenever i am like going to a store that i know doesn't mind me bringing her in. and today i did. This middle aged guy, who looked like a total idiot anyway, saw her and was like "eww a snake blah blah blah" and i just snapped. I said "Just hold her and follow me around the store while I get some supplies, and see she is a good girl!" so after some arguing he agreed, and one she left my shoulder and into his hand she balled right up and after about 5 minutes she loosened up, he started to be okay with her, and as i was checking out she crawled up to his head and made a bed from his hair and laid there and he was loving it. So he appologized for being so cruel before, and i took kali back to me and say her on my shoulder. After 10 or 15 minutes of talking I ended up taking him to the pet store, and now he is a happy owner of a Columbia Red Tail Boa. (BEAUTIFUL SNAKE!!) I made him read a manual about the snake before he bought it, and he spent close to $500 on supplies! a 55 gallon tank, aspen, a stand, books, rocks, heat, I was amazed. and as he was leaving he didn't put his new friend in a snake bag he held him while he was driving.
That proves to me, that people are just being told snakes are bad, and won't even give them a chance.
Note: Tomorrow he has an appointment with my vet to get his new friend checked out and for the vet to explain to him some thing to watch out for.

[Jotun]

That's a really great story! I love Colombian Red Tails, such awesome snakes! They're tame, generally eat and are such beautiful snakes! I would get one if I had the room but that's just going to have to wait till after college :)