Snake Haters!

I was sitting in my garage and the nosy busy body neighbor lady comes over. I had Ruby with me. She just blatantly made a point to tell me about how much she hated snakes, what she would like to do to them, etc... It made me so mad!!! Thenshe basically told me that I was a bad mother to even have snakes in my home or around my children!!!! This is my question... Why do people hate snakes so much? It is like they are completely for them, or they absolutely can't stand the idea of even looking at them. I really don't get it.

Well if she had come over to my house, I'd politely ask her to keep her uneducated opinions back on her own lawn. When I ask for her opinion, I'd rattle her cage. :nyah:

I think for a lot of the older generation, experience with my own relatives anyway, the Christian nature comes out and they remember all of those sermons about the serpents being sent from Satan. I remember my first snake I had, my great-aunt who is a minister told me I was evil-incarnate for keeping such a foul creature. Also the woman who told my mom that getting a divorce was a one-way ticket to eternal damnation..nevermind the fact that my mother's first husband was abusive.

And I think more so nowadays it's just complete ignorance and misunderstanding. They don't think about the role of a snake in nature. They can't get past the fact that they lack legs (kin to worms and bugs, oh my!) and they look cold and wet. However they'd be surprised to feel them as they aren't all that bad.

My own mother is just starting to figure it out. Would she rather have mice in the house eating her cookies or snakes outside with full bellies and a mouseless house?

It's only taken a few years, but when she sees a snake in the yard she either leaves it, dad relocates it to the woods or his barn, or she calls me to come move it. =P

Anyway I wouldn't worry about it too much. She just offered her opinion where it really doesn't matter. You're the mother of your children not her, thank goodness. Enrich their lives as you see fit. =D

I think most people couldn't even tell you why they hate snakes, except maybe their parents hated snakes too, and passed that on. There are a few people, like the grandmother of one of my riding students, who grew up in an area that had hundreds of garter snakes. She used to watch them eat bugs off the side of the house, and couldn't walk across her lawn without stepping on one. It gave her the heebie-geebies. Her grandson just got his first cornsnake, and she's o.k. with it in her house. She's even managed to get up the nerve to touch it. So, people can change their attitudes when they learn more about them. But as you've found, some are pretty set in their ideas. Nothing you can do about that.

Thanks for your words of encouragement! It feels good to know that I am not the only one.

Nica

Eventually, you'll get inured to it, and not care what others think. They are entitled to their opinions. The way I deal with it is to not get defensive, and also not allow them to ramble on about how much they hate. I immediately ask, "Why?"
I keep asking questions until either the person can't tell me why they dislike them, or I can prove their opinions wrong 1 by 1.
Things like "slimy", "gross", "they'll bite you", etc., are easy to disprove.

I have the same problem. People still think snakes are slimy, vicious killers, that hate people.
PURE IGNORANCE & LACKING EDUCATION.

I don't understand why people hate snakes either. I have made a point to ask people why, and there is no real reason other than "they're creepy." It's funny to see the reaction of some people when you say you have a snake. Some people are cool with it, and yet, others are appalled by the thought. I think that it stems back to the fact that snakes are often used to represent evil. This isn't really justified, considering the fact that snakes can be the sweetest pet that a person can ever had. Some people think that all snakes are evil. If this is the case, does it mean that all eagles are American?!?

YEAH!

zooguy said:

If this is the case, does it mean that all eagles are American?!?

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Nope i think we have some eagles here in Canada

I have my Ebba in my dorm room, and one of my freshman friends found out about her. My friend is terribly afraid of snakes for some reasons. She thought I had brought back a cobra or venemous snake of some kind from my recent trip to India.

When she came down to dispute me having a snake in my room, I talked to her for a bit about the cornsnakes. In the end she even wanted to see Ebba, as long as Ebba was kept securely in her tank, and her exclamation was "Oh, she's so small..." My friend apparently hadn't had much experience with snakes of any kind, and used to be terrified of swimming in rivers because of the "possibility" of Anacondas, even though she knew that Anacondas can't live in Massachusetts.... I bet she got the fear of snakes from movies and such. It was so funny to see her surprise when I explained how docile corns can be and how small Ebba is (at the moment).

I'm so happy that I grew up with Garters everywhere, and constantly catching them to be my temporary pets; it helped me really love snakes and reptiles in general....

Why do people hate snakes....

Well, it is hard to get a straight answer out of folks who are terrified by them as to why, but I have a few suspicions.

Think about the news media. Much like word of mouth, sensational stories garner the most interest. I live in an rural area with copperheads and rattlers, and when someone gets bitten, it's the talk of the town... and usually quickly becomes exaggerated.

There was a time (before automobiles) when we had much more contact with the natural world. When people worked out in the fields all day, they came across their share of snakes, and bites! It was near impossible in our great grandparents time to even build a home that mice (and snakes) could not get in! And too few people knew venomous species from harmless ones. Probably fewer people today than then can tell unless it's obviously a rattlesnake. So they are generalized into the "dangerous" category.

Add to that, the fact that they can manuever about without legs of any kind! I truely believe that alone frightens people. Then you have mythology and religious backgrounds that represent the serpent as evil. And I think many who really love the animals (Steve Irwin) does more harm than good to the average Joe Six Pack or Sally Housecoat by saying, "Wow! This fella is really aggressive! One bite and I'd be dead in ten seconds!"

And horror movies and such don't help either. But you can! Teach kids, people! It's the biggest difference you will ever be able to make!

Steve Irwin?

Do you honestly feel that Steve Irwin is doing more harm than good? Think about how much he stresses the differences between dangerous snakes and harmless snakes. Yes, true, he does dabble heavily on the venomous side of the snake spectrum , but when he does stumble across the occasional harmless snakes (like when he comes to the states and find rats and kings i think), he make sure that we as the audience know it is only not harmful but we can safely co-reside in the same environment; AND it will only do you harm if you bother it (same goes with the venomous species).

Maybe its just my view...

Wes Spinks

Howdy, Wes

By no means do I think he does more harm than good in general. He stresses conservation and protection of the animals first and foremost. But he is very prone to "hamming it up" as he catches a brownsnake or other deadly species. And I've seen him antagonize a non-venomous species to get it striking for show. To most (squeamish) viewers, this promotes more fear than acceptance. I often cringe thinking about how this would affect my grandmother (who is as scared of snakes as almost anyone I've ever met). His job is as much to get ratings as to educate, and he's masterful at making the routine look dangerous and the dangerous look life-threatening. But it makes for a more entertaining program.
I prefer Jeff Corwin, personally.

and as elrojo said, people like the sensationnal, when they see this guy saiing that the snake could kill him in 10 seconds, they get more attentive to see if he is going to be bitten and die, so they get more concentrated and they remmber that. But when he find that small inoffensive snake that wouldn't do any harm people just don't listen become nothing exceptionnal can append so they just don't remmeber that and they only stay with the venomous image of the snake ...

my two cents anyway

I prefer Jeff Corwin's approach to snakes. He's much more cautious about handling snakes, especially the poisonous ones and he is the first to admit his limits. He doesn't mind saying that he really doesn't feel comfortable about handling a particular poisonous species, but he is quick to talk about how fascinating and beautiful they are. For non-poisonous, he is always ready to handle them, but he is more respectful of them I think, than Steve.

MegF. said:

I prefer Jeff Corwin's approach to snakes. He's much more cautious about handling snakes, especially the poisonous ones and he is the first to admit his limits. He doesn't mind saying that he really doesn't feel comfortable about handling a particular poisonous species, but he is quick to talk about how fascinating and beautiful they are. For non-poisonous, he is always ready to handle them, but he is more respectful of them I think, than Steve.

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He's awesome, I love him. He is soooo much more educated, and in awe of nature. He gets so excited about everything he finds, saying how neat and beautiful it is. He also knows all about it, what kind of venom and all kinds of stuff like that.

I am scared of venemous snakes, though never having really encountered one....I hope not to. But that doesn't mean I think they are evil creatures who want to kill everything.

I personally think my snake is the cutest thing that ever lived and cannot understand someone being scared of something so cute and little, and more or less harmless. Though I talked to this kid in a bunch of my classes, he's from Haitti, and TERRIFIED of snakes! Even a little, non-venemous or biting one! He swears it will be able to tell that he is black and will try to kill him. There's much scarier stuff in Haitti than a tiny non-venemous snake! I so wanna introduce him to my little guy to prove him wrong, and see a 20something guy freak out

I actually have about 20 or so rattlesnakes that stay at the house with us when we do our Snake Avoidance Clinic here. The herpetologist that brings them stays with us, so I have learned a lot about them. They are the same as other snakes. Some are mellow, and some aren't . The problem is, that if you get one with an attitude, you can be in trouble. I have handled them with Bob (the herp.) there, and I don't have a problem with it. They are truly fascinating.

Yep, rattlers and copperheads are a varied bunch!

I catch my share and I've learned that the temperature, etc. is not the factor!
As to the Hatian kid, that is an ingrained fear among African-Americans here in the south as well. I do presentations on a regular basis and always marvel at how often the black children run for the door as soon as I pull the first (even small) snake out of the bag. Some of my proudest moments are presentations when I give a black child a Polaroid of him holding a corn or milksnake to take home! Most often their mothers, when present, won't even be in the room (or will turn their heads) when a snake is out to be handed around. Not so with lizards or turtles...

That's very interesting. I wonder why that is? I've noticed the same response to dogs as well.

I find that very few people I meet are afraid of snakes and those that are also have many other animal phobias or are religious and always identify snakes as evil critters. A friend's mom was by the other day and was telling me how evil and nasty snakes were, I rolled up my sleeve and showed her my fresh little pinprick that was my snake bite and told her that's what it was. She said yeah, because they're dangerous and I explained to her that her dog had done more harm to it's owners and the public and that dogs kill people more often than snakes do. And that because of that her dog must be the epitome of evil. She just shut up. Most of these people say these things to bother you,but the truth is that I know more snake lovers and owners than ophidophobes and morons who can't and don't understand what it is to respect nature and see all animals as what they are... animals, nothing more and nothing less, but all deserving of respect.