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snake fear / hatred

T

Theo's Keeper

New member
So I posted a couple of pics of my tiny, harmless, hatchling corn snake on another forum that I've been a member of for years. It's a small forum (unrelated to snakes) and I know the posters about as well as you can know internet people, have even met a couple of them IRL. They're normally pretty rational people as a group. However, when I posted those pics the response was almost universal: snakes are evil and should be killed, not in those words but that was the gist. One guy went out of his way to describe how he had killed a snake that day. :( (He claims it was a copperhead but where he lives, I can say with 90% certainty it was a water snake - how many of those are mistaken for copperheads and killed every day, it's so sad) I can totally understand being afraid of venomous snakes. Rattlers and coppers freak me out, I don't want to go near them and I think that viperkeeper guy on youtube is a loony. But even my gf, who does not like snakes, has held my little snake without fear. All of my friends think it's cute or maybe that I'm eccentric at worst for keeping it. Ok, to get to the point of this rant, what is it that makes people so terrified of snakes? I think it must be a cultural thing, not something that's ingrained in us, because my first response to snakes as a child was fascination, I wanted to pick them all up. What do you guys think?
 
No idea, but I know personally I am terrified of spiders. I have been all my life. I was only ever injured by a spider on one occasion when I was 22 years old. I got bit on my hand and it caused my arm to be numb. He bit me twice, two different days. my arm was numb for about a week. When I found him I was supposed to go to the hospital to get antivenom or whatever, but I couldn't... I found him in a pile of 20-30 dead wolf spiders that he had killed, and I killed him. I know that people keep spiders as pets, but it creeps me out. My aunt is terrified of snakes, and my mom who used to be cool when I brought a garter home as a kid is now creeped out by my corn and doesn't even want to look at him or be in the same room as him. I think it is just a phobia. An un substantiated fear.
 
Culture. The way people are brought up. Why on earth should an adult woman ever be afraid of a mouse either?

But it goes all the way back to at least the old testament. Part of the snakes punishment was that God set an enmity between snake and woman. I'm a woman, and I find them fascinating, and own one now.

Oh, and don't forget media fear mongering. Movies. TV. You almost can't blame someone for thinking all snakes are venomous.
 
That's a pretty gross spider story. What kind of spider was it? I picked up a huge wolf spider today at work to move him to the woods (I had thick leather gloves on) and my co-workers looked at me like I had a third eye. I am terribly afraid of jellyfish because I got stung really bad when I was a kid, but I wouldn't go out of my way to kill one. I guess I can understand the fear, just not the desire to murder it.
 
GothPixel said:
Culture. The way people are brought up. Why on earth should an adult woman ever be afraid of a mouse either?

But it goes all the way back to at least the old testament. Part of the snakes punishment was that God set an enmity between snake and woman. I'm a woman, and I find them fascinating, and own one now.

Oh, and don't forget media fear mongering. Movies. TV. You almost can't blame someone for thinking all snakes are venomous.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Although "Anaconda" was more hilarious than it was scary.
 
I think there are a lot of different reasons why people are afraid of snakes. Many people don't like the fact that they slither, are slimy and have no fur. Some are freaked out by their tongues. I had one of my corns at the vet and a little boy wanted to touch it. His mom freaked out thinking that the snake would attack her son. I let the boy touch him making sure I had good hold of his head. He was shocked that it wasn't slimy. It amazes me how many people still think they are slimy. One thing though it isn't just women who are afraid of snakes I have know a guy that is absolutely terrified of them.

I of course was always the kid that would bring home the snakes much to my mothers dismay. I have always loved snakes and glad that I can now own them :)
 
Jenn_Tigercat said:
I of course was always the kid that would bring home the snakes much to my mothers dismay. I have always loved snakes and glad that I can now own them :)
Click to expand...

I was the same kid! One of my earliest memories is of standing at the edge of my yard with a rough tree snake wrapped around my arm (I was probably 3) and shouting to my mom to look because I was so proud. She freaked out a little bit but she got used to my snake handling eventually. :)
 
I'm a member of a bird forum too for our pet conure. They were talking about their other pets besides birds and I mentioned my snakes. They totally freaked out calling me a bad bird owner and looked down on me. They went on to even tell me not to keep them in the same cage like I was an idiot or something.. (They aren't even near each other, totally separate rooms.)

AJ used to hate snakes back before he understood that they aren't all blood thirsty killing machines and stuff. It's a matter of education and coming to understand something, which most people aren't willing to do. I've always been fascinated with snakes and water creatures, especially sharks. I might be scared to be in the water with any shark, but I understand and respect them.
 
I do believe some of it is instinct, but I don't think it kicks in for *most* people until they are a little older, most young children are fascinated by everything to begin with. I think most people especially have a fear of the little things that can kill them, like spiders & snakes. Something about poison really scares some people. I think it's the sense of helplessness they don't like, that something so small it shouldn't be able to hurt you & that you might not even see, can kill before you could do something about it. I've thought about this quite a bit & don't really have any firm answers. I used to catch & keep just about any creepy-crawly that crossed my path, including a number of harmless spiders. But just within the past few years I'm getting more & more arachnophobic & do tend to kill all of the spiders that are inside the house now. We do get migrations of Hobos coming in the house at certain times of the year. I think that might have something to do with it too. One time when I was doing the laundry, they were so bad that year I shook out & killed 13 of them in one batch of towels. Also the media absolutely plays a part in it too, I think.
 
A few weeks ago, I took both my Kenyan and my Saharan sand boas to the yearly Faerie Festival which is extremely pet friendly. I had them in my "purse" Note: I don't use purses; until I got through the main gate, then I brought them both out. I stopped traffic! I became the show!

I was somewhat surprised how many times I was asked, "Is that poisonous?" I guess its because sand boas look so different. (Pfff! Is it poisonous! Yeah! Lemme bring a poisonous snake to a public function and let everyone and their kids handle them! ) I did run into a few people that were scared and, having been raised by a snake phobic mother, I kept a respectful distance from them.

Snakes have topped the list as animals that people are most scared of for many years. Are they born that way or are they taught? Personally I believe it is a taught fear. There are some areas of the world where there are so many poisonous snakes, treating each one like it is deadly is just a safe practice. Do I believe every snake encountered should be killed just to be safe? Not really. ( I'd kinda be a hippocrate for joining this forum! )

I believe that people are taught this fear because of something I encountered at the festival. Someone brought their toddler up to "See the pretty snake." and Franco ended up getting kissed by said toddler! A couple other children that age or younger, immediately grabbed for the snake and had to be schooled on the proper way of handling them. They had never been taught to fear snakes so they didn't. It was very interesting to see the children's reactions to them. This festival I attended was my way of educating the public on the myths versus the realities of snakes. I told them that a snake will be a snake, just like a dog will be a dog, just like a horse will be a horse. How many dog and cat owners have been bitten by their own animals? And yet they still choose to share their lives with these animals.

Every animal is dangerous in its own way. I believe that horses can be just as deadly as snakes and yet we still share our lives with them.

Personally though I believe humans to be the most deadly animal I have ever encountered and tops MY list of scariest animal in the world!

Devon
 
My other love besides animals and airboats are my truck and which I'm a member of several Chevrolet truck forums and all of which I have posted pictures of both my snakes. As suspected I got everything from "kill it, kill it now" to adorment. Just something to expect when dealing with people outside of your forums norm, its like me talking about how great Chevy's are on a Ford forum or a Christian on a Atheist forum.
 
Something I forgot to add...

...Usually its not fear or hatred of such things, its a misunderstanding of the principle not matter if its snakes, tattoos or motorcycles.
 
I think that by the time people are young adults, they have been heavily influenced by their environment, family and culture. In a Christian culture, snakes represent evil, and many people take that literally.

I've noticed some cultures and/or ethnicities seem to view animals of various species differently from my own culture/ethnicity (Norte Americano, caucasian, of European descent). For example, I have yet to meet a person of African American descent who wasn't terrified of snakes (I know that there are some people of this ethnicity here who are not, but I'm only talking about people I have personally met). Having married into a Hispanic family and lived in that culture for almost 14 years, I found that many Hispanics don't "get" dogs as family members and pets--they are "just dogs", kept on chains outdoors, and not valued as anything more than either status symbols or guards. Forget cats, snakes, guinea pigs and rats--none of those I lived with or around would have anything to do with those creatures! I have met quite a few people of different ethnicities who lived long-term in Asian countries who seem to see most animals as either food or medicine, including dogs, and who have no compunction about killing them, nor any compassion for the animals they use as such. Myself, I'm terrified of most insects, especially ants and wasps, as well as almost all arachnids. Watched too many old Japanese horror flicks growing up, I guess. Always did like Godzilla, though :).

So I'm not sure that fear or hatred of any animal species is inborn--we've been too long apart from the rest of the "wild" world out there. I think it has more to do with how you are raised, and who you are raised with and by.
 
Years ago I used to work as a groom for a timber horse farm. There was an old, black man working there. One day I found a black snake in one of the horse stalls and I relocated it gently to the ditch outside. When I told the old groom all he said was, "Oh you didn't kill it did ya? That's Harold he takes care of the rats!"

Makes me chuckle to this day. That barn needed a good barn cat because it was crawling in rodents but the dogs killed every cat they came across. So it was up to "Harold".

I thought you'd like that story.

Devon
 
I was afraid of snakes but had to get over it when my daugther began to show a persistent interest in them. Now I am not afraid at all, except for when I am in my husbands shop. I just know one day I am going to reach for something and to my surprise it will be a black rat snake instead (or a rattlesnake, who knows the way our politicians talk you'd think it would be a python tail :rolleyes: LOL). I still am afraid of spiders and bugs and miscellaneous creepy crawlies. My kids already know that if they catch a lizard, frog, bug, etc and it gets away in the house I will ground them until they are 30. Its ok though because my kids are always very responsible about making sure the lid is on their creature container and at least so far we have not had an escape. I don't teach my kids to worry about reptiles, amphibians, or bugs to much. I taught them to identify the venomous snakes here and told them to leave those snakes alone. I do tell my kids to leave the mammals alone. It is a bad idea to befriend the wild raccoon. I worry much more about rabies and other mammal hazards than I do about other possible hazards that FL has to offer like venomous snakes or sharks.

Typically we don't kill nuisance animals but rather relocate them outside or out to the woods depending on the situation. But we do have one particularly fast species of spider that at times we will kill (if they are inside) rather than catch/release if catching them is not practical.

I think the reasons that many people are afraid are related to culture and things like said before as well as a lack of understanding about snakes. I also think that because snakes are so much more subtle and different from a mammal like ourselves so it is harder to 'read' a snake. A dog, cat, possom, and a chimpanzee can all growl/hiss as a warning and the facial cues are all similar teeth showing, ears back, aggressive stance, etc. While a snake can give similar warning signs, they are often different and more subtle. The same for many other reptiles, amphibians, bugs, spiders, etc. I think that as mammals we are better able to read other mammals and so they tend to feel more familiar and therefore less scary to us. That isn''t to say you can't read other kinds of animals it just usually takes a little bit more focus/observation. Where as reading other mammals is a touch more intuitive.
 
Fear of snakes in Western society strikes me as a very cultural phenomenon. If I were living in a hot climate, in a rural area with many people working outside on the land, dangerous snakes would be a genuine concern. Where I live in Toronto, it is unlikely that most people will see a dangerous snake outside of a zoo. I think people here are afraid of what snakes symbolize and not what they actually are.
 
Well first off people don't like what is different. Snakes are extremely different, than other animals, no arms or legs and eat they animals whole. In my town the usual idea is 'the only good snake is a dead snake.' Then if you think as a culture as a whole, calling a person a snake means they are sneaky, they backstab, and they cannot be trusted. Then there is religion where the first bad guy in the bible was a snake. But people as a whole seem to be just completely ignorant with snakes, and once their questions are answered they are fascinated with them.
 
I have been dealing with this a lot... when I tell people I have snakes, it seems the usual response is for them to shudder and say "Ugh! I'm terrified of snakes!"

I have noticed that men have a stronger negative reaction. Women for the most part are curious, even if they are disturbed. I don't know if that is just coincidence in my life or true on a larger cultural scale.

I don't see having snakes as any different as having a gerbil, except that snakes don't need to be fed as often and don't smell as bad. ;)

I think that it is really just that most people haven't ever been around a snake, except maybe in the wild where there is always the possibility that the snake is dangerous. Usually when people have been around my snakes for a few minutes, they are no longer intimidated.

I was always the kid who wanted to TOUCH everything. "Look but don't touch" was a hated thing to hear. Snakes are neat in part because they feel so unusual compared to a mammal. Silky and strong. I think that is why kids are so excited to touch them... something different from the norm.

Education is the key, I think... the more kids that have positive experiences with snakes, the better.
 
I have noticed too, that on the whole of the people I'm acquainted with, the men are more afraid of the snakes. I think part of the problem is that the women exclaim & are quite upfront about their feelings, but then for the most part are willing to ask questions & touch the snake. Usually most of their fear goes away once they've done that. Men on the other hand don't want to seem sissy & will not really admit that the snake scares them, ask any questions about them or be willing to touch them & therefor stay scared of them. That's just in general, though, I've had both reactions from men & women.
 
It's funny, I've noticed the same gender divide when I kept pet rats. I'm sure I've posted the story here before about the Civics project I had in high school. As a group, we had to represent a charity organization, so we chose the animal shelter and brought in our pets for the presentation. I was the only one with an "unusual" animal (my rat), and I noticed that the fear reactions were much more intense from the guys. Girls would be grossed out, but they would come up to the table and ask questions. Eventually they would be calm enough to pet the rat. I had a few guys who just could not put their hands near the cage at all.

It was a very interesting social experiment, and it would be even more interesting to repeat with snakes. Of course my observations are still a generalization, but there was definitely a trend I noticed.
 
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