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more snake haters!

harry&snaky

harry&snaky

New member
Recently I made a complaint about a game show called "sing if you can" because of the horrible way they treated cornsnakes. In the last one they did it again. I'm really loosing my pations with the way these poor creatures are being treated. What elsle made me mad was the fact that the audience were the scared ones.
 
People in groups have a herd mentality. If one person gets freaked out, it spreads to the rest and everyone feels justified. To most people animals have fur, lesser beings have feathers and scales. I was explaining snake anatomy to my bio lad partner once, her response was: "I never thought of snakes having hearts."

The best thing we as snake owners can do is educate the people around us. I took one of our snakes to my son's class for show and tell day months ago. When I returned on the last day of school to settle any remaining lunch accounts two sweet little girls asked me if I was going to bring the "cute snake" back next year. That made my day.
 
Funny you mention the heart thing, because i was talking to someone and they were shocked that snakes had heart and lungs like other animals. I thought it was just because I lived in the sticks that people thought like that.
 
It's definitely true about the herd mentality and that the best way to change the way people feel about snakes (or any feared animal) is through education. The biggest problem is that the mass majority of the public "knows" snakes as being some kind of creepy crawly beast. People will continue to that until they've been taught otherwise. It's unfortunate, but true.
 
I hate that a lot of people kill snakes without reason.

Example: Members of my own family see my snakes and this is what they say. They think the pink bubblegum corn is cute (even the people who still hate snakes admit that). They think the black and yellow striped kingsnake is kinda neat looking. Then when they see my hypo corn they all say something like, "Ew! Now that thing looks like a copperhead (or rattlesnake)! If I seen that outside I'd kill it for sure!" Just simply because the snake is mostly orange. But the thing is, copperheads and rattlesnakes look nothing like a normal or hypo corn snake! I hate that people are so stupid and will kill a snake just because of what color it is. Even if it hardly looks like the venomous snake they fear.

Me and my sister have argued over the killing of a black rat snake. She tried to tell me they were "poisonous".
 
I had that problem when I first got my snakes, and now that I live on my own- anyone who wants to come into my house has to deal with my lovelies. On display, in my kitchen-livingroom area. No insults permitted.
 
harry&snaky said:
Recently I made a complaint about a game show called "sing if you can" because of the horrible way they treated cornsnakes. In the last one they did it again. I'm really loosing my pations with the way these poor creatures are being treated. What elsle made me mad was the fact that the audience were the scared ones.
Click to expand...

What did they do to them??
 
Oh, and as for a bias against snakes, I think it's pretty deep rooted. One time my dad refereed to them as the devil's animals. I guess that might be a biblical thing. Satan took the form of the snake to deceive Eve. And just as people will say that "Eve ruined everything for women", perhaps some people despise snakes .

Not saying that all Christian's harbor that mindset. My dad can be a little nuts.
 
Recently, a friend of mine who is afraid of snakes wanted to come over to meet my snakes (because she is a sweet person and knows they are important to me; not because she was interested). I took Sienna out, my sweetest, calmest snake. Donna ended up letting Sienna crawl on her a bit. What amazed her most was that Sienna was warm. She thought all snakes were cold.
 
Isn't it great when you turn someone cold or lukewarm towards reptiles around? My boyfriend would never hold our first corn and totally ignored him for the most part. Fast forward to that new hatchling and he is enchanted. I'm thinking another year or two and the argument won't be IF we get more but WHO gets to pick! ;)
 
What did the show do to the snakes?

As for the biblical references to snakes someone on here has a fantastic write up on that and what it all means. Basically it came down to God cursed the snakes to have no legs and cursed man to die. If the curse is what makes them the devil's animal, I think we're higher on the list than snakes.
 
I've always told people that there are no bad animals. Its just our interpretation of certain animals as bad. Sharks are not evil creatures. That being said I'd still rather not KNOWINGLY swim with a hungry great white. Bats are not all blood suckers. They're actually rather fascinating little creatures that I want more of on my property. And there's a whole list I could go down but its just too early in the morning here for me to try that.

What bugs me is that there are people like my mother. She just doesn't like snakes. She knows its an irrational fear and has been careful not to teach it to her kids. BUT she doesn't want to hold snakes, look at them even pictures in a book, or do anything to get over her fear of them. She just wants there to be a wide berth between her and them. I would love to help her get over her fear and I've got several snakes that would be perfect for it. But she's just not interested.

I guess it could be worse. She could be saying all snakes are evil creatures and the only good snake is a dead snake. But then I don't think she'd be married to my dad the wildlife biologist in that case!

Devon
 
My mom was a snake hater/killer. When I got my first snake she was there when I opened up the box and it was love at first sight. Now she wont stand for anyone to bad mouth snakes lol!
 
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