Do you hate/dislike snakes?

Question

Not the typical snakes you find outside, but pet snakes? Like king snakes, milk snakes, pythons, boas, etc? If you hate them, or dislike them, would you mind explaining why?

I've never been able to understand the fear or hatred of these animals. This is my first time owning a ball python, and I've noticed that I get the same reactions when I tell people how much I live him: disgust, fear, annoyance, or a lecture that he'll kill me some day.

What do YOU think?

If you own snakes, what reactions do you get, and how do you deal with them?

Answer 1

no.

Answer 2

personally, I love pet snakes and all reptiles. the reactions I get are mostly, do they escape and are they mean? I guess its the stories everyone hears about how snakes are mean and whatnot. I have 15 snakes and 8 lizards so I do love reptiles

Answer 3

I don't *hate* them.

But I don't think I'd ever own one.

I have a strong fear of snakes in the wild, but if I know that I'm going to see one it doesn't bother me to much. I just don't like the thought of them sneaking up on me in tall grass.

It's something about the way they hiss, slither, and look that makes my skin crawl.

Like I said, I'm not to bothered if someone is holding a snake and TELLS me that I'm going to be seeing one. I just don't want one crawling over my foot unexpectedly.

Answer 4

I breed corn snakes and I get similar reactions all the time.  I don't know how many people have asked me if they are poisonous or they'll tell me that they get 40 feet long.  Most of my friends refuse to come anywhere near my bedroom.  My mom was afraid of snakes and she didn't like them because she couldn't predict their actions.  I think most people still think they are slimy or are the devil in disguise.  I just smile and ignore it or I try to educate them.  Generally if the snake is really small you can get them to hold it or at least pet it.  Most people who do touch it love the feeling and are willing to hold it.  Also telling them that the longest recorded snake was only 34 feet long and was a reticulated python helps sometimes.

Answer 5

I really love snakes I think they are gorgeous and mysterious, I wanted to get a pet snake but my wife freaked out about the idea,when I use to work at Australia Zoo I would always be up in the snake cave watching them while I was doing my job, I don't know why people freak out about snakes so much I think they look at a snake as it is evil which I don't think they are.

Answer 6

I like them.. The are very good pets- NOt now- I think I would be bored with it..But I used to want a giant king snake when I was yunger...

Personally I think they are great-  

Answer 7

i love snakes! iv always wanted one, and nearly got the chance the other week but i was beaten to it!

id never actually held one before tho, and thought i might be a bit scared (coz im generally scared of everything else!) but it was lovely!

i just cant afford to buy one at mo, but will def have one one day...

Answer 8

As a keeper, I've added up to my snake numbers a lot during the last years. Having your house full of snakes and lizards and taking trips to the vet with a few sweater boxes housing said animals really do make people react!

I love my reptiles, and I'm don't hesitate to sit on my porch with my ball python draped across my shoulders.I've have had everything from lectures, people who make a 4 foot steering around me if I'm carrying one, girls who 'eep' and one or two people who just turn their head at me and do the 'ew' face.

I guess you learn to live with it, ignore the ignorants and educate who you can if they decide to lecture you about how something as small as a rosy boa will dismember you while you sleep.

Answer 9

I have always have had a fear of snakes! I guess i watched to much animal planet when i was younger, where they would show a snake biting a person or eating an animal! They give me the chills! I don't hate them, I'm just terrified! But what i don't like more then snakes are spiders! UGH, they creep me out lol!  

Answer 10

I actually used to hate snakes and be terrified of them, but, eventually the logical side of my brain won and I've gotten accustomed to them and over my fear. I have a couple for pets now and want a few more.

The best way to counteract misinformation is just with facts presented matter of factly. You just cannot teach stupid people. BUT you'd be surprised who is actually willing to learn and surprised by what they didn't know.

The things I run into most commonly is "How can you feed them mice, I could never do that." To which I respond that if they keep a dog or cat they are feeding them lots of animals that used to be alive. I feed prekilled that are humanely euthanized in a CO2 chamber. It's obviously not much different from feeding meat based food to a dog or cat. The only difference is that it's no longer in the shape of the original animal. Most people can't really argue with that and just never put that much thought into it.

The other thing I run into is the typical "eww, snakes are gross" which I counter with, "you may think they're gross, but, my snake has never come up onto my bed to hack up a hairball" if they have a cat or a similar more dog oriented response for dog owners..

Just not making a big deal about it can really help. You do have to respect people's feelings and understand that some people are easily wounded, particularly people that keep small rodents as pets. I remember being very offended when my friends that had snakes would say that their snake could eat my gerbil and things of that nature when I was a kid. You have to respect other people's choice of pet and not refer to their pets as 'worthless feeders' like so many snake keepers do. That was the biggest turn off for me from appreciating snakes. I still have small 'feeder type' pets, so I don't appreciate the mentality that snakes are worthy pets and all rodents are useless feeders. If you want people to respect your choice of pet, then you have to respect theirs.

If you can share a couple facts about your snake's species and what makes caring for them easier then a dog or cat, then just leave it at that.  

Answer 11

I get the same reactions, i cant stand it. Nobody here where i live collects or even likes snakes, all i ever get are the same reactions you get and that I'm stupid for having and loving them. I have had a passion for reptiles and almost any exotic species of any animal since i can remember. I also have a dog but besides that i feel normal pets are just boring. Its just that snakes can be so beautiful and are just extroidanary in there entirety from the way they eat and digest there food to how they catch there food and how some can be 30 feet long and some can be a foot. Its the lack of knowledge of such remarkable creatures that leads ppl to believe they are just ugly nasty surpents that will bite and kill you if they had the chance. I wish more people understood and appreciated snakes and what they do for the eco system, maybe then we wouldnt get so much grief.

Answer 12

I love snakes. I have 3 ball pythons and im getting a green tree python soon. but most people have a bad reaction when i tell them. My parents thought i was crazy and my mom is afraid to step foot in my house.

Answer 13

ugg, I applied to work part time, at a pet shop, some time ago, forgetting my fear of snakes...I got the job

so I went in thinking I was going to be cleaning fish tanks, playing with all the puppies and cats....nope they put me to work cleaning the snakes cages...needless to say I ran out of the store in tears, still haven't gone back to that store in 10 years!!

Answer 14

i think theyre cool. but i wouldnt want one as a pet. my teacher brought in her ball python on the last day of school. i thought it was pretty cool. i mean they dont bark and p**p everywhere in the house. ssssoooooooo......

Answer 15

I absolutely love snakes. I don't ever care what people think when I have them. I understand why people hate them but they should just ignore them rather than freak out and/or kill them. I do have 3 snakes at the moment and they are wonderful. The EASIEST pet I had ever had.. to be honest. I don't think they are gross and to fear. I also have a ball python and same for me it is my first time but it's always great to get a new snake to take care of and learn about. I think you just just ignore what people say when they think it will kill you or think it's gross/scary. I do get that sometimes but I just say you don't know what they are like so don't say you hate them. I had a friend who was scared of them and I had her hold my old corn snake and she wasn't to scared and now she thinks they are cool. Snakes can be a nuisance to some people but that doesn't mean kill it. By the way a ball python cannot in anyway kill you some day. They are way to small for that.

Answer 16

I love snakes, I keep them as pets and sometimes I catch wild ones and document the catch by taking a picture and then release them exactly where I found them, unless very near major roads or in the yard of someone who asked me to remove it, then I relocate somewhere safer.

All the people I'm around regularly(friends, neighbors, family) understand and while they may stay back if I have a snake with me, I've made them understand WHY I love snakes so much, and I've broken whatever myths they've believed in the past that made them fearful. Now they may still not like snakes, but they're not afraid.

Strangers are much less understanding (and some are a lot more stupid), I've been told my snakes would kill me, that I should release my (pet, not wild) snakes, that it's only a matter of time before my, completely docile, snakes would turn on me. It's frustrating because I know that I either don't have the time to explain to them the truth to make them understand or that the stupid ones think they are right and I am wrong.

If people don't like snakes, I really couldn't care less, its personal preference and I don't have a problem with that. If people fear snakes, I can sort of see where they're coming from, especially if they're uneducated about snakes or were raised by fearful parents, it doesn't bother me.

If people kill harmless snakes for either reason, then I have a serious problem with that.

Answer 17

Not hate--they just don't interest me. I'm indifferent on the matter.

One thing I dont think I could handle, though, would be feeding live mice/rats. I worked in a pet store for a day, and my job was cleaning out and feeding the rats and mice used for snake feed. It was really sad--I kind of got a 'thing' for those rodents.

If my mother would let me have a mouse--I would. Maybe someday....

My friend wants a snake, though.

Answer 18

I personally don't like snakes just because i don't like the way they look or feel,and I don't beleive they will kill you because if you own a snake you should be able to handle it.If u like snakes then I say go for it.

Answer 19

i'm sure some people just have a natural fear to them, like I have a natural fear to spiders. Tarantulas freak me out tremendously even though I have nothing to really fear from them. I'm sure people that fear snakes have the same fear so just think of something that you fear whether it be a basement, maggots, etc and that's how those people fear about snakes. they probably don't hate them, just have a natural, biological fear of them which is a good thing. If humans did not have a natural fear of things like snakes, then we may not be around right now.