Yesterday I recieved a rack in the mail. A freind of my wife and mine is staying with us while he recovers from some minor surgery. Anyhow, he decided that his medication was effecting him to a degree that would allow him to help (I think he was bored) so he held peices while I bolted them. So naturaly, the conversation turned to snakes and he asked me the most astounding question I have ever heard. Let me preface this by saying that he is a very intelligent and well educated man and knows that the species I keep is a python. He asked me "now you have to be really carefull and hold it behind the head right? I mean if it bit you you could die?" I then explained to him that this was not a venomous species. Apparently he thought that all snakes were venomous. Isn't it astounding how little the general public knows about these animals? The conversation below about the insurance reminded me of this.
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"It's insane this guys taint"
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An interesting talk
Replies (17)
It really IS amazing how many people still believe that snakes as a whole are venomous. I'm in Michigan where we have hog nosed snakes in the wild. They are called 'puff adder' and 'blow adder' by most here, and are believed to be venomous. I think it's the cobra immitation that does it LOL.
Quig
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Yeah, I've had alot of arguments here (on the Massachusettes/New Hampshire border!) with people who think that there are venomous "water mocassins" in our ponds and lakes! I usually tell them to show me where and I will catch one and let it bite me.
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"It's insane this guys taint"
Same boat. I had a friend from Pakistan get into an argument with me about whether my BP's were 'poisonous'.
I'm from Michigan too, and one day my ex's parents had a tree-surgeon come out to do some work, and the topic got onto snakes somehow, and he was gloating about how he chopped a 'puff adder' in half with a shovel. I just told him "congrats, you killed a completely harmless, toad-eating snake". He looked at me like I was stupid.
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1.1.2 Ball Python (normal/rescue)
0.0.1 Yellow Anaconda
0.0.1 Kingsnake spp.
1.3.0 Southern/Turkish Crested Newt
1.3.0 Roughskinned Newt
5.0.0 Axolotl
0.3.0 Jefferson's Salamander
0.0.2 Blue Spotted Salamander
0.0.2 Tiger Salamander
0.0.2 Fire Salamander
0.0.1 Himalayan Crocodile Newt
0.0.2 Common Musk Turtle
0.1.0 Calico Cat
Older Men usually tell me if i ever see one in my yard ..."wham bye bye snake"... Proud of themsleves as if they just killed a man eating cat with their bear hands.
quig, here in nc the hog nosed are mistaken for rattlers.....
black rats for moccisons......
i have people constantly asking me if i am scared to be bit cause it will kill me, this especially happenes with the big boa, i just smile and no they are the ones that squeeze, while shes half way around my body......but they usually see shes friendly.
my meanest snake is a yearling corn who bites every time i put my hand in the cage..........i dont even notice her biting me any more...LOL
I had a similar event happen when I was walking this summer with my largest male around my neck. A guy approached me and confessed that he thought it was pretty cool, then he asked me if I had had it's venom glands removed. Needless to say, I had difficulty supressing a chuckle.
NP
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"It's insane this guys taint"
I just had some one ask me that same thing. It took me a minute to recover so i could answer the question.
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Dave
Not a "venomous" story, but I was talking with my parents' neighbor a few days ago. He told me that many years ago, he had seen a bull snake HYPNOTISING a bird. He said the bird just stood there in a trance until he moved and startled the snake, which of course broke its concentration, and the bird got away!
I just said, "Really? Wow!", and left it at that. The guy's 84 years old, and there ain't no changin' his mind.
Steve
Not to be a "smarta**" but you do know that hogs are rear fanged, a mild toxin, swelling for several hours, pain, thats about it though.
Cole
I am a teacher and I use snakes in the classroom quite frequently. One of the most common myths I get is that snakes have no bones. Some of the high schoolers I work with even believe they are related to worms!
I was watching the news the other day and there was a guy out at Navy Pier on a 40 degree day with an albino burmese (he had a heated blanket for the snake to use while he was off camera...or so they say...) If that wasn't bad enough while being interviewed he described his snake as a docile 45 pound albino ball python. I bet a lot of people at home were thinking....boy those ball pythons do get huge!
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6.15 Normal ball pythons
2.0 Pastel ball pythons
1.0 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
1.1 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
-----My list is too long, so I'll stop here!
*Amy*
that carries an albino burm and lets you take a polaroid with it for 5 dollars when asked what type of snake it is he says its a yellow "boapython".LMAO ( i think he means ball python and even then he'd still be wrong.)
oh man too much. i was drinking milk...
about snakes. My daughter works for a zoo.When doing animal programs she was asked the same question twice at different shows by a different person. The question was "If you set a snake on fire, can you see it's legs?". They were children and were serious.
I once had a guy tell me that if I wanted to rent an apartment from him I couldn't have my corn snake because he was afraid it would get out and eat his [bleep]zu.
No joke...
I told him there was no threat of my 3 foot snake eating his 10-12 pound dog.
He didn't believe me.
I didn't rent from him.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."
-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)
just my theory but...it goes to show how small the reptile business still is. Despite the amount of people on this board and amount of breeders, animals, importers etc.
The general public would not be able to tell difference from an albino ball to an albino burm or to properly take care of a simple animal like a ball python.
But thats good news
because its only growing and i see no signs of it slowing down for a looong time.
I had a guy a few weeks ago wanted to buy one of my babies, he asked me when feeding the snake how long do you leave it in your yard. I laughed and told hem they never eat in the yard. He thought you leave them in the yard to catch there own mice and bring them in when done.. then asked what fdo you do when they get 30 feet. needless to say i wouldnt sell him one till he did some research on what he was buying.
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1.0 Het for pied
0.1 Het for Pied
1.5 normal balls
1.1 bearded dragons
1.3 kids
1.0 husband
To many little critters list
