Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So how does one handle those people that are truly horrified that I would keep snakes.I live in a rural area, mostly established farming families and the like.You know those people that go out of their way to run over snakes.Trying not to stereotype people here but Ive lived here a long time and that is the prevailing attitude.
Its not like I ever have anyone to the house but I do have a 6yo son and I worry that his friends wont be able to come to the house if they find out there are large snakes and lizards here.
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ive lived in a farming communtiy all my life,i understand what ur sayin,ive also kept reptiles since i was 8. ppl are afraid because they are ignorant. thats why education is so important.once people uderstand that snkaes are good to have around especially around farming areas because they eat rodents which eat crops. once they realize that snakes dont attack ppl and will run from ppl.most of my friends parents growing up were farmers and from their kids being around me and me having snakes and lizards they realized this.now snakes are just left alone on those farms. so i would say deal with it by education.

I agree with the other post...if anyone shows concern about your pets, just try to educate them on the facts. Check out REXANO.COM; they have a good section with statistics your can use. I also live in a big farming area (Shenandoah Valley in Virginia) and often when I tell someone that I have snakes, I get the response "are you crazy? the only good snake is a dead snake!" It gets old hearing that, but I try not to let it bother me too much. I try to educate all those willing to listen, but as you know, most adults are unwilling to except that they are wrong...it's sad, but I really think that most people refuse to open their eyes and minds to ANYTHING after the age of 20, like they really believe they know everything about everything by that age! I'm still pretty young myself (turned 27 yesterday) and I am definitely still learning many things, and still have times where I have an opinion, have checked out the facts, and realized I was wrong and changed my opinion. That's a quality that children have, but most lose with a age. I hope you don't have any problems with parents of your son's friends, but most likely you will have a few that won't let there kids come over...just keep in mind that these are probably the same parents that also wouldn't let their kids over because of your skin color, or which "side of the track" you live on, etc. ...point being, they are probably very narrow minded and predujice about other things too.
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa

educate, educate, educate... I agree completely with the previous two posts, but BE CAREFUL. It may seem like common sense to us, but serpent taboos have been pounded into people's beliefs for a looooooooong time and changing them can be a difficult and arduous process. Such people can take offense quite quickly if they feel they're being patronized so present the truth and give them a chance to change their own mind. Through my job I deal with people on a regular basis who are just plain wrong but incredibly sure of themselves. It takes patience... especially when trying to convince people that rat snakes bitten by rattlers will NOT become rattlers... they're animals; not f'n vampires! (minor rant there... apologies).

Best wishes and good luck

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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

But the "ratsnakes becoming rattler's when bitten" thing is a real winner!..LOL

I've always liked my analogy....."common sense,......it's really NOT so common"..........this would surely apply!

The one posted is morphing into Crotalus horridus as we speak!..LOL

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

This cuts deeper than religion in many cases. Most people fear snakes, and all the preaching about how they shouldn't fear snakes often only gets these folks more solid in their own opinions. It doesn't change their minds.

What can work is saying things (to their kids) like, "Hey, did you know this snake in the wild would ..." whatever interesting fact you can come up with. When kids get interested, they do some reading, they lose unsubstantiated fear.

Give up on adults older than 30. Whether in a huge city or on a farm, most don't change.
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Mark

I show em a picture of my 5yr old daughter holding one of my snakes and then point out that she's less of a sissy then they are.
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Jason

Hey there!
This is probably going to end up being a bit long but I'll try to keep it as short as I can.

I'm 46, have a 9yr old son & 13yr old daughter, and live in a very small community in southwestern NC (Murphy, NC). I have firsthand experience with your concerns so I can tell you, "Don't worry about it, it won't be a big deal."

Yes, there are many ignorant people in small communities with the mindset you described, and then some. Cities have some of the same people but the small town folklores are burned in memory.

Case in point: I grew up in a small central FL community, catching & keeping snakes since I was 6, and I have hillbilly roots. My wife is from this area we live in now, in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains.

My wife and I spent our first few yrs in central FL where she watched me catch many Eastern Diamondbacks. We had discussed me getting back into keeping them one day. A few years after we moved back to NC she came from the woods holding a snake by it's head saying, "I've got you something."

When I saw what it was I got mad at her for catching it and asked her, "What are you doing with that?"

"I thought you wanted one," she replied.

"I don't want a Copperhead," I told her.

She started to panic a bit, extending her hand/arm with the snake in it as far away from her as she could and started saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"

I asked her, "What did you think it was?"

"A rattlesnake," she said.

"Copperhead, rattlesnake, what's the difference?" I asked.

She threw it down and she told me about all the folklores she had heard about Copperheads. The difference in her belief was that even though I told her how dangerous rattlesnakes are she didn't hear false, freightening tales about 'em like she did Copperheads. She respected rattlesnakes but feared copperheads.

While a lot of people fear snakes I've found that very few are deathly afraid of 'em and curiosity overides typical fear in most cases. I've only had one person refuse to come in my house because of snakes and he's a friend of mine. To be perfectly honest, he ain't playin' with a full deck anyway. Ha! Ha!

There has been a time or two when I knew a kid's parent wasn't too fond of snakes and I tell them that the snakes are in secured cages and I won't get them out if they don't want me to have them out around their child. Let's face it, no parent in their right mind is gonna let their child go to someone's house without knowing them well enough to trust them.

Of course, sending pics to school with your child of them holding snakes does wonders. The quickest way to a parent's heart is thru their kids. Create the interest & education in another child and you stand a good chance of winning their parents. I've got parents that are afraid of snakes asking if they can bring their child over to see my collection.

So, from experience, it's a non-issue. Don't worry about it.

Take care!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

It might be useful in dealing with widespread snake-phobia to understand that it very likely has an evolutionary basis. Assuming belief in Darwinian evolution -- and folks on this forum probably share that belief in large numbers -- a trait that is adaptive to survivel tends to become widespread in any population and linger long after it is immediately necessary. Since the best guess on the human family tree is that we evolved from smaller hominids who at one point made their homes or at least nests in trees in Africa (like modern gorillas and chimps) it makes sense that they would have developed an innate aversion to potential predators, including large snakes. It would also have been adaptive in that environment to avoid stepping on gaboon vipers, mambas, etc. The best way for an organism to avoid such fates is to evolve an innate fear of the creatures involved. Hence, most people have to work to overcome that innate fear . . . and if explained to them in this way (that it is evolutionary baggage that is now largely obsolete) they might see snakes in a different light.

As with just about any difference of opinion, I would not tell someone they are wrong. I try to be respectful of their beliefs while providing some information explaining my own opinion. For example, "I know that snakes scare people, but they also control the rodent population. Mice and rats are more likely to get into your home and scare you than snakes are."

This sort of thing gives them a different way to think about it without being told what to believe. They probably won't change their minds, but they might become a little more tolerant or open-minded where snakes are concerned. If you act like you're right and they're wrong, they'll never listen and their distrust of what you stand for will intensify.

I know this may sound weird but ppl tend to respond to authority figures in a different way than "just some weird guy/gal down the street. if anyone asks tell them you are a herpetologist (which in the strictest sense of the word you are) you may not have a degree and it may just be a hobby, but they don't need to know that. throw in a few fact about how snakes reduce disease carrying rodent populations. and throw in a few words like census or habitat destruction while shaking your head. and ask ominously if they have seen large numbers of mice and rats around lately. Confronting closed minded ppl with facts rarely works, scaring them into a new reality (snakes kinda bad mice/rats worse) is more likely to work. YMMV
mike