Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For the past decade or so fear of public speaking has top the list of fears - but now you guessed it ... theres a nw leader ....

The five most common phobias are:
1. Fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)
2. Fear of giving a speech (glossophobia)
3. Fear of heights (acrophobia)
4. Fear of rodents (musophobia)
5. Fear of flying (aviophobia)

Following closely are phobias about confined spaces, thunder, nighttime and dogs.

Thought this was funny after the whole mix up on the copperhead ball python thing - this was planted right on my MSN homepage - big picture of a nasty snake! Suddenly the BP market grows smaller and smaller. LOL.

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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

GOOD!! all the more for us *grin*
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

I actually watched a special on animal phobias last night on the animal planet...SPIDERS are on top! Arachnaphobia is the number 1 FEAR!!!!! I know!!!! There are many different sources and polls..just the one I saw! Im sure the one you saw said snakes..anyways...the fear of any animal is pretty ignorant in my book!

the one i watched:
1) Spiders
2) Rodents
3) Snakes
4) Pahrana
5) Sharks

Now I KNOW that fear of spiders has GOT to be there in the top 5 somewhere. Fear of Rodents? Who could be afraid of a cute little mousie? I wonder how the writer came up with this poll? probably called up a bunch of his friends and asked them.

>>For the past decade or so fear of public speaking has top the list of fears - but now you guessed it ... theres a nw leader ....
>>
>>The five most common phobias are:
>>1. Fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)
>>2. Fear of giving a speech (glossophobia)
>>3. Fear of heights (acrophobia)
>>4. Fear of rodents (musophobia)
>>5. Fear of flying (aviophobia)
>>
>>Following closely are phobias about confined spaces, thunder, nighttime and dogs.
>>
>>Thought this was funny after the whole mix up on the copperhead ball python thing - this was planted right on my MSN homepage - big picture of a nasty snake! Suddenly the BP market grows smaller and smaller. LOL.
>>
>>-----
>>Tosha
>>
>>"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"
>>
>>7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
>>1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
>>0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
>>0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
>>0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
>>2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
>>0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

Well...I for one hate rats and mice, but especially rats. I don't even pick them up to feed my snakes (unfortunately all but one of my bp's eat rats)...I kill them first by picking them up w/ a towel and them smacking them on the ground. Last week I accidently dropped one, and my roommate was good enough to catch it for me. I'm not so much "scared" of them as I hate them. I love watching them get eaten by snakes...not in a tormenting way, but in a satisfied way.
Jeremy
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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)

love a face like this???

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Amber

Balls:
1.29.0 Normal
1.1.0 Pastel
1.2.0 100% Het Pied
1.0.0 100% Het Albino
0.1.0 66% Poss. Het Albino
Corns:
1.1.0 Amber Corns
0.0.1 Amel Corns
1.1.0 Butter Motley Corns
1.1.0 Crimson Corns
1.1.0 Ghost Corns
1.1.0 Hypo Corns
0.0.2 Normal Corns
1.1.0 Okeetee Corns
1.0.2 Snow Corns - Aiden & Kids
1.1.0 Sunglow Motley Corns
Milks:
1.1.0 Hypo Honduran Milk Snakes
0.1.0 Pueblan Milk Snake - Marishka
1.1.0 Sinaloan Milk Snakes
Other:
2.1.0 Dachshunds - Dakota, Montana, & Cheyenne
5.0.0 Ferrets - Tigger, Bailey, Cody, Keyta, & Bandit

np

Ok, Amber, in all honesty, that has to be one of the cutest rats I've ever seen. I think I would actually hold that one and pet it a few times...before I put it in the towel.
Jeremy
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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)

np
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

there are probably (well almost certainly) more people keeping pet snakes now than ever before in the history of man... why would that still rate so high on the list of phobias? I would of not expected snakes to be as high...

Any details about the study? How many people sampled? Where? If you make a study in India or Africa, yeah snake phobias are going to be high there.. lots of venemous stuff, etc...

Anyways, interesting nonetheless..

Bristen.

I have recently been amazed at the reaction of some very "macho" friends and relatives, who have declared they will no longer come visit our house now that I keep ball pythons...
Less cleanning for me! LOL

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"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

I have a very strange phobia, I dont even know if its a phobia or not, but I go fishing every month and am completely fine, but when I go to a pet store or to a friends house, I cannot be in the same room with a fish inside of a tank, I dont even know how to describe the feeling, I get almost nausuos?SP and light headed, even if its only a gold fish, By the way this isnt a joke, I am serious, dont flame me or call me a troll
thanks
tony butler

I don't blame you...I get that feeling around girls! Every time I see a cute one and try to talk to it, I get squeemish inside! I think I have girlaphobia!
Jeremy
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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)

So am I in love with goldfish? LOL, Luckily I dont have to worry about girls, I got mine, and she keeps me in check, luckily she digs snakes, but I am serious about the fish,
thanks
tony butler

Hehe....I finally had a girl wrangle me down! Now I don't have to worry about my phobia...she keeps all the girls away from me!
Jeremy
ps...she the one w/o the yellow and black designs!

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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)

A few years ago that list was right on for me. I was deathly afraid of snakes. I told my wife I had to get over this irrational fear of snakes and their was only one way I knew of doing it. That was by purchasing one. My first snake was a little bitty baby corn snake from Kathy Love. I got that poor thing in the mail, man you would have thought I was handling a black mamba. I had leather gloves on, long sleeved shirt. I placed the little deli in the center of the enclosure and proceeded to break out in a cold sweat. I finally got the cahones to pop the lid of this big bad vicious corn snake and use some 10 inch hemostats to coax her into her new home. Man I was freaked out. (can you omagine the poor snake) Well needless to say and lots of snakes latter I am over my fear of both snakes and rats. Go figure.... Who needs shrinks...just jump in. Worked for me

Frank
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1.0 Pastel
1.3 Classic
1.0 Okeetee Corn
1.1 Butter Corn
0.1 type A anerythristic corn
0.1 Classic corn
0.0.1 babycurus jacksoni

You paint a funny picture Frank.

My story is very similar.However once my first snake(ball)actually bit me(stupid feeding error)it all changed.
...i mean come on,my cat bites worse than that! lol
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

LOL - I have an irrational fear of heights - so I took up rock climbing - I'm over it now.

But god help any spider that crawls across my path - it's as good as smooshed! LOL!
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

Oh, man, I hate spiders too...and I rock climb. I remember one time i was climbing in the Ozarks in Arkansas, and as I slid my hand into a crack, I felt all this squeemish stuff...I had placed my hand in the middle of a group of DADDY LONGLEGS!!! needless to say, I dove off the cliff face and pulled my belayer off the ground. ugghhh...I just shivered!
jeremy
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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)

I've never had anything that I quit fearing because I did it. I don't ever remember fearing snakes. For as long as I can remember, my Dad would catch snakes and turtles and let me handle them. He'd be driving home from work, see a turtle in the road, and put it in the car for me to see. (It's probably illegal to do that now.) The result is that I've always found reptiles interesting and not frightening.

I've feared heights for all of my life. In college, I took up caving and had to do some rappelling and climbing. I never quit being afraid and was never very good at vertical caving skills, but I learned to put those fears aside enough to be a competent caver.

Where the other side happened is with claustrophobia. For most of my life, I had no problem with claustrophobia. I had no trouble flying or being in other slightly closed situations. In 2000 and 2001, I had to fly from Houston to Seattle on business on five occasions. I guess I shouldn't name the airline, but their flights were horrible and uncomfortable. I also had one bad flight from Atlanta to Houston on another airline. Nothing dramatic happened on any of these flights. They were just uncomfortable as flights. To make matters much worse, I reached an age where my joints swell when I fly. After about an hour or so, my feet were too big for my shoes. I'd untie and loosen my shoes, but I could barely walk when I left the plane.

The result of these bad flights is that I developed claustrophobia. I can't fly anymore. Maybe in an emergency I'd have a few flights left, but I'm not certain that I could fly at all. I also have problems in crowded restaurants, particularly if I'm sitting "inside" in a booth, and in meeting rooms. Occasionally, I'll have a reaction if I see a shot on TV of a crowded room.

To make things stranger, one symptom of claustrophobia is supposed to be a fear of wearing respirators. However, I'm on the fire crew at work, and I've never had any problem wearing a respirator or participating in training that requires me to go inside buildings in full bunker gear.

Bill