Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any where I go and talk to people about snakes(besides breeders)
and i talk about how much i like them they start talking about how they like to kill them,swirving the road to hit them and there other ways they like to kill them.What gives people drive to kill snakes(even when they know its nonvenomous).Also how can I make them aware of there purpose and that they are not bad,I always tell people If they have them in there yard dont kill them and just call me and ill come get them,but my main question is why do people hate them besides they are creepy to some but thats no reason to kill them,and there is no way I could possibly talk them in to joining a herp. society.If any body has any ideas please inform me.

Sometimes it is unavoidable. I hate to admit years ago I killed a couple, a copperhead that was striking at my dog and another (didn't know much about them at the time, but I think it was a rat snake) out of ignorence. I feel bad about it now, but some of us were raised that snakes are bad. Education is the answer to the problem, but I don't think that the stigma of snakes being bad will ever completely go away. There have been many times as I work with my ball python that I feel guilty about killing those but I have used it to teach my kids that snakes are not bad and trying to attack you any time that they can.
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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

First, my experiences are much more mixed than yours are. I occasionally run into someone who brags about killing snakes, but I don't always get that reaction from people who aren't snake keepers. My team leader at work often gets little snakes caught in his pool filter. He just tosses them over the fence into the woods. I've heard of other people who are glad to have non-poisonous snakes in the barn but don't like them near the house. I've also run into many people who don't pay attention one way or the other.

Secondly, I think that much of how one feels about snakes depends on how one is raised. Some people grow up around adults who are afraid of snakes and kill them at every opportunity. They've learned to fear snakes and to kill them. Other people may not care for themselves, but they haven't taught their children not to fear snakes. Because their kids are afraid, they kill snakes around the yard because it makes their kids feel better. When I was a kid, my dad often brought little reptiles home for me to see. He emphasized not picking up anything that I couldn't identify, but as far back as I can remember, I can remember hearing, "Be gentle; Don't squeeze it; It won't hurt you, but don't scare it; No, let's just let it go; It'll be happier in the woods." Of course, in today's over-regulated world, Dad would probably be fined by some governmental agency for bringing animals home for me to see.

I think many people who don't pay that much attention will talk about killing snakes just to upset people who like snakes. I've had people start down that road with me and then admit that they were just kidding when I didn't react strongly to what they were saying.

I think we have to reach a careful balance. In many states, it's illegal to pick up a native snake without a license. When those laws are enforced, particularly against curious people who are just mildly curious, a snake becomes associated with a negative interaction with regulatory power. Once that association is formed, those people aren't going to care about snakes being killed. Likewise, we need to be informative without being preachy. Yes, snakes are very beneficial, but there are so many things crying for our attention these days that no one wants to be the target of one more rant.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

The easiest way to get someone to not fear snakes is to get them young. It's a far simpler thing to get a child interested in a snake and holding it...than it is to argue with an adult set in their ways. And that child will likely not grow up afraid of snakes (it's not a natural instinct in human children).

Sometimes...with a little luck, you can convince someone set in their fear. My young Eastern Indigo, Lenore, has been my little embassador and she's been held by at least six people who never had held a snake, and (up until then) swore that they'd never.

I remember when I worked in a petstore, whenever a small child would show an interest in snakes I would take one out for them and show them how to handle it, and then let them handle it. Then the parents would walk up and if their reaction was one of fear, then the child would suddenly become fearful. The bottom line is fear is transfered from parent to child, and it's hard to overcome. I learned the best way was to convince the parents it was safe and get them to handle the snake, then the child was even more encouraged to do so.

I'm not saying that parents don't have a very powerful influence on their children. Al Ghazali pointed this out when he noticed that most people from Jewish families grow up to be Jewish, Muslims to be Muslims, etc. However, my mother is terribly phobic of rodents. We once had to move because she saw a mouse in the garage, but I have never had a problem with rodents. (Obviously, that would make feeding my snake a bit of a problem). I have never had any urge to kill a rodent for no good reason. I will admit I've eaten rattlesnake, but that's not different than killing a cow, just a lot more expensive.

>>Any where I go and talk to people about snakes(besides breeders)
>>and i talk about how much i like them they start talking about how they like to kill them,swirving the road to hit them and there other ways they like to kill them.What gives people drive to kill snakes(even when they know its nonvenomous).Also how can I make them aware of there purpose and that they are not bad,I always tell people If they have them in there yard dont kill them and just call me and ill come get them,but my main question is why do people hate them besides they are creepy to some but thats no reason to kill them,and there is no way I could possibly talk them in to joining a herp. society.If any body has any ideas please inform me.

Cause Im afraid of them and I dont know the bad ones from the good ones..Actually Ive gotten much better and only kill them if they are actually on me,,(except for the brown recluses I find in my kitchen every now and again)
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I pretty much kill all house spiders because they repulse me and because the brown recluse spiders can do so much damage. Even spiders that are not as poisonous as the brown recluse or black widow can cause problems if one is allergic to their bite or becomes sensitized to it.

When I lived in Oklahoma City, we had big problems with brown recluses. I found them in my shoes, under every item in the house, inside the collar of a shirt when I was lifting the collar to put on a tie, and in many other unhappy places. I had no mercy on them. The funny thing was that my hatred of them ended up causing me to be more merciful to other spiders. I remember seeing a spider on the blinds one time and running across the living room with a rolled-up magazine. When I was close enough to see, I realized that it wasn't a brown recluse. I stopped, thought to myself, "that's not a brown recluse," and went back to the chair where I was reading. Only later did I realize that I no longer cared about killing any species except the brown recluse.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

I am getting better at this, however, I will still kill spiders in the house. I dont even live anywhere that anything even remotely dangerous exists! One thing that I feel though, is that I dont think that spiders are of any danger of being extinct or threatened in their species. These things hatch by the hundreds and I doubt very seriously if humans killing a few spiders here and there are going to affect their numbers by much.

Snakes are a much different story!

Chris
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

I agree with you completely about spiders not being in any danger of extinction. In my current house, I also take consolation knowing that a huge majority of the spiders that die at my place fall victim to anoles and geckos rather than to my hand. I appreciate my little lizard friends for doing this exterminator work for me. However, I wish they'd stay out of my snake room because I'm afraid of them giving parasites to my snakes. For their own safety, I also wish they'd stay out of the bathroom in the morning. I've nearly stepped on a few while stumbling to the bathroom in the morning.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.