people hate snakes

[mikep]

how come so many people hate snakes i mean there is all of us who don't but so many people do. i got to a boarding school and allt he country people talk about how they shoot them and crap why

[Oxyuranus microlepid]

because most people see em as a deadly danger, something to be eradicated, terrible creatures of death.

[bredli84]

the same people would probably be horrified if u told them u went to asia and shot a tiger.
where is the logic?

[pythoness]

Snakes were portrayed as evil by the modern dominating religion ie. eve and the serpent.
before that time snakes were considered great oracles of the delphians and grecian beliefs. in egypt they were considered the greatest of healers and their venom was harvested for medicine there over 5 thousand years bc.

people have been afraid of snakes evil for over 2000 years, and thats alot of social conditioning to overcome for joe public.
also the fact that some of them are venomous and can kill you heheh

Not starting a religious war, merely stating historical evidence

[cris]

Also out in the sticks you rarely see anything but deadly and often aggresive snake, they dont appreciate them the same way we do, so why shouldnt they shoot them, whats in it for them apart from an added risk of having deadly snakes around? the answer is nothing if they dont learn to like our wildlife.

[dragons75]

Pepole are scared of snakes and every time there is an incident were someones bitten very few actual facts are released by the media as to what actually occured. They show images of aggresive reptiles that only fuel the fire.I mentioned in a thread last night that a co worker was telling pepole that childrens pythons were the most venemous snakes in the world.The pepole he was telling this to were horrified and scared that a snake may track them down and kill them untill i stated some facts. More education is needed desperatley not only to save innocent snakes but the fools who try and kill or catch them

[bylo]

education is the key here

[Magpie]

Originally Posted by pythoness

Snakes were portrayed as evil by the modern dominating religion ie. eve and the serpent.
before that time snakes were considered great oracles of the delphians and grecian beliefs. in egypt they were considered the greatest of healers and their venom was harvested for medicine there over 5 thousand years bc.

people have been afraid of snakes evil for over 2000 years, and thats alot of social conditioning to overcome for joe public.
also the fact that some of them are venomous and can kill you heheh

Not starting a religious war, merely stating historical evidence

Come of the grass...
Most tribal people have a fear of snakes in every day life, even if they are portrayed as gods or forces of good in their legends.
Think about it... people are afraid of sharks? Is that religions fault too?
People are afraid of snakes because they do not understand them. All they know is that snakes can be deadly (from what they are told, most snakes are deadly). Snakes can be around and you won't know it, they're small and they hide and if you tread on a snake, good chance it will bite you.
That is why they fear them and stories of snakes chasing people / tractors don't help.

[moosenoose]

Originally Posted by bylo

education is the key here

Personally I think we'd run out of snakes before that ever happens

People in general just seem to have that primative & ingrained dislike for snakes, it comes naturally to them - I guess it's hard to believe, but also harder to ignore that we as hobbyists and passionate about these particular animals, will just have to take in our stride and deal with the fact that we are more evolved mentally than some My old man hates snakes, killed a clutch of 10 RBBS with a shovel one year - he has the mentality of a babboon when it comes to these things!! (and yes, he heard about it!)

[Jsnakes77]

well i know for a fact that my mother in law was bitten by a snake an rushed to hospital so now when she comes over well lets just say she wont even enter the house. most ppl have some kinda experience with a snake that scares them to death so thats why they are scared of snakes

when my mother inlaw saw the snake (mined u it was a diamond python) the first thing she did was yell at me and my partner an say "how can u keep snakes when u have kids"
"what happens if it bites the kids they will die"
see straight away she thought it was a deadly...

but the kids well they love there snakes god help mum when she comes over only to see the snake around the kids necks lmao

[krissy78]

it is so true education is the key... I am taking my 2 coastals and a diamond to my kids school to show the kids in my kids classes in a couple of weeks after my female has finished shedding and I have put together a sheet of information for the kids to take home. I have not gone over the top just a bit about pythons, what they eat, how they shed how big they get etc. I have also put in there that my pythons are gentle because they have been handled from small and they do not bite for this reason. I have also told them that pythons are not venomous and will only bite if they feel afraid or if they think you are food. I have warned kids of the dangers of approaching a snake in the wild and put phone numbers on the sheet for parents to call in case they find snakes on or around their property. At the very bottom of the page I have asked ppl to call these numbers instead of trying to kill these snakes themselves. Hopefully ppl will realise that you don't have to kill snakes if you are afraid of them.

[kelly]

I find that most people just hate the "idea" of snakes.
Alot of my friends thought it was really gross that I had a snake but when they see the little cutie they think it's great

[Mystery]

I have tried to educate and it just seems to be a waste of time. I have a shop neighbour who lives on acreage - he tells me about some awesome reps he has on his property. His latest story today was, "we had a snake on our property yesterday - it was down a hole getting a frog".
So what does the ......head do - even though he had a fair idea it wasn't venomous - poured concrete down the hole!!!!!!!!! I have tried and tried to educate him - even given him the phone number of snake catchers - he doesn't want to know about it.

[serpenttongue]

Originally Posted by mikep

how come so many people hate snakes i mean there is all of us who don't but so many people do. i got to a boarding school and allt he country people talk about how they shoot them and crap why

They're either uneducated or ignorant (perhaps excluding those on farms who need to keep the snakes away). Either way, i'm glad i'm not one of them.

I was talking to a co-worker today who went hunting with his mates at Mudgee. They got too close to a large Lacey which puffed up and hissed at them so they shot it dead and then took photos of themselves holding it up by the tail.

They knew very well that i keep Lacies and am obsessed with reptiles and i'd had many in-depth conversations with them about what to do if you come across goannas or snakes in the wild, but they chose to ignore my advise on this.

I think the word "snake" conjures up a certain image to non-herpers which they find creepy. When i have shown pythons to some snake-haters they are actually surprised that the pythons dont really look like the image they had stuck in their heads, but in fact rather pleasant looking. And that they're not cold and slimey.

[krooza]

Anything that keeps the mother-in-law away can only be a good thing....