fear of snakes!

[leviathan]

no i do not have a fear of snakes, but my boss has a mate who recently bought a coastal to over come his intense fear of snakes, pretty cool ay?
apparently he has it in his room and for the first week wouldnt sleep in his room( i assume his wife may have been not happy or maybe happy with that)
but now he is handling it and is doing well.
anyone else have a similar story of people taking on fears like that?

 

[xxMelissaxx]

I can think of much better ways to overcome such fear without actually becoming solely responsible for the care of an animal that you're scared of...

 

[hornet]

agreed, i hate it when people buy animals when they dont actually have an interest in them or in cases like this, have a fear of them. Yes some may end up being properly cared from but alot of the time i'd say if they dont have the interest the animal will not get the treatment it deserves

 

[Chuckface01]

same with above. who knows what will happen to that coastal now.

 

[Kristy_07]

Overcoming a fear is a pretty powerful thing. The guy could end up bonding with it enormously. Could end up being the best looked-after coastal, ever

 

[big_head]

I always found snakes very interesting, and intriguing, but at the same time i had a fear of them. It wasn't at the point where i couldn't be in the same room or anything, but i was far from comfortable with snakes. Now, i have no problem with them and have quite a few.
It is possible to have an interest in something, while at the same time having a fear of it. Instead of judging the guy as a irresponsible pet owner, without knowing him, i wish him luck and hope everything works out for him and the snake!

 

[beatlloydy]

I agree with BIG_HEAD about having a fear or respect for snakes but still wanting to own them. I guess this is distinctly different from a phobia. A phobia generally brings out irrational behaviour from uncontrolled crying, sweating etc. Whereas fear or respect for snakes may make someone a little nervous around them. My brother doesnt like touching them but he doesnt have a phobia..similarly my wife.

I am personally a little fearful/respectful around all my snakes...Its not like I've been bitten heaps of times (only twice early on when temps were accidentally down and my first darwin climbed behind the old background and I had to move him). However, as has been said here many times, snakes are not the sort of creatures that will snuggle up to go and start purring..they will best case accept us handling them.

Sometimes, particularly with larger pythons and especially elapids a fear is good...like a sportsman before a game, if you are not nervous or have a little fear of the outcome you may stuff up.

 

[MDSTIM]

Some good points by both bighead and beatlloydy above....but my first thought is that seemed to be a very knee jerk reaction to beat your phobia, and a gentler approach may have been better. A very good outcome though if he now handles and cares for the snake.
I think one of the key points with your snakes is "respect", (as mentioned above), and learning to read your snakes is important as they are all individuals and all have good and bad days, (and will reduce the number of times you get tagged).

 

[The_Dreaded_Pets]

i havnt read all of these but my gf has held larg snakes at the zoo ect but is scared sh**less of my 3ft jungle lol.

however to get over her fear she has told me to buy some hatchling spotteds this season so she can work with something really tiny and get used to them as they grow along with her piece of mind

 

[Fuscus]

. pretty cool ay?

yep very cool, has he attempted to feed it yet?

 

[jamesbecker]

iv always been interested in herps, owned a few blue tounges and beardies before i got my first python .. in which was uncomfortable holding but enjoyed looking after and watching .. no problem with holding snakes now 2 years after, and now have a couple snakes in getting into snakes though, im now terrified of spiders ... will literally run out of a room if a big huntsman is in it

 

[leviathan]

asked my boss today and yes he has fed it twice now

 

[leviathan]

thought i may add before i get a ton of people saying how stupid this is that hes wife has previously done all the feeding etc.
so yes the snake is healthy and has a regular feeding pattern

 

[Snakewoman]

I always found snakes very interesting, and intriguing, but at the same time i had a fear of them. It wasn't at the point where i couldn't be in the same room or anything, but i was far from comfortable with snakes. Now, i have no problem with them and have quite a few. It is possible to have an interest in something, while at the same time having a fear of it.

I went through a similar experience. My first snake was a spotted python, and when I first brought her home I wasn't scared of her, but after she'd bitten me a few times (feeding response bites) I became frightened of her. I felt stupid because it didn't hurt much, but it still scared me. I got to the point where I would shake when I held her because the thought of being bitten was scary.

I almost gave up on snakes altogether, but I kept coming on this site and reading things, and my love for snakes only got stronger. I slowly but surely got over my fear and I purchased a 7 month old MD. He has been a real help to me with learning how to handle snakes and read their behavior. The Murray is very placid, but he has bitten a few times, which was my fault.

I gained a lot of confidence by dealing with the Murray, and that lead to me getting more snakes. I learned how to deal with a young scared Bredli when I bought her at 8 weeks... I didn't know how to deal with her at the start, but I read information on here about the best ways to handled scared juveniles, and I was able to pick up a few tricks on my own. If you really have a passion for it I believe you can overcome the fear, but it's best to keep SOME fear, because otherwise you'll become overconfident which usually leads to you not treating the snake with the respect it deserves... which may well lead to a nasty bite. Getting a baby snake is a great way to start, like other people on here say, your confidence grows as the snake grows.

 

[snakeluvver]

im now terrified of spiders ... will literally run out of a room if a big huntsman is in it

same, although for some ridiculous reason I sorta want one as a pet... hehe.

 

[GeckoJosh]

I have always found snakes interesting, and since joining this site and owning other reptiles I was shown their beauty even more.
I have also had a massive fear of snakes since I was young, I didn't let that stop me and bought one anyway and used it to get over my fear.
Now I will happily handle any non venomous snake without hesitation, I couldn't get within a metre of them before

 

[giggle]

I had an enormous fear of spiders. I over came it by keeping them as pets. My fear is gone and spiders make facinating pets. I see nothing wrong with it provided he is a sensible person who wont treat the animal like a fashion accessory.

 

[alexis]

i have a fear of spiders and have always thought about having one as a pet to get over my fear as there fascinating creatures may grow to love it like my snakes who knows.