Why are people afraid of snakes?

[naiek]

Love snakes, kept them as pets for most of my life; wanted to be a herpetologist since I was young. An attempt to answer the original question: I think it has to do with some of the being venomous most and people not knowing which is which. Also, I think it has to do with them being predators, not the kind where you give them a bowl of kibble or anything else not resembling another living animal, you have to give it the whole animal, and quite often alive.

 

[Shamrock01]

Now that's a snake. Why is he in your possession?

I rescue wild snakes in our area and aspecially at work, normally though I release them the same day or the following if they were cuaght at night, unless they are injured or its too cold, in which case the snake will only be released when healthy and the weather favours it. This one is busy shedding, so he'll be released after the shed and a "free" meal.

 

[pjj2ba]

I think the fear of snakes is instinctual. My cat is afraid of anything that is vaguely snake shaped - and this cat has never seen a snake! (Not that I'm calling anyone a p***y here ). A piece of string is fine, but anything that is say thicker than your pinky is given a look of suspicion and a wide bearth. I got some nasty scratches once trying to prove to him that the cheap green plastic lei was nothing to be feared

 

[m_c_zero]

wanted to be a herpetologist since I was young

That is not what I would have guessed that was...

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Would you go so far as to say you herpetologize until you derpetologize?

 

[beaksnbeer]

Think the really big problem people have with snake is the ability to move in any direction so quickly. I have no problems with anything except RATS lapdog of EVIL!!! bbuurrrhhh

 

[billybryson54]

When I was a child, I would have nightmares about snakes (Rattlesnakes, to be more specific). I would be in some random-ass location that I wouldn't ever be on a normal day, and they would chase after me. No matter how fast I ran, they would always catch me and bite me. Didn't matter if I locked myself in a car, running on the street, Just didn't matter. Every single time they would find a way to get into wherever I was, chase me down, and get me. That alone caused me some serious childhood trauma. Sounds strange I know, but I used to have those dreams quite frequently. Why I ever had those dreams to begin with, I have absolutely no idea. Funny thing? I've never once seen a rattlesnake in person. Not even in a cage in the pet store or the zoo, and certainly not in the wild...but from my childhood experience alone, I know that if I ever DID see one, I would probably freeze in fear.

 

[jesserizzo]

I think the fear of snakes is instinctual.

I think you got it. Millions of years of evolution, non snake fearing people have been slowly killed off, by snakes.

 

[LandoLincoln]

When I was a child, I would have nightmares about snakes (Rattlesnakes, to be more specific). I would be in some random-ass location that I wouldn't ever be on a normal day, and they would chase after me. No matter how fast I ran, they would always catch me and bite me. Didn't matter if I locked myself in a car, running on the street, Just didn't matter. Every single time they would find a way to get into wherever I was, chase me down, and get me. That alone caused me some serious childhood trauma. Sounds strange I know, but I used to have those dreams quite frequently. Why I ever had those dreams to begin with, I have absolutely no idea. Funny thing? I've never once seen a rattlesnake in person. Not even in a cage in the pet store or the zoo, and certainly not in the wild...but from my childhood experience alone, I know that if I ever DID see one, I would probably freeze in fear.

Maybe you should go to a zoo and see one in person and see that they're not nearly as scary as they are in your imagination.

 

[TxBrew]

Why are people afraid of snakes?

Because they are snakes.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Night falls and I'm taken by sleep
Hot night air blows up balloons in my dreams
Ding-dong rings the bell
Something's at the door
So I put on my slippers
And I creep across the floor

For the door from hence I heard
Another ding-dong
I peep through the door hole
But something's very wrong
As on my porch
There are thousands of snakes
Ready to strike
I feel queasy and
My knees start to shake

My perilous fate
I see no escape as serpents lay seige
To my country estate
The Devil must have opened Hell's gate
and called up millions of snakes
To take me from this place

Big ones Little ones
Fat ones Skinny ones
Protect me from their venomous drug
That springs from the needles of fangs
Attacked by Snakes

By Snakes
So many snakes
You could fill the Great Lakes
With snakes
Ha ha ha run
I try to hide
But snake bites on my face testify
I've been attacked by snakes

By snakes so many snakes
It would take a thousand crates
To contain the snakes after me
I'd rather be burned at the stake
Than be attacked by snakes

Welcome to my world
Or should I say this land of snakes
Serpents lie and wait
At every take my knees quake
As my life these snakes invade
Snake invaders show their fangs
On the snake parade

My perilous fate
I see no escape
As my family prays and waits
I fight them off with
Shovels and rakes and
Bats and phones
But I just can't seem
To shake these bones
That slither from the dark
To destroy my home

[Chorus]

One snake, Two snakes
Are there any more?
There's two more
Knocking at my door...

 

[b-boy]

I'm told guinae pigs are tasty .

I can attest to this.

I had them in Peru. It is their national dish. It's considered quite the delicacy. We had to contact the restaurant in Cusco 4 hours before we arrived so they had time to prepare it.

 

[billybryson54]

Maybe you should go to a zoo and see one in person and see that they're not nearly as scary as they are in your imagination.

I'm sure sometime in my life I'll run into one, whether I want to or not. I mean, I know that they aren't complete jerks who won't bite unless provoked(For the most part) but those dreams are something that still stick with me to this day. I wouldn't go so far as to say I have a phobia of snakes in general, though. Other snakes I don't seem to mind too much. I don't know, I'm a weird one I guess. Haha.

 

[BobbiLynn]

I'm a weird one I guess. Haha.

When I was a kid, I liked to look for snakes, then I would be very still and lay my arm down across their path, so I could feel how it felt running across my skin. Or sometimes just the palm of my hand, or the back or my hand. I liked to see how they felt crawling across different body parts.

No, I think I am the weird one. Especially since now, I am kind of afraid of them. My childhood fearlessness has faded.

 

[BobbiLynn]

A four foot long, thick, white oak snake on my porch

Kind of odd I wrote this a while back, a 4.25 foot white oak was on my porch eating my chicks not long ago, a month ago maybe? I wonder if it was the same one. It somehow got into the coop and ate 3 chicks and left one dead. Hubby freaked out, I grabbed it around the back of it's head, so it couldn't try to bite me and told hubby grab a trash bag, some lawn/garden trash bags happened to be sitting nearby. I was very, very scared but I didn't have a choice. My fearless hubby was freaking out, had to do something. Guess I called upon my inner child.

Hubby promised he would take it to a nice far away place to live in peace, but later he told me the exact measurements of it, 4.25 feet. I know he did not measure it live.

 

[wolfstar]

We have plenty of snakes around here, rattlers and other not so dangerous ones. They just need respect and space is all, they are part of the ecosystem...an important part.

I help out at an exotics animal hospital in Mesa, handling a lot of snakes (and lizards, birds, exotic mammals, etc). Snakes don't appeal to me as pets, but handled and cared for properly, they are no more dangerous than a Hamster...

 

[Schlomo]

So SWMBO and i went fishing this last weekend and hiked down to a little dock. She is terrified of snakes, and i assured her we would be fine. Low and behold we are fishing and a large water snake comes streaking accross the water right toward the dock. She freezes, clenches everything, and about passes out, so i swatted the snake with my fishing pole and it went away.

Not sure why they scare her so much, but hey.