Afraid of snakes ???

I am not afraid of snakes, lizards etc, but I do rather avoid them. 'Get the stick, kill the bastard" is totaly wrong attitude, as they have their place in ecosystem. treat them with respect.
After all, on outskirts of urban area, we, the people, are often the intruders on their territory!
Just yesterday, we (the family) went to the Animal park, it was nice to see snakes , lizards frogs, even the spiders, behind the glass.
 
RedRibbons said:
You are making judgements of people's behaviour about an animal you seem to know very little about. I know I wouldn't keep one as a pet, and I pay them an awful lot of respect, but other than the atavistic initial reaction to finding one unexpectedly I don't treat them differently than I would treat a vicious feral cat. I'd do my best to keep out of it's striking range and put some distance between us but I won't be panicking, going postal or needing trauma counselling over it.
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I am making no judgements about other people's behavior, except my own. The key words in your statement were, "finding one unexpectedly." That was what I was talking about. I hope you would also not be "panicking, going postal or needing trauma counselling" to get over it. I have not done, nor needed anything of those things either. I hope you never have one in your house, nor that you wake up in your bed with one coiled around you. I hope that for no one.

But, by the same token I would wish people to understand my feelings upon finding one in my home.
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It's been 5 yrs for my daughter and 15 years for my friend in South FL who experienced the same thing, and they're not over it yet, still have nightmares. Both describe it as the most frightened they've ever been. I would have had to move, as someone else posted. It would be a really big deal for me and I don't think I could pull it off emotionally. I would never feel safe again.
 

Yeah, sorry I was a bit cranky yesterday, (or was it the day before, it's gone midnight) but I've had a snake in the house that I never did find, and a 7ft Brown snake with only the fly screen between us when it was trying to find a way in so have some experience.
I've found myself with a foot either side of a Black one and slept at a relative's house out in the bush knowing there was a Brown snake in the ceiling because we'd seen it earlier and 'missed' it and it got into the garage roof which adjoins the house. We could hear it up there panicking the mice. It didn't come down the bedrooms end of the house though, or at least we didn't hear it from down that end.
I've only just now remembered that one, haven't thought of it for years.

Other than being occasional conversation pieces though I never think about it, they certainly didn't keep me awake. I can't understand why people are so traumatised but never mind, all different I guess.
 
Warrigal said:
Red Ribbons, there are actually two kinds of people in the world - those that are panicked at the sight of a snake and those that are fascinated. I'm one of the latter, although I keep my distance and don't take any liberties.

As a child I dispelled the demons of the dark by imagining that my pet python was coiled up on my eiderdown and that he would protect me against all malevolence. It worked. I got over being afraid of the dark thanks to my imaginary pet.
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As I've said before, I'm one who is totally fascinated by EXOTIC snakes, not any of the 3 types of poisonous ones I know of here in the USA. I just have no interest in North American species, and only enjoy seeing the exotic ones in documentaries or at a Serpentarium. We have one considered to be one of the best in the world located in the area we vacation every year. Dean Ripa, world acclaimed Herpetologist, has brought in 1-2 of every venomous snake in the world...most of which he captured himself. He's almost died 3 times from bites and his story was recently featured on tv's FATAL ATTRACTION. He has them exhibited beautifully and they appear to be in their natural habitat, very tropical exhibits, so my family enjoys touring and reading the true stories of personal experiences with them posted under each one. I have never touched one, nor seen one in the wild, and would be scared to death of it -- poisonous or not! The thought of coming face to face with one of them not in captivity...well, I can't bear to even think about it! Nonetheless, LOVE that Serpentarium!

I have to defend those who don't feel the way I do and are terrified at even looking a picture of a snake, cuz most of you know I am spooked by seeing any image of a spider. I can easily understand people feeling the same way about snakes, and I know many who do. We can't help our fears.

And someone was a really bad pet python owner here in Charlotte last wk. A woman found one on her patio....a pretty big one. Same old story, I'm sure, purchased small as a pet and when it's appetite increased from mice to rabbits, they set it free. Happens all the time, but hopefully our winters are too cold for them to thrive, so we'll wait for those that can mosey on up from South Florida's Everglades. The thought of that is terrifying, tho they say it is an excellent possibility! Maybe they'll realize our cooler climate, turn around and head back to the Everglades. Makes me sick, tho, that they don't belong there and are totally destroying the ecology of the Everglades area.
 
Ozarkgal said:
Copperheads, Cottonmouth aka Water Moccasin, which really count as one, Western Diamondback Rattler, Timber Rattler, Western Pygmy Rattler, and Texas Coral Snake, so really six in all.

There is also a multitude of non-venomous species, some which closely mimic the venomous ones in coloring and pattern. Almost impossible to tell the difference unless you get very close up and personal and have the where with all to determine if they have triangle shaped or rounded heads, round pupils or slits, viper holes above the nose holes in the head, etc...and in the case of Coral snakes, can remember the old adage: Red touches yellow, kills a fellow!

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The color pattern on a coral snake is a red touching yellow pattern with black between the red touching yellow band. On snakes that mimic Corals there is a black band separating the red and yellow bands.

Coral Snake Milk Snake
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From this example you can see what I mean by getting close up and personal to tell the difference.
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Thanks for the info. I could have sworn we had only 3 venomous ones in the US, lumping all rattlers into one. I have never heard of the Texas Coral Snake.
 
Coral snakes are only found in the south. Some as far north as the most southern areas of Arkansas,

There are many varieties of rattlesnakes but not all varieties will be found in any certain area.

Copperheads and water moccasins are the most common venomous snakes in my area.
 
rkunsaw said:
Coral snakes are only found in the south. Some as far north as the most southern areas of Arkansas,

There are many varieties of rattlesnakes but not all varieties will be found in any certain area.

Copperheads and water moccasins are the most common venomous snakes in my area.
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Our mountains and rural areas are loaded w/rattlers (didn't know there were so many varieties,) and we've got a lot of copperheads around here. We don't hear so much about the water moccasins, but we've got several enormous lakes very close by, one man made that covers 7 counties, so you know they're there. Never hear anything about coral snakes, thought they were primarily in FL, but what do I know? If you've never been an outdoorsy person, like myself, it's nothing you worry about.
 
Cute. Diamond or really dark Carpet Python? How's the friend?

For those who don't like snakes but are looking anyway, ( ) these things get to 4metres (around 5 yards) and are pretty much totally harmless to humans. They will dine on your pets though or whatever else they can swallow whole.
 
Brother-in-law, banana farmer, had a couple about that size that lived around his house, packing sheds and garage. The garage had no ceiling and it was not uncommon to find them semi-coiled in the rafters. DROP SNAKES !!!! ;)

 
With you on jellyfish Warri, those things are horrible to bump into to, even the harmless ones.
Wouldn't dream of swimming anywhere near where the box jellies etc hang out and bluebottles (man-o-wars) would clear the surf quicker than a shark call when I used to swim around here.
 
I thought the song was cute, but there were those darned spiders!!! I can take anything but those godawful creatures...well, those and Palmetto Bugs! My two biggest frights, as I have zero exposure to anything else.
 
While we're at it, there's a big kerfuffle on about culling sharks again as the score last week was Sharks 2 - Tourists 0. 2 in a week sounds a bit dire until someone was smart enough to compare the long term average of around 1 shark fatality per 2.5 years to that of av.230 p.a. who drown in the surf while swimming or rockfishing.

If I could get a guarantee that I'd only die of snake, spider or shark bite I reckon I'd be around for another century or two at least.
 
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