people and snakes are a trip

[backwoodsbob]

My wife just called me freaking about a snake at her friends apartment.They were both screaming for me to come kill it.

Turns out it was a 6 inch garter snake.I caught it and thought about making it a pet but took it to the edge of the woods and turned it loose.

I don't get the reflexive fear of snakes...spiders I get...but not snakes

[mgc1961]

1. I read ya.

I used to keep snakes as a boy. I learned the basics of identifying the poisonous ones and made my own snake stick to catch 'em.

[RebelOne]

3. I love snakes. I had two boa constrictors a few years ago.

They are great pets. They don't bark or shit on the carpet. But they got so big and wanted more than just rats to eat. I donated them to the Miami-Dade College for the hands-on program for kids.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I like snakes. They are interesting animals.

[PasadenaTrudy]

4. Snakes are cool!

My first snake was a garter snake when I was about 10. Had boas, pythons, and a king snake when I got older. I was one of the weird girls: hated dolls, loved reptiles and amphibians

[BlancheSplanchnik]

14. me too....but I found that snakes are boring pets

for me, anyway. But I loved my toads!!!! They're the best! And you used to be able to get pet horned toads, which are adorable. Thy're like tiny bearded dragons, but fat.

[PasadenaTrudy]

18. I had a horned toad, too!

Salamanders made cute pets as did tadpoles. We called them pollywogs back in the day. Then it was fun watching them turn into frogs. Wonder how many kids get to experience this anymore?

[a la izquierda]

5. Snakes rock.

Spiders, if they remain outside, are fine.

[backwoodsbob]

6. same here

we just have some BIG spiders in Charleston...Will be back in virginia Friday so all is good

[grasswire]

7. I am a snake-o-phobe.

Almost didn't open this thread, as I can't look at pics of them. And I prolly won't check back in case someone here puts a pic up.

My brother used to chase me around the house with an illustration in a book of Medusa, the figure with snakes for hair. I was four or five years old.

It's a phobia.

[Locut0s]

8. Snakes, spiders, bees, wasps, most 'creepy crawlies'...

I don't have much of an issue with. The only times they creep me out are when there is some type of mass movement. Dozens or hundreds of individuals moving as one, or congregating in the same area. Things like bugs nests, tent caterpillars, masses of daddy long legs, etc.

[nolabear]

9. I hav always liked snakes. Palmetto bugs, now...

[backwoodsbob]

10. I

HATE PALMETTO BUGS!!!!

When I realized they can fly is when I made it my mission to kill every Palmetto Bug I see

[backwoodsbob]

11. oh and I saw my first

tower ant the other day....bigass scary ants they are

[nolabear]

13. Are tower ants like fire ants? Big, termite-mound building fire ants?

I'd forgotten about what fun fire ants are until I got bit for the first time in years not too long ago. It's left a fine scar.

[nolabear]

12. Amen to that. I had some childhood experiences that left m scarred for life!

I get the willies just posting about them.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. I hate snakes

Garter snakes I can tolerate because they're harmless. But I hate Burmese pythons that have taken over the Everglades. I hate rattlers and copperheads and coral snakes and water moccasins and vipers and asps and cobras and bushmasters because their bite can cause serious problems. And they look creepy.

[NuclearDem]

16. Snakes I can handle.

Wasps and hornets, or any flying insect with a stinger for that matter, is a different issue.

[Flaxbee]

17. I don't understand the hatred of snakes OR spiders. Respect, most definitely. Fear? Not so much

unless you accidentally blunder across a rattler or a big spider's web or live in Australia...

I find both spiders and snakes to be completely fascinating. I have no control of my flailing limbs if a spider is on me - it's such a reflex I can barely control it - but I will NOT kill unless it's of the very damaging kind - not just a sore spot if you're bitten, but serious damage if you're bitten (black widows, brown recluses). And hey, if the black widow is minding its own business in the wilderness, who am I to kill it? It's serving a purpose, doing its thing, and if it isn't in someone's home or garage, it gets a pass.

Wouldn't kill a snake, either - not even if it's poisonous - unless I had to do so to save the life of a human or pet. These creatures have evolved to have a very important place in our ecosystem and human phobias shouldn't be the death knell for them.

So there.