Saturday, June 18, 2011

Snakes Are Not So Bad

I am not afraid of snakes.

You read that right.

I am a girl and I am not afraid of snakes.

I will not kill a snake, unless it is poisonous and in my yard. Maybe not even then. My policy--they go their way, and I go mine. Everyone is happy, and nobody dies.

Throw a snake into the mix, anywhere, anytime, and people lose their minds. Except in Sweetwater, Texas, where they have that Rattlesnake Roundup yearly for the tourists.

The one that ends up suffering is the snake. Odds are good that the snake wants to leave the scene when a human shows up, because snakes see us as a threat. Since some of us lose our minds and act like idiots around them by trying to kill them, the snakes are right to fear us.

Snakes serve a purpose, believe it or not. They kill and eat mice, rats, and other critters which would otherwise explode in population. Mice and rats can carry various diseases that are harmful to people, in addition to getting into our homes and eating our food. The snakes are doing us a favor by taking care of them before they get into our house. Just the thought of a mouse or a rat in the house gives me the heebie-jeebies, even though I know that my cats would immediately locate and kill it. I don't want to have to get blood and rat guts out of the carpet.

I am not afraid of snakes. However, my husband is terrified of them. Frozen in his tracks, eyes bulging, heart pumping, hyperventilating--just plain scared. There's no rhyme or reason for his fear--I have the same initial reaction to cockroaches.

It's not the fear. It's the overreaction that bothers me.

The best antidote to fear is knowledge. Learn what kinds of snakes live in your area and what they look like. Learn how likely you are to see a particular kind of snake. I have only seen ONE poisonous snake in my entire life, for instance. (I imagine that if I lived on a farm or in the woods, I would see more, but I am a city chick.)

If you do see a poisonous snake, don't shoot it. Nobody has good aim when they are screaming their head off. Don't try to catch it, because you'll end up getting bitten, and anti-venom is expensive. Call animal control. They have people specially trained to handle these situations without getting bitten.

8 comments:

  1. Good thoughts. I don't have anything against snakes either. Never had.

    Anything that has more than 4 legs though...

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  2. I agree completely! I'm not scared of snakes either...spiders are a different story though. And I probably do overreact to them in a major way. I need to do my research and see which spiders may bring me harm and try to let the others just be.

    Stopping by from Crazed Fan Weekend Hop!

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  3. It's the human snakes that bug me XXX

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  4. I really don't believe in killing anything except rodents. If a rodent gets in my house my first instinct is destroy. However, my sister, who is not afraid of rodents comes over, traps it, and releases it. So everyone is happy.

    Found your wonderful blog on blog hop and I am now a follower.

    http://imsovintage.blogspot.com/

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  5. Do you really think that knowledge will kill all fears? Some, certainly, but like with snakes or spiders it's usually a phobia involved... an irrational fear, that doesn't have to do with anything really (more than perhaps a bad childhood experience)... I'm scared of spiders if they are big, and heights.. learning to live with it. I probably would be scared of poisonous snakes.. which I see is quite sound... same thing that makes you not touch a hot stove. I found you on the Crazed weekend blog hop.

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  6. Ok... but I'm still afraid of snakes.
    ~ Mona : )

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  7. Great advice. I think some people don't use common sense when it comes to stuff like this. I am afraid of some animals because they are dangerous but I won't go out of my way to be where they dwell if I can avoid it.

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  8. I am not afraid of snakes either. Cockroaches are a different story. I could literally run into a brick wall trying to get away from them. I don't want to kill them either, I just don't want them near me or especially to touch me! I saw you on Follow Friday 40 and Over and decided to stop by and follow you. I hope you will stop by my blog and have a look around http://talesfrommyjournal.blogspot.com I can be found in facebook too http://www.facebook.com/DeniseMartin.LillaRose and twitter @DeniseLillaRose If you like/follow me there I will do the same for you. When you stop by my blog, please check out my kind of fashion (hair jewelry).

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