Very random question: for "snakeaphobics"

It's a good question!

I always wanted a corn snake growing up but my father is DEATHLY afraid of them. I've never understood that, I'd be freaked out by an anaconda, but garter snakes are cute!!! Hubby's not that big on snakes either, so a pet garter maybe all I ever get

I am one of the people with an unreasonable fear of snakes. I grew up on a farm in Kansas so I seen them on a regular basis and I don't know where the fear comes from. The picture makes me feel a little nervous but thats my problem. I wish I didn't have the fear of snakes that I have. My mother was deathly afraid of them maybe that's where I got it from.

I'm not wild about close encounters with anything but a garter snake, but so many snakes are really beautiful. I love looking at PICTURES of them!

But I'm with everyone else - keep your avatar - and if someone is so afraid of snakes they won't open your thread because of it - well - that's their choice. If they don't want to turn avatars off - it's easy enough to scroll the page down so the post can be read without seeing the avatar.

You avatar doesn't bother me because I don't focus on it, when I read your posts I don't actually stare at it. But when I did look at it just now it kinda creeped me out for a second. But that would only happen if I choose to look at it for a long time and imagine the snake being close to me lol..

I am afraid of snakes and your avatar does not bother me. Pictures of them don't bother me and I even let my 2 yr old touch one at the Zoo. However, I do not like them. I have had several close encounters with poisonous snakes so I just try to avoid them altogether.

If I had my druthers I'd rather you use a pic of one of your kits as your avatar. But, it's your avatar so keep it.

well noone is screaming at me, so that is a good thing

I change my avatar every now and then.... sometimes its kitty, sometimes snakies.... but never a snake with a cat...that just would not be safe.

Thanks for the input



oh, and to answer the question: Yes I have been bitten..... several times. But I do my best to avoid situations where I might be bitten.

One bite happened during a "show and tell". One of my friends didn't listen to me and stuck her hand out in front of her as she's coming towards the snake in my arms....she scared the poo outta the snake who coiled, I stuck my other hand in front so I could get the bite as opposed to my friend. Not the snakes fault.... I'd be leary too if someone came rushing towards me with their hand out to my face.

Other bites were from hatchlings, and younger snakes. It's their fear response, and sometimes, feeding response if they are hungry.

(both my daughters have been bitten as well....by baby cornsnakes... seriously, you can't hardly feel it. Its actually kinda funny to watch this little pencil sized snake try to eat your finger )

I was bit by a cat once. I'll tell ya, I would rather repeated bitings from my snakes than another serious bite from a cat

I love snakes. I have owned several and "rescued" and re-located some.

No, your avatar doesn't bother me.

I did go to nursing school with someone who was like your friend. She couldn't even look at or touch a magazine that had a snake picture on it.

I am afraid of snakes, but if they are in picture form or behind glass where they can't get to me, I'm ok with them. But I wouldn't be in a room with one that is loose!!!!

That being said. Anyone who is bothered by it can simply block it using their adblock feature of their web browser. In Mozilla-Firefox all they have to do is click on the image and pick "adblock image" and they won't see the image ever again so long as you don't change where it's hosted. I adblock the occasional sig/avatar if it's a garishly bothersome animation. I am a member of an art site and had to block someone's sig because it was an animation that was so neon bright and flashed so fast that I thought I was going to have a seizure from looking at it.

That doesn't seem to work with avatars. I tried it on one just to test and it only gives you the option to block images from tcs.com which I wouldn't want to do! It seems to work with sigs, blocking just the particular site they are hosted at though.

SL: What kind of food do your snakes eat? Do they play with each other? I'm clueless

Actually it does bother me but I never would've mentioned it, since you asked tho... I try to just ignore it.

I like snakes I handled a few in my lifetime. The poisonous ones scare me a bit but that is natural.

Originally Posted by c1atsite

SL: What kind of food do your snakes eat? Do they play with each other? I'm clueless

Click to expand...

I have a few posts in the Cats and Other Animals forum, that answer most of those questions....

I'm trying not to digress from the original topic of this thread, otherwise it will be more suited for the other forum.

(short answer tho: they eat mice and rats, and no they do not play with each other unless I'm putting a male and female in to mate )

I have a friend who is so terrified of snakes that even a picture of one drives him over the edge. His room mate used to tease him sometimes by laying a picture of a snake on the floor at his bedroom door, and he couldn't even push the picture away to walk thru that door.

So if people are highly phobic, yes it will bother them. Personally, snakes give me the willies (you remember the day I found one in my garden and PM'd you frantically about it), but I still respect them for their value in life. My preference is always a cat picture over any other animal, but that is me.

I think your avatar is beautiful, but I am not afraid of snakes, so I really don't count. A spider now, that's a horse of a different color....

Here in the user CP you have the option of blocking avatars: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/pro...do=editoptions

It doesn't bother me at all, Chris

I'm not a huge fan of snakes but they fascinate me.

I'm afraid but I'm not repulsed by them. I can appreciate their beauty... i just don't want to be in the same room with one unless its for instance... in a cage.

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I know that some people have extreme fears of snakes. I had a friend in one of my college courses who could not be in the room when I did my powerpoint presentation on reptiles due to the snake pics.

I got thinking..... and was wondering for the people on here that may be afraid of snakes:

Does my avatar bother you???

Click to expand...

To be honest- I'm TERRIFIED of snakes. Have been since I was a young kid who got bitten by a snake BUT don't have any memory of it.

Here's what my parents told me- we were out on a picnic and my brother found a snake and brought it over to show us. I reached out to touch it on the head, it bit one of my fingers, my brother panicked and pulled the snake away. The problem was that the fangs were still in the finger so my finger got ripped up pretty good. I am now 38 and still have scars on my finger from that. Parents took me to the hospital along with the snake. After a few hours of dithering from a doctor who was too scared to get the snake to bite a test thingie to identify if it was poisonous, another doctor walked in and asked what was going on. After he got the explanation, he told the first doctor that the snake wasn't poisonous because if it was, I'd be dead by then. YIKES. Could you believe that??

About 10 years later, i was at a birthday party and the birthday girl was showing us her new pet which was a snake. I heard about the snake and was really excited to see and touch but the minute I saw the snake, I started screaming my head off and freaking out. I just couldn't explain why. My mom was called to come get me since I couldn't calm down and that's when she told me what had happened.

About two weeks ago, I was in Petsmart waiting in line to buy some cat food and as I looked behind me in the line, I realized a teenager girl was holding a SNAKE with her parents! I tried to quietly move away from her without making a scene but couldn't leave since I hadn't paid yet. Unfortunately, she kept moving closer to me in the line. I am ASHAMED to say that I finally lost it and yelled at her to get that snake away from me ASAP. I was literally shaking and couldn't wait to get out of the store. It was a pretty big scene since 3 workers were trying to calm me down. The poor girl didn't mean to bother me- she didn't know I was scared of snakes but I just couldn't take having that snake that close to me. Rationally, I KNEW that snake was harmless but...

To answer your question, yes, your avator does bother me BUT I try not to look at the picture since it's YOUR avator.

I'm not really scared of snakes, I just don't want one for a pet. My husband on the other hand is a snake person. Many, many years ago he was in a herpatology club and they would go out and catch rattle snakes in colorado and milk them for their venom. He did get bit on his thumb once, but the fang curled by his thumb nail and he didn't get poisoned. Yikes. He also had a big boa. I wouldn't want to feed a snake live little animals. I would have a rodent rescue going on in my house. It's bad enough when the cats catch a mouse!

He has rescued bull snakes off the road in nebraska and relocated them so they didn't get killed.

I think your Avatar has a beautiful snake on it!!!!