fear of snakes

aland · #1 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 06:21 PM

I have just dropped on a thread and found another person afraid of snakes, I have been searching for people with the same phobia and would like to hear of any more, also from members that like them, photos would be nice, it is a fear i would love to beat if possible, I am sixty eight years old and feel silly about this, I think talking might help a little, there are snakes not to far from us in both directions, aland.

Dogghound · #2 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 06:25 PM

My Ex girlfriend had a massive fear of snakes, she just had to go

. What is it that you dont like about them how they move? the fear of being bitten?

aland · #3 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 07:05 PM

That was a quick response, I cannot answer that, sounds silly it may be the way they move or look and certainly a fear of being bitten, I fished the same gravel Pitt for years sat there till midnight by my self, then one day my wife went for a wee!! behind a bush she frightened me that much it is unbelievable a stranger came running and then two more snakes came straight across the Pitt to wards me, they may have been after the maggots or some bait anglers use, We both fell over one another trying to pack our gear up, we have never been fishing since, but both my grandson ten, and grandaughter twelve have been with me to have a look believe it or not they walked in front am i a coward or what, the grass snakes were over four feet and the man that came running said they get bigger there, aland.

Dogghound · #4 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 07:10 PM

I think the thing to remember is snakes a extremely unlikely to approach you they will always look to get away. Except the adder our other two native snake species are harmless despite grass snakes in particular being able to grow quite big. They are one of them things that you dont encounter to much and shouldnt let the fear get in your way. They are highly unlikely to come close to a human to get fishing bait. Its very easy for me to say but in my opinion the more you confront or learn about a phobia like this the less of a problem it becomes. You get immune to it in a way. Perhaps you could go to a reptile house and watch them or even try touching one, they are quite amazing yet very calm and placid.

aland · #5 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 07:26 PM

The strange thing about my fears of different things is that i go to great lengths to protect them not snakes but other things such as spiders etc, I get very protective when i see some one about to harm any thing that i fear, this seems strange, and i think i would be the same over snakes, for instance i found a adder on the road and made sure it was not run over, we kept the windows up, doors locked and waited until it was safe, my wife was hysterical, aland.

Dogghound · #6 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 07:30 PM

In some phobia's some people start to hate what they fear atleast you show it respect. It will be interesting to see if other people that are/were scared of snakes have any ways to reduce you phobias affect.

aland · #7 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 08:08 PM

I think that what has had a huge effect on my life is to many pets, my two sons and daughter have lots of pets at their homes like us, and any type of cruelty or death to wild animals gets to us the same as pets, I would love to be able to go near snakes but freeze up even looking thrue glass at them, I could never harm them, aland.

cloud 9 · #8 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 08:44 PM

Re: fear of snakes

I too suffer from this phobia but ironically am fascinated by snakes (albeit from a safe distance or behind glass !!) . I live and work in the country but I will purposely avoid areas that look "snakey" but if I have to venture forth I will stamp my feet on a regular basis so there are no nasty suprises.
My fear is purely about being bitten and could never ever envisage living anywhere there are dangerous species.

Bullseye · #9 (**permalink**) 24-06-2009, 09:05 PM

My wife was always afraid of them until our eldest got one,she took a week or so to get the courage to touch it.She eventually ended up handling it,saying the usual stuff "Oh,it's not cold or slimey" etc,etc..She then considered getting a large snake for herself,it all went a bit "Fruedian" from there !

And if anyone says Grass snakes don't get to 4ft plus,they do I've seen them that big myself,in Southern Europe they can get to 7ft !.

aland · #10 (**permalink**) 25-06-2009, 06:27 PM

Hi, cloud nine, glad to hear from you, I was expecting a good response but it is early days yet, these fears do seem silly to some people but they are quite real to us, my wifes initial reaction was to lash out at the creatures, but i do not feel that way, i think that if we could just touch a grass snake perhaps a tiny one, we would feel different, I have seen them as little as nine inches long and as thin as a thick pen they look quite nice at that age, but the ones that have swam to wards us were quite thick, and of course my wife screaming her head off made the whole thing ten times worse, ALAND