TheBanyanTree: Snakes Alive!!

[auntiesash]

I think everyone has a visceral response to "small animal frightening us" -
even if it's a kitten.  But I can assure you that I have no negative
responses to snakes - other that the startle response.

Spiders are a different thing entirely - can't stand them.  Just typing this
may make it impossible to finish eating my lunch.  No reason for it at all.
 In fact, I was bitten by a rattlesnake as a kid, so you would think I'd be
afraid of snakes.

Scientific America ran an article once about fears and spiders/snakes are
wired in - like fear of falling or of fire.  Makes me suspect that we can
retrain our reactions to them, but probably can't retrain our basis,
emotional responses.

Nice writing, Pammie.

- sash

On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 12:12 PM, Sachet <MountainWhisper at att.net> wrote:

> Dang, Pammie. Your story makes me scared to go in your parking lot now. :-)
>
> I am surprised to say that I screamed like a girl this week, not once, but
> twice when a snake slithered over my foot on the back deck. Thankfully, it
> wasn't another Copperhead but instead it's the little Southern Ringneck who
> resides there. He's a cute little guy. I did not think his brethren was at
> all cute when I found one in Chelsea's bedroom when she was a baby, though.
>
> We'd have to ask Mikey, but I think most of us have an inbuilt instinctive
> visercal reaction to snakes. Probably a smart survival instinct since most
> of us don't know what Mikey knows and can't handle them safely.
>
>
>
> On 7/12/2011 2:50 PM, Pam Lawley wrote:
>
>> My friend Mike is a perfect example of somebody who loves and appreciates
>> snakes for the slimey reptiles they are!  He has taken some beautiful
>> photographs of the things, and I've even seen him handle one on the
>> walking
>> path first hand!  But alas, for reasons totally unknown to me, I was born
>> with a snake phobia.  There was nothing in my youth of early years to feed
>> that phobia - it just was.  And still is.  I've tried through the years to
>> face the fear, I have.  Once I even sat down and allowed a young Marine's
>> 'pet' Boa to crawl on my lap and around my waist.  I "petted" it with one
>> finger and told it that it was a "nice snakey and tried to be calm and not
>> breathe too deeply lest I freak the snake in any way.  I had taken most of
>> a
>> day to move from across the room to actually sitting with the snake, and
>> then some smartass JACK ran up and yelled, "SNAKE!!", and I freaked out
>> and
>> never went near the snake again!!!
>>
>> Anyway, I had a very deep fear of snakes.  Deep to my core.  And then:
>>
>> I walked outside earlier to my car in the parking lot, and there was a
>> girl
>> about thirty feet in front of me.  Before she stepped off the sideway
>> while
>> crossing to anther part of the parking lot, she stopped, turned around,
>> and
>> yelled to me, "There's a snake!!"
>>
>> First, I stopped too!!  Then I cautiously walked towards her and asked
>> where
>> it was.  She pointed under a big white pick-up truck one row back.  I
>> could
>> see a dark snake moving slowly, and a couple of times I watched his little
>> head lift up and 'snif' the undercarrage of the truck.  As I watched it
>> snif
>> around a third time, I realized I'd been really watching the slimey thing
>> slithering upwards, and it disappeared!!!!!!!
>>
>> The snake was now somewhere up under the truck.  Meanwhile, the girl -
>> Allison! - was on her cell calling back into the building to get another
>> co-worker to come out and de-snake the area!  (Coincidentally, just last
>> week this same chick was getting ready to leave our building when she saw
>> a
>> snake laying on the walkway in front of the door!  They called animal
>> control for that one!)  So while we stood there waiting for this guy to
>> come
>> out, I was feeling very creep-crawly and freaked out realizing that this
>> snake was somewhere unseen, and feeling VERY grateful that it wasn't MY
>> car
>> it had disappeared under.  Had it been, there would have been a blue SUV
>> for
>> sale in the lot!!!!!!
>>
>> And then, out from under, we saw that sneaky snake stick his little head
>> out
>> from between the hood and start swaying as he looked inside the windshield
>> of the turck!!!!!!!!  We screamed!  Then the snake - who didn't hear us
>> scream and who could probably have cared less!! - slithered around the
>> side
>> of the windshield, over the side mirror, and then back.  Oh yeah... and
>> people say some snakes are harmless!  HA!  Had I been sitting in that
>> truck
>> when the sweet little snake snuck his head out from under the hood and
>> looked at me inside...!?!?!?!??!  Can you say fatal heart attack!??!?!?!
>> Can you say 'dead'?!!?!?  Can you call that harmless?!?!?!?!?
>>
>> And then 'helper' guy came out and 'shooed' the snake off the truck, to
>> the
>> ground, and tried shooing him off into the grass.  And helper guy told us
>> not to fear, it was only a black snake.  That's all.  Just a sweet little
>> black snake trolling around for food!!  Mr. Sweet Snake was about four
>> feet
>> long.  Probably had the girth of a big 'sausage dog'... probably, since I
>> didin't get any closer to check.  And then helper guy lost track of the
>> snake, and then couldn't find him again.  He said the snake MAY have gone
>> back up under the truck!  Sure, no problem!!
>>
>> We stood there a minute or two discussing this snake who had gone under
>> and
>> up that truck to come out under the hood and over to the window, and
>> helper
>> guy said, 'that's why I tell people to roll their windows up!' - as I
>> looked
>> over at my car with all four windows rolled down about four
>> inches!!!!!!!!!
>> (It's freaking hot around here!!!!!!)  But, if I have to choose between
>> dying of heat exhaustion when I open the door and the heat hits, or of a
>> stroke when I open the door and see a snake in my seat - I'm choosing heat
>> any day of the year!!!
>>
>> And so, with the thoughts of that sneaky, slimey, hungry snake crawling
>> around the white truck, I had to go to my own vehicle with the windows
>> down
>> and do a  complete search.  I was afraid to stand by my vehicle and look
>> in
>> lest Mr. Black Snake slither out from  underneath, and I was afraid to get
>> IN my vehicle lest Mr. Black Snake had beat me there!!!!  And the whole
>> friggin time I had the heeby-jeebies!!!!!
>>
>> And now, hours later, I *STILL* have them!!!  I will never be able to take
>> a
>> step in that parking lot, or get in or out of my car, without looking
>> around
>> for snake relatives....
>>
>> Harmless, my ass!!!  (Sorry Mikey!)
>>
>> Pam
>>
>>


-- 
Everyone is from somewhere - even if you've never been there
So take a minute to remember the part of you
That might be the old man calling me - *Jethro Tull*