Why are so many men scared of snakes??

[PrimitiveTim]

People are afraid of snakes because they have a very poor understanding of them. 

[JW_Halverson]

I've always had a terrible fear of eighths.
-gus

Mine is much worse, I am afraid of all fractions.  In fact, when I discovered a dial caliper (micrometer) and learned I could work the decimal system to my advantage I immediately improved my bow making.  I detest having to guess if some number of 16ths is more or less than some other number of 8ths.  How many hundredths or thousandths is that?  No problem!

But seriously, I understand the irrational fears.  All joking aside, I am a painfully shy person.  Speaking to strangers at one time almost killed me.  At the end of my freshman year of high school it was announced we were moving.  That pattern repeated every school year until I had racked up 4 high schools in 4 years.  My senior year came and I decided I would fake being outspoken, popular, confidant, handsome, and smart.  And I have been faking it every since.  Well, everything but the handsome and smart part, that's just second nature now.

I still have trouble in crowds, my ears ring and my heart pounds.  I find it difficult to concentrate, and I can never remember people's names afterwards.  If you have met me once and meet me again, please don't be offended when I can't come up with your name.  Meeting you was terrifying and I will need to meet you several times to become comfortable enough to be able to stick a nametag on you.  Funny what irrational fears can do to a person, huh? 

I am glad I decided not to pull into a shell and hide.  It's given me a lifetime of great fun and good friends.  Not to mention a trickbag of bad puns and offcolor jokes.

[wahcheechoo]

East texas in October means moccersons and copperheads and rattlesnakes in the river bottoms. Even bumped into a coral snake my first archery season.Not afraid just careful

[criveraville]

It could be that the person went into limbic mode.  A limbic response occurs in our most primitive part of the brain tied to self preservation. It's also the part of the brain that is all or nothing. Black or white. The limbic brain is a primitive part of the brain and a person in a "limbic mode" is easy to spot.. For example, running, screaming and jumping away from snakes. When the limbic brain is in control it effectively and almost immediately as an innate response shuts down the parts of the brain associated with reason and logic.

An example of this is a person screaming or jumping in a startled manner during a horror movie or if you're at the zoo behind a bullet prof glass and a king cobra strikes at the glass in front of you; you jump back.. The person in each example knows that there is not ANY real danger yet the limbic mode kicks in. The limbic part of our brain is connected to our eyes and response and reacts as quickly as our eyes see the image and long before the reason and logic parts can decipher the scenario as a real or imagined hazard; hence the self preservation mechanism kicking in.. The old idiom "better to be safe than sorry" would apply here..

Cipriano

[RidgeRunner]

I have a Unhealthy fear of Snakes.
Not a Run Screaming or Passing out Cold fear just a Unhealthy Fear.

Tuesday when I got home from work it was hot a very humid.  Thunder rolled off in the distance from passing thunderstorms.

Went to get the mail and the garbage can.  On the way back the garbage can was making that terrible noise that garbage cans make when they are rolled over a gravel driveway.  About half way back to the house I hear this strange noise over the racket the garbage can is making.  I stop and listen.  First thought was that the rear tire on my son's car has somehow blown out and is loosing large amounts of air.  That makes no since the car has been parked for the last two days.  May be it is some great big funky Chicata Bug on this tree.  No it coming from the ground....  There!!!! That is where it is coming from.  About 8 foot away is a large Timber Rattler.  Coiled up and buzzing for all he is worth.  Now I don't freak out at this point.  The garbage can is rolled the rest of the way up to the house and put away.  I go into the house and inform the wife and our son that there is a large rattlesnake in the front yard.

I have a live and let live attitude toward snakes.  And, If this snake had been anywhere else
" Except my Yard " he would have been fine.  But not in my yard......  I took my 22 and popped his head almost all the way off.  Removed the head and buried it with a shovel out in the woods.  Here is where the "Freak Out"part comes in.  Even after the snake had been dead for an hour I could not bring my self to skin it.....  It just freaks me out the way they squirm around.  My wife laughed at me.  Called me a weenie no less.  She "MY Wife" suggested that I freeze the snake, in "HER" deep freezer,  then thaw it a bit, and then skin it Saturday.  The freezing will remove all the squirming.  I Hope.  Well, tomorrow is Saturday.  It is also my 48th Birthday.  Guess we will see if freeking out gets better or worse with age.
David

[Marks]

RidgeRunner, we aren't that far apart. If you can't bring yourself to skin any more Timbers or copperhead send me a message. I'll take em. I'm kinda like you when it comes to venomous snakes. I'm a little nervous to touch them while they have a head even when they are dead. I remove the head ASAP. I had a guy I went to church with "kill" one on a job site by himself. When he reached down to pick it up to take and show his kids it bit him. He passed out driving on the way to the hospital and ran off the road into a field. Some kind lady stopped and got him and took him the rest of the way and saved his life. He got real bad off for a few days.

[Carson (CMB)]

I hear ya...

Was on a job outside of Live Oak, Florida rebuilding a Pipline bridge over the Suwanneee River.
I was up on the pipe when I saw a nice big Black Racer go cruising by under the line.
I jumped down and scooped her up. She was at least a six footer.
A real beauty...

The Company Man that was on site watching over us, pulls up to the small group, gathered around to check out the snake, and gets out to see what's up.
The group parts as I turn around, snake wrapped up on my arm.
The man pulls up short, about two feet away, gets an eye full of snake and takes off running.
Screeching like the Devil himself is after him.
He runs about 30 yards into the woods smack into a swarm of Honey Bees.
Which OF COURSE he was allergic to.
Gets stung numerous times, goes into anaphylactic shock.
He had to be airlifted out as we were in the Boonies.
The guy did recover, eventually.

I let the Racer go on the opposite side of the clearing...

This same guy, a week earlier, had killed, chopped up, the Largest Coral Snake I have yet seen.
The part of the skin I kept is 36 inches long.
In molested the snake would have pushed four feet.
It was cut into six or seven pieces.
The nearest building was ten or twenty miles away...

Poetic Justice?

I love snakes...
Don't get me wrong I will kill a snake here or there at need.
But I also try to conserve snakes in general.

-gus

Great story Gus!  I am with you on the conserve in general but harvest here and there standpoint. 

[Roy]

I hain't skeered of em:)

[RidgeRunner]

I was holding that decapitated snake by his tail.
You could touch his midsection and the "neck" end would fly up like it striking.

Guuuh....  It just freaks me out.....

Found out that some on my neighbors, who own 8 - 400' chicken houses have a Copperhead Infestation.  I suspect the Copperheads are eating rats.  The rats are eating chicken feed.
They live about three miles away.  Just got to get over being freaked out.....

David

[Marks]

I was holding that decapitated snake by his tail.
You could touch his midsection and the "neck" end would fly up like it striking.

Guuuh....  It just freaks me out.....

Found out that some on my neighbors, who own 8 - 400' chicken houses have a Copperhead Infestation.  I suspect the Copperheads are eating rats.  The rats are eating chicken feed.
They live about three miles away.  Just got to get over being freaked out.....

David

Call me up. If you've got the snakes, I'm willing to catch them and skin em. I've got snake chaps and I'm just a little crazy. lol. It can be a team effort. I can't find a copperhead around here to save my life. I've got 2 timbers rattlers and 1 corn snake (it was roadkill) but I've got my heart set on copperheads.

[4dog]

Any snake of good size, is just another skin to me, i keep em in cages in my house, i go out lookin for em , and i get antsy when i promise traded for em and i cant find any, i have the fear , they will never be enough... lol

[Slackbunny]

The only snakes we have where I am are garter snakes, so I've never had an opportunity to be afraid of them. The thought of bigger snakes and venomous snakes does freak me out a little.

I don't mind handling the garter snakes around here, but I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable chasing down a rattler, or a big wild constrictor. If I ever come across one in my travels I think I'd keep my distance, watch it for a bit, then move on keeping a careful eye on it. 

[4dog]

Slackbunny where do you live??

[Slackbunny]

Slackbunny where do you live??

I live in New Brunswick Canada. But I guess I was wrong about garter snakes being the only species.
 
Apparently we also have smooth greensnakes, northern red-bellied snakes and northern ring-necked snakes. So four species total, and now that I think of it, I have seen a very tiny northern red-belled snake, but only once. Never laid eyes on the other two, and I've rooted around in the woods quite a bit.

Also, we've only got 7 species of reptiles total, with no lizards at all.

[RidgeRunner]

Well, I just wanted to let everone know that " I Manned Up " and peeled the skin off the Timber Rattler.   My wife helped.  It was not an easy thing for us to do.  We tried to convince ourselves that we, as humans,  have some kind of built-in aversion to the patterns on snake skins.  I dont know if that is true or not.  I love snake skins - Just wish they did not grow on snakes.... The freezing and thawing removed all the wiggle out of it.  Thank Goodness .  The snake was very fat.  Scrapped large amounts of fat off the inside of the skin.  Pinned it to a board and set it out in the sun to dry.  Will see if I can get a photo of the skin on the board posted.

Marks: 
Let me check with my neighbors.  They might let us snake hunt.  If they will I will send you a PM.

David