My love, my snakes

Snakes really are becoming my life. I love everything about them. They amaze me. They are the best pets ever. To be honest, now that I have snakes, it's really hard to own anything else. Even though I love my dog, he's a pain in the butt compared to the snakes. They don't shed hair everywhere, they don't chew up my stuff, they don't really do anything out of spite or maliciousness, they are quiet and are really easy keepers. On top of that, they provide me with all the affection and love a cat would, without the mess or the smell.

Snakes are so much more intelligent than people give them credit for too. They think, feel, have likes and dislikes. I've even seen a snake hold a grudge before and they pick and choose who they like and don't like. They have a great judge of character. Despite what people say, snakes do socially interact with each other. I've witnessed it with my own two eyes.

To be honest, I wish people gave these animals more of a chance. They are unfairly judged. People call them "slimy" and "gross"... snakes, in general, are probably cleaner than your mouth and are far from slimy (except maybe anacondas). They are endearing, affectionate, intelligent creatures, each with their own personalities. They are just severely misunderstood. People who, upon hearing I have snakes, scrunch their faces and declare how "disgusting" it is piss me off. Most of those people have never even been in the same room as a snake.

What people don't seem to understand is that humans are not born with a fear of snakes. They are socialized to have a fear of snakes. People who live in an area where there are more venomous snakes in the wild are raised to have more of a fear of them than people who live in places with more non-venomous snakes. However, what I've noticed is that there are people out there who believe that ALL snakes are venomous. I've even been asked if my boa CONSTRICTORS have been "de-fanged"... or if I'm afraid I'm going to be bitten. If I was afraid my snakes were going to kill me, I wouldn't be walking around with them around my neck! Seriously people, use some logic! There are just a lot of severely misinformed people out there. It makes me sad. These animals don't deserve the bad-rap they've been given.