Need good reading to dispel common misunderstandings about pet snakes

[AaronRiot]

Nothing's better than a first hand experience. If you're comfortable take the LL to the breeder/shop and let them see for themselves. Or invite a friend and theirs over.

In my experience dealing with people and their fears there's no better way to squash them.

[Gungirl]

Originally Posted by hellosugaree

Smart-*** remarks do not help. I'm well aware of google. Most of the results are flooded with BS talking about whether or not a snake is slimy or some other crap about wild snakes. Moreover, it's loaded with 500 advertisements for a 500-word document. If you have nothing to contribute, then go find another forum and troll away if you have nothing better to do with your time. Thanks to those who genuinely tried to offer something useful (Alessia, and others).

I will assume the non-helpful "google it, dude" responses come from people who can't find it themselves. If typing "common misconceptions about snakes" tapped into a concentrated reservoir of eloquent articles please show me these amazing, well-written gems.

I'm not looking for stuff that sounds like it was written by a five year old for a five year old.

Now please go waste someone else's time.

With responses from you like this.. I think most people will not respond to your thread in the manner you wish... In fact I think google will work best for what you want.

[hellosugaree]

Originally Posted by AaronRiot

Nothing's better than a first hand experience. If you're comfortable take the LL to the breeder/shop and let them see for themselves. Or invite a friend and theirs over.

In my experience dealing with people and their fears there's no better way to squash them.

In an ideal world, this would definitely be the best way. It really only takes 5 minutes for someone to see a snake and realize it's not out to destroy the world. It might be a bit difficult to set this up.

The best I can probably do is talk about it via phone or email or link them to web information. I doubt the property manager or owner want to go visit a pet shop with me. I also don't know anyone in the neighborhood with snakes to make it simple.

I should be able to talk them into it anyway, but having something for them to read in the mean time is always nice. Also, it's almost time to renew the lease and I really don't think he wants to lose a tenant over it--it's more pain than it's worth for either of us. I could have just kept my mouth shut and he would never know, but I'd rather play by the rules. We're good tenants, we take care of the house, and we don't bother him. He already knows we have fish and parrots, so it's not strictly a no pets issue, which might be harder to fight.

He admitted that neither of them have any experience with snakes. I would imagine many people have never seen a snake in person in their entire life (sadly). All they know about snakes they learned from movies like Anaconda. Imagine if the only stuff people knew about chihuahuas and poodles was what they learned from the movie Cujo, or if everyone thought that house cats were essentially the same as bengal tigers. As silly as this seems, it's sort an analogous case with snakes.

[alessia55]

Sugaree, does he know that you already own a carpet? Do you live in that building? I'm a little confused about the situation. Maybe you could introduce him to yours?

[hellosugaree]

Originally Posted by Gungirl

With responses from you like this.. I think most people will not respond to your thread in the manner you wish... In fact I think google will work best for what you want.

Sorry for thinking someone may have come across and wanted to share some articles they thought were written exceptionally well. In any case, I'll consider this thread dead. I've already wasted enough time with it. Sorry for trying to involve this community in what are apparently my personal issues, not meant to be discussed in a productive way. Troll away.

[hellosugaree]

Originally Posted by alessia55

Sugaree, does he know that you already own a carpet? Do you live in that building? I'm a little confused about the situation. Maybe you could introduce him to yours?

We rent a detached single-family house. The property manager lives next door. I have no idea who the owner is. I don't think the property manager really cares, and I think the owner has no clue what to think. It's easier to just say no than to have to think about something. I am asking for snakes to be explicitly included in the lease renewal (they are currently not). I'll be glad to furnish a snake once I have explicit permission to keep one. I didn't think it would be a problem since we have parrots which are far louder, more messy, and more liable to ruin things in the house than a snake one. Previous tenants had pets as well. It really shouldn't be a problem. I asked for an explanation of why they are concerned. If I could talk directly to the owner, I think it would take me 5 minutes to assuage his or her fears. Problem is, I have a middleman so communication is going from me to property manager to owner, and then from owner to property manager and back to me.

I appreciate your genuine interest in my situation, Alessia. I'll handle it on my own from here as to not waste any more of anyone's time. Thanks again.

[hellosugaree]

A few words:

Google is the best way to answer just about any question.

99.9999% of the stuff on this forum has already been answered on google a million times.

There is a book or web site for just about everything.

However, this is not to say that this is not a good place. In fact, in most cases I think it's great. Part of the reason for using a forum is to engage is productive discussion about topics or share sources that raise the bar above the average crap that has been regurgitated 50 million times. This was meant to be discussion where people might share some things they've across that are not on the first page when you google snakes. Or maybe to share a story or anecdote.

If a "google it" response applies here, then it applies to most of the forum. Using the argument that information is already on google is essentially arguing that this forum is mostly useless--something I disagree with. Every time someone shares a picture of their snake, why don't you tell them: "There are already pictures of snakes on google images." Next time someone shows off their new rat rack, why don't you tell them that you've already seen a picture of a rat rack on google. Next time someone mentions that their snake is not eating and they are worried, please tell them that the topic has already been covered on google. And when someone shows off their new clutch of eggs, tell them that google images already has pictures of snake eggs.

[alessia55]

Originally Posted by hellosugaree

We rent a detached single-family house. The property manager lives next door. I have no idea who the owner is. I don't think the property manager really cares, and I think the owner has no clue what to think. It's easier to just say no than to have to think about something. I am asking for snakes to be explicitly included in the lease renewal (they are currently not). I'll be glad to furnish a snake once I have explicit permission to keep one. I didn't think it would be a problem since we have parrots which are far louder, more messy, and more liable to ruin things in the house than a snake one. Previous tenants had pets as well. It really shouldn't be a problem. I asked for an explanation of why they are concerned. If I could talk directly to the owner, I think it would take me 5 minutes to assuage his or her fears. Problem is, I have a middleman so communication is going from me to property manager to owner, and then from owner to property manager and back to me.

I appreciate your genuine interest in my situation, Alessia. I'll handle it on my own from here as to not waste any more of anyone's time. Thanks again.

Ah, you shouldn't take people on here so seriously

So they're not aware that you currently have the carpet then, hm? What about asking the manager to give you the owner's number so that you can speak directly? It wouldn't be a bad idea to give them a book about carpets to show them how much you really love them and what great pets they are. If the contract doesn't explicitly forbid snakes, I presume you can keep them (that's what I do- and I've never gotten into trouble for it). That would be awesome though if you got them to explicitly write that snakes would be welcomed. Imagine that- a "snake-friendly" place!

[homocapra]

Hey hellosugaree, I live in Baltimore too. I can't think of any reading that is pro-snake directed toward non-snake people but if you haven't already, you should check out Forgotten Friends Reptile Rescue in Lancaster, PA...

[URL="http://www.forgottenfriend.org/index.php"]

They do lots of education programs with their snakes both domestics and exotics and I bet they have some good advice on how to soften people's hearts.

Also, since we live in the same city, I have some very nice snakes that your landlord can meet, but I couldn't let them meet my jungle, 'cause she's a little hellion

[Kingsnakechris]

Originally Posted by hellosugaree

Smart-*** remarks do not help. I'm well aware of google. Most of the results are flooded with BS talking about whether or not a snake is slimy or some other crap about wild snakes. Moreover, it's loaded with 500 advertisements for a 500-word document. If you have nothing to contribute, then go find another forum and troll away if you have nothing better to do with your time. Thanks to those who genuinely tried to offer something useful (Alessia, and others).

I will assume the non-helpful "google it, dude" responses come from people who can't find it themselves. If typing "common misconceptions about snakes" tapped into a concentrated reservoir of eloquent articles please show me these amazing, well-written gems.

I'm not looking for stuff that sounds like it was written by a five year old for a five year old.

Now please go waste someone else's time.

Wow... Ok well coming from someone who willfully admitted that they wanted to use something someone else already researched... You sure don't seem to want to do any of it by yourself. Thats fine, I hope someone will come along and hold your hand thorough this whole process. I for one will not be even attempting to help you out anymore, it takes a special kind of person to ask for help and then bash on those who try to give you ideas. You asked for reading material but had no interest in looking for anything yourself. If offering suggestions is a waste of time then next time ask if anyone who has already done the work your to lazy to do for your self would mind if you used it.

[hellosugaree]

Originally Posted by alessia55

Ah, you shouldn't take people on here so seriously

So they're not aware that you currently have the carpet then, hm? What about asking the manager to give you the owner's number so that you can speak directly? It wouldn't be a bad idea to give them a book about carpets to show them how much you really love them and what great pets they are. If the contract doesn't explicitly forbid snakes, I presume you can keep them (that's what I do- and I've never gotten into trouble for it). That would be awesome though if you got them to explicitly write that snakes would be welcomed. Imagine that- a "snake-friendly" place!

I asked to have to owner contact me, but to be honest part of the reason people pay a property manager is to not have to deal with tenants directly, so I won't be surprised if this conversation goes through the middle man, and I can certainly respect that. Maybe next time I'll just not bring it up and they would never know in the first place. Maybe the less people know, the better. Too late now. I've never had someone say no to a pet before. Every place I've rented in my life (now 5 different places) said "ABSOLUTELY NO PETS" in the advertisement when it was listed for rent. However, after meeting us and reviewing our credit history and references, they always say "Oh, no problem" when we mention that we have birds and fish. In fact, two of the places we rented we rented the lease had "NO PETS" crossed out and "Parrots, chickens, and fish permitted" written in place on the lease. We kept 9 hens in our backyard at the last place we lived. The neighbors loved us too--they would always come to our house with empty eggs cartons, an offering of fresh figs, jelly, or cookies, and a huge smile that said "more eggs please "

[hellosugaree]

Originally Posted by homocapra

Hey hellosugaree, I live in Baltimore too. I can't think of any reading that is pro-snake directed toward non-snake people but if you haven't already, you should check out Forgotten Friends Reptile Rescue in Lancaster, PA...

[URL="http://www.forgottenfriend.org/index.php"]

They do lots of education programs with their snakes both domestics and exotics and I bet they have some good advice on how to soften people's hearts.

Also, since we live in the same city, I have some very nice snakes that your landlord can meet, but I couldn't let them meet my jungle, 'cause she's a little hellion

Thanks. I'll check it out. What part of Baltimore are you in? Snake party time!

[homocapra]

Originally Posted by hellosugaree

Thanks. I'll check it out. What part of Baltimore are you in? Snake party time!

Yeah, you know it!

I'm on TV hill, near Hampden.

[hellosugaree]

Originally Posted by homocapra

Yeah, you know it!

I'm on TV hill, near Hampden.

I'm not too far off, out by Mt Washington area. I'd love to see your snakes some time if you're not understandably aversive to having internet weirdos in your house.

[homocapra]

Originally Posted by hellosugaree

I'm not too far off, out by Mt Washington area. I'd love to see your snakes some time if you're not understandably aversive to having internet weirdos in your house.

No, I like internet weirdos Maybe we could meet for a drink and animal chat somewhere. I would love to hear about your African greys! I have some other local herper friends too, we should have a little Charm City snake club.