Snake anxiety

[cbgarner2002]

Hello all! I had something I wanted to ask some fellow reptile lovers about and maybe get some good advice. I've always been attracted to the aesthetics of snakes and have always wanted one for a pet. I've handled them multiple times in my life and think I'd really enjoy having one for a pet. Something happened to me a few years back that has unfortunately had more of an impact on my potential relationship with snakes than I care to admit.

I was working for a pet store in the specialty pets area which entailed feeding the snakes. I'd fed each of them countless times without incident and thoroughly enjoyed interacting with them. One day I was feeding a ball python when he struck my hand. Granted, I'm a pretty jumpy person to begin with, but it scared the ever loving bejesus out of me, I jumped and knocked over things, etc. Since that day I have anxiety with snakes in that its almost in innate fear that they're going to strike at me. My mind knows that this type of thing comes with the territory and that most bites are from feeding mistakes but for whatever reason I just get really anxious around them now, which I hate because I find them to be such amazing animals. Any advice on how to overcome this? Has anything like this happened to anyone before and caused anything similar?