SNAKES!!!!!!!!!

[EricKei]

While I dislike insects and similar creepy-crawlies in general, I do happen to adore one type, and wish I could get them to colonize near my house -- dragonflies. If there's anything we need more of here, it's a bug that eats mosquitoes.

[mharbourgirl]

I've never understood phobias that are that bad. I can understand being wary of something you don't like or trust, but to actually run from something that doesn't pose an imminent threat sounds like a serious problem.

I wonder if there's any way people with those kinds of phobias can condition themselves to feel less threatened or scared. I assume it would take a long time, though, depending on the level of fear they have toward a particular thing.

For me it's spiders, and has been for as long as I can remember. And I live in a part of the world where there aren't any significantly dangerous spiders. Doesn't matter. Something in my brain is not susceptible to any amount of logical reasoning on my part, it's like a little program designed to release massive amounts of adrenaline and activate the flight reflex if I so much as see a spider, especially one near me in my house. I literally cannot deal with them. I can't. I can't even scoop one into a jar and carry the jar outside, my husband has to do that because I won't allow him to kill spiders, just get them away from me. Spiders are too important to kill, but my brain thinks they're alien creatures right at the top of the threat hierarchy. And I've had close encounters with bears and not been that pants-wettingly scared.

I have tried for many years to mitigate the reaction, to learn to not be so mindlessly terrified of spiders, and nothing works. I can't even look at a picture of a spider, it's that bad. Some phobias can be calmed down, maybe. I have yet to find a method that will help mine.

[ArcticChicken]

Some phobias can be calmed down, maybe. I have yet to find a method that will help mine.

For a phobia that extreme you generally need the help of a trained professional.

[Gizmo]

So this was the thread that caused me to dream of huge spiders with plastic ladybird shells on them then?

Hate the things since one ran right over my foot when I was a kid.... never would sit on the floor again after that!

[Slave to the Phone]

Cats also like to investigate new things and chase any fast moving objects. Even cats like mine, who are horrendously fat and lazy.

While snakes are okay with simply laying around (especially after just eating a meal), they do like to go outside and find different smells to investigate. For the first few minutes of being outside (or in a new place), they'll be very active and will flick their tongues out like crazy to smell the air. However, they eventually calm down and curl around your neck for warmth.

...Or they'll be like my snake, who prefers to climb down your shirt and hang there like it's a hammock. D:

My cats do like to run around and frisk...at the crack of dawn when I don't need to be awake for another hour.

Do you change things out in their tank for them? Or move the tank so they have a different view? Do they ever pee on you? Can they control their output? I'm not being snarky, I honestly know nothing about owning snakes. This is interesting.

Yeah, I had a friend who was scared of snakes and would kill them whenever he found them, venomous or not. He would even kill King Snakes! I kept telling him, Kind Snakes are not harmful and kill rats and other snakes, but he would not listen. He had a small farm too, killing rats should be a big priority for him, but he was just too stupid.

You are right, he was an idiot. There used to be a King Snake that liked to stretch out in the road and soak in the heat. I'd go out and stomp my feet to make him move. One of my neighbors saw me doing it and said that I should just stomp on snakes head, so I used a rake to pick snake up and put it in a bucket and took snake out in the desert and let it go. I didn't want the neighbor to kill it.

All you need to do is remind the cats that if they continue to sit around lazing all day...

THE STRING IS GOING TO ESCAPE!

That was FUNNY! Thank you, I bookmarked the link