Ophidiophobia

Ophidiophobia
 
Ophidiophobia (o-fid-de-o-fo-be-ah) is the fear of snakes.

Many, if not most, people have it. You don’t find to many people rushing to embrace snakes, and those who do are generally viewed as weird.

Everyone seems to have had an encounter of some kind with a snake.

Over the years, I have heard many snake stories. Some were believable, some were not so believable, and some were outright lies.

Like the one about the duck hunters, who were out in a river on the edge of an island and had tied their boat to a tree which hung out over the water while they patiently waited for the ducks to fly over. Suddenly, a water moccasin dropped into the boat from an overhead branch and, without thinking, one of the hunters blasted the snake with his shotgun. While this did indeed dispatch the snake, it also put a sizable hole in the bottom of the boat causing it to sink in the apparently snake infested waters. (water moccasins would not be out during duck hunting season)

Or the one about the hapless water skier who was skiing down the river when he fell off of his ski’s and unfortunately landed right in the middle of a den of snakes. (while some snakes do live near water, they do not live in the middle of a river)

When it comes to snakes, we are very fortunate here in the USA. We do not have any of the really terrible snakes found elsewhere in the world.

We don’t have any boomslang’s, or krait’s, or mamba’s, or taipan’s, or puff adders. To be among the really terrible snakes, if you so desired, you would have to go to Africa, or Australia.

We only have four snake species that we have to be aware of when we venture outside. They are the rattlesnake, the copperhead, the water moccasin, and in a very small area of the country, the deep south, the coral snake, although problems with coral snakes are few and far between. (WHY?)

Many people seem to think that a snake bite equals death. Not so. At least, not in the USA. In fact, if a healthy adult is bitten by either of these four species, death is highly unlikely, if medical attention is sought.

But if you are bitten by a Black Mamba, you may as well just sit down, relax, and prepare to die as peacefully as possible. It won’t take long, only about twenty minutes.

 In some cases, death from snakebite in the USA, does not occur even when medical attention is not sought.

 Rattlesnakes and copperheads are commonly handled during so-called religious services in Appalachia and other parts of the country.

Somewhere in the bible, it says something like, “and ye shall take up serpents.”

That’s all the information required by some religious fundamentalist’s to bring a bunch of venomous snakes into church and start passing them around.

Various male members of the congregation actually pick up multiple numbers of snakes at a time in an effort to demonstrate their faith. (apparently, the female church members are to intelligent for this sort of thing). During the snake handling portion of the worship service, the snake handlers are singing and dancing and, in some cases, waving the snakes around in the air. While this might feel good to the man who is doing it, it does not necessarily feel good to the snake, and on occasion, though less often than one would think, the snake strikes.

 When the snake strikes, the “victim” who has been struck drops all of the snakes in his hands, (thus creating somewhat of a problem for those nearby), and issues notice that he has been bitten, as in “he has done bit me, Billy Ray Jim Bob” (at this point, the reader may mistakenly believe this verbal notification to have been directed to four separate individuals, but in reality, only one person has actually been notified).

The victim, or snake abuser, take your pick, is then helped out of church, though not, it is said, to a medical facility. When bitten by a snake in church, medical help is always refused. To seek medical attention would demonstrate a rather pronounced lack of faith.

The congregation then begins to pray for the snake struck believer or would that be the struck snake believer.

 And then, a curious phenomenon occurs. It’s really a win/win situation for the man who has been bitten.

If he lives, it is said that he:

1. is well liked by God, and therefore God allowed him to live.

2. that he survived because of the prayers of the congregation.

3. that it just wasn’t his time to go.

If he dies, it is simply said that: God called him home. (God, apparently, used the snake as his summoning method).

So, he wins if he lives, and he wins if he dies.

Win win.

What is the number one snake to watch out for in the USA? By far, it is either the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake or his very close relative the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. An adult can be six feet in length. As if that were not enough, it is a big snake with a thick body and good venom toxicity. Even so, being bitten by one of these snakes is not usually a death sentence for a healthy adult.

You probably remember from biology class that snakes are a vital part of the ecosystem. They are natural predators of disease carrying rodents and there are a helluva lot more rodents than there are snakes.

 And then too, you have probably read or heard certain facts like, more people are killed each year by lightning than by snakes.

Basically, all you have to do to protect yourself from snakebite is watch where you place your hands. Most snake bites are on the hand or lower arm.

 Probably no animal is more exploited than the snake. Snakes are often killed merely because they are discovered or seen. It seems that suddenly coming upon a snake, or seeing a snake, is shocking to many people.

I have been in the woods with people when a snake has been spotted. Cries and even screams are issued forth in reaction to seeing the snake, even though the snake cannot hear them, is some distance away, and posing no threat. Some people react as if the snake should not be present to ruin their outing in the forest. And yet, it is we who are in the snake’s habitat, not the other way around. Why should we be shocked or surprised to see an animal in it’s natural habitat?

Have you heard of snake round ups? They occur each and every year in the spring. They are often sponsored by so-called civic organizations in an effort to rid the land of dangerous critters.

Of course, these do- gooder organizations have gotten it exactly ass- backwards. What they ought to be sponsoring is a Rat Roundup instead of a snake roundup. Rats do infinitely more harm to man than snakes. A termite round up would be beneficial too.

But then, how many people would purchase a mounted skull of a rat under glass? A rat belt? A rat sandwich? Fried rat stew? A rat necklace? A rat-skin wallet? Rat-skin boots? And a host of other products, all of which and more, are produced from slaughtered snakes.

 Snake round ups are held in more states than you would think. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and Oklahoma to name a few.

If these roundups involved any other animal, there would be a massive public outcry.

A deer roundup, (which is, actually, sorely needed), a raccoon roundup, a chipmunk roundup, a squirrel roundup, a rabbit roundup etc. All of these actions would elicit a public response on a grand scale. Demonstrations would be organized, people would be marching in the streets, elected officials would denounce the roundups as cruelty. Parents would teach their children to never participate in such activities. But there are few complaints about a snake roundup.

 Ophidiophobia strikes (no pun intended) again.

People fear snakes, as they have been taught to since childhood by ignorant adults, so they have no objection to a snake roundup, ie. a snake slaughter.



Copyright 2013


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