Are you a FREAK?!?

[Rhino]

So as the title says, when we have people over to our house for a visit, and they find out there is a 'snake pit' of 7 BP's in our basement, they look at me like I'm a freak! Most of these people are or have been dog or cat owners and seem to make the correlation that 10 snakes is the same as 10 dogs (I'm thinking). Now, unless you were a dog breeder, I would look at 10 dogs or cats as being a little over the top, but to each his own. It appears, based on the signature lines on our forum members that it's very common to have multiple animals. I'm curious if you have also experienced the same reactions?

Chad

[Faltang1090]

Always, except when reptile owners come over. Though most of my family or friends refuse to come to my home anyway so I guess it doesn't matter

[Trevor367]

My mother in law ask me all the time what I need all my snakes for and why I have so many. I ask her why she owns 4 horses. That usually shuts her up. On the other hand I have buddies in the army who will parachute into a war zone but will not go into my basement lol. I love being a freak.

Trevor

[lightpied]

Haha awesome thread.

I get the treatment from a lot of people, however most of them are quite interested!
I get the “as long as i dont have to touch them” all the time!!

Sal.

[Rhino]

I find the adults are way more turned off, especially the ladies. The guys will usually have some interest at the least, or might even want to see them. The kids usually beg me to see them, which is pretty cool. My mom told me she wouldn't come and stay with us anymore, as she lives out of town, if I got snakes... Man was she surprised when she found out I started buying them! Haha! She does stay over, but she sleeps on the couch upstairs instead of the spare bedroom downstairs. My wife does still despise the snakes and it has been a bone of contention since the very moment I wanted one. I enjoy being a 'freak', as I'm usually the one in a crowd to say something to shock everyone just to see their reaction!

Get your FREAK ON!!!

[RyanGSP]

I find it funny non reptile people think 10 is alot and your crazy.

Reptile people look at 10 snakes as a very small collection, especially when it comes to ball pythons.

[FrogPimp]

My friends used to always call me FrogFreak (or EDITED haha). I absolutely hated that name FrogFreak, thus FrogPimp was born.

[Brooksy]

Yup, I get treated that way from non-reptile loving people. At 4 reptiles (a leo, 2 cresties and a fire skink) was the first time I was told I was a freak & my co-workers thought I needed an intervention. I just quit telling them about new pets after that.
My mother also asked me what were my plans for all of them and I then asked her what her plans were for her 3 dogs and a cat. That ended the convo.
I am used to the 'freak treatment' though, with 20+ piercings,45 hours of tattoos and 5 hours of scarification. You don't see more than a couple of these mods and when people find out how much I actually have, many people change their opinion of me just like some do once they find out the number of reptiles I keep.

[Krippschick]

I have had people say they would curb stomp our tarantulas or shoot my skinks.... thats when I say....How would you feel if I said I was going to curb stomp your dog? Not that I would of course, anyone who knows me knows I cant kill anything, but...It puts it in perspective for most. I had the nickname at work, Crazy Lizard Lady, which didnt bother me lol, and alot of my relatives wont come to our house, which suits me and my husband just fine lol =P!

[Ellie_A]

I guess that I am pretty lucky, my boyfriend is extremely supportive (you could even call him an enabler!), my coworkers for the most part are ok with my reptiles, one specifically loves them and helps me pre-shop for expos and likes to pet sit for us. The only one who doesn't like them is one of the most annoying humans I have ever met, so I'm proud to go against her version of normal! My mom doesn't love the reptiles but she also doesn't mention it unless I ask for her opinion. I long ago learned to cut out people from my life because of their bad attitudes.