Snakes are Cool-From a Distance

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Write about reptiles. Most people have very strong feelings towards them – either love or hate them. Which are you? (Or your character?) Rise and Write 

"Snakes. It had to be snakes."  I can relate to Indiana Jones' feelings when he first lit that torch and saw the hundreds, if not thousands of snakes in the pit in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Don't get me wrong, I think snakes are incredible creatures.  The way they slither and move to get to their destination, heat and cool their bodies in rhythm to the earths sun, come in all sizes and colors, are remarkable traits. I want to appreciate them from a distance however.  I've never understood the fascination of snakes as pet. Keeping live or frozen versions of whole prey for their meals is an image that makes me sick to my stomach. while the slithering motion and coiling is cool in a picture, or behind a glass barrier in a zoo, having either behaviors on my arm, or worse, my neck, the thought alone make me shudder. 

Another fascinating, yet terrifying snake fact is the massive variety that are poisonous.  Unless you are a snake expert, and even then I wouldn't trust their judgement completely, how do you know which are venomous and which are passive?  Here you are , Mr. Green Belly slithering up next to you while you're out reading on your front lawn, when suddenly, out comes his teeth into your leg, and you lay there in a state of anaphylactic shock. It was just a little garter snake, but something similar happened to me once reading on a blanket outside.  He slithered right over my blanket, touching my bare foot, and just stopped for a moment, me, in a state of disbelief, until my reflex kicked in and I jumped up shivering from the thought of it touching me. 

I love to travel, and I love nature.  However, there are  few places I can't see myself ever traveling to, no matter the opportunity. I've perhaps been brainwashed with too many Annaconda movies to ever venture into the Amazon rain forest.  Like wise, any rain forest or setting that has the massive pythons or varieties of boa constrictors will not be on my travel itinerary. Snakes are welcome to their parts of the world, and I am saddened that species have gone extinct due to over development. I have a healthy respect for nature, and part of that respect is keeping myself away from their space whenever possible.