My fear of snakes and how I overcame it

Looking around at the collection of snakes I have rescued makes me wonder how I was ever afraid of snakes, however the truth is I never touched a snake until I was 42 years old. Truth be told I was terrified of snakes since the age of 5 years old. I had 2 older boys chase me and when I fell into a hole they threw 2 baby gopher snakes on top of me. That set a path of fear when it came to snakes, I never went into the reptile house at the zoo, I had nightmares of snakes coming after me, If there was a snake in a home as a pet I would not go in, and if I saw someone in public with a snake I would turn the other way and run. When I was in high school my friends took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark, not telling me about the snake scene. When that came on screen I climbed under my chair and closed my eyes. If I could of escaped from the crowded theater without trampling people I would of. One day when I was 38 years old a friend brought a small rosy boa that he had caught into the house without telling me. When he pulled it from his pocket I jumped up on my kitchen counter and climbed in to one of my cabinets spilling the contents out and squeeze in slamming the door and screaming for him to get the snake out of the house. Looking back on how I reacted seems silly now but when I take my emotions back there it seemed quite normal. Kruisin' Kritters was snake less for several years until a friend named Brandon ask me if I could help give his pet snake shots that the vet had sent home. Brandon had several snakes, but I never had been in the same house with them. Brandon knew that I had training on giving reptile shots all though I had never given a real snake one. I told him I just could not do it thinking it was a small snake. Then he threw me a ringer and told me it was his anaconda "Joe" who was 16' long and big enough to have me as a snack. I said no way!!!! Brandon  explained that Joe had a upper respiratory infection and if he didn't get the shots he might die, he knew how to suck me in. I relucently agreed. So we worked out a plan. He and a friend would bring Joe over and stretch him down my hallway and I would come out of my bedroom just long enough to administer the shot and run back in closing the door never touching Joe with my fingers and they would take Joe home. After 13 days of the routine I finally sucked it up and realized I had to overcome this fear that had encompassed me for so many years. On the 14th day when I came out of my room I gave Joe his shot and proceeded to touch him. My hands shook so badly I thought they were going to fall off. Ever so slowly I lower my hand breathing as as calmly as I could. When hand and scales met I was surprised at the smooth cool feel of his skin it was not what I expected as I stroked his skin I felt a calm come over me that I had never experienced. I think it was the anxiety that had held me for so long being lifted from my body. I owe my love of snakes to my experience with Joe. However would I ever own a snake that size NO!!! anything that looks at me as lunch will never cross my front door. The reason I tell this story is there are many people out there that are not comfortable around reptiles and snakes. If you are a owner of said creatures please always be aware of this and always check with a person before approaching them with your pet to make sure they are ok with it. I now teach classes for people that want to overcome their fear of snakes. In one of my classes I had a grandmother and her granddaughter come together. As I asked around the class what brought them there the little girl said her grandmother was afraid of snakes and she wanted to help her over come this fear.  As I brought out each snake and talked about the the makeup of a snake, moving, sensing, scales, eating, etc. I kept my eye watching her. Her reaction was not quite like mine but very close she held her granddaughters hand trying to stay calm. I recognized all the symptoms. As I asked for volunteers to come up and pet the snake her granddaugther raised her hand.When I asked her to come up she grabbed her grandmother's hand and wanted her to come up. Grandma hesitated slightly  then stood up, when they got on stage grandma stood off to the side, as I explained the process I would take each volunteer thru to touch their first snake. I had 5 volunteers as the first 4 completed the task with good results it was the grandmother and granddaughter's turn. They came up to me about 3' away. The granddaughter tried first and was amazed how smooth the skin was. Granddaughter turned to her grandma and said it's not so bad.  Now it was grandma's turn. I had her take 3 deep breaths and slowly walk forward to me as close as she felt comfortable. She made it within 18' I had her reach her hand out slowly it was shaking and clammy. I gently moved the back end of my snake under her hand and just held it below her hand for about 30 seconds. I asked her to slowly lower her middle finger to touch the tip of the tail. She took another deep breath and said I am doing this for my granddaughter as she touched the tail and made a slight weak sigh. She said it felt cool and soft. next I had her hold her hand out so she could feel the movement of the muscles of the snake. Her hand shook slightly as she did it, to my surprise she did not flinch as the back end of the snake moved across her hand. The next part is the hardest I told her, it was to let the snake sense her with it's tongue. I had her hold her hand flat palm up and took my fingers and tapped her palm lightly to show her how it would feel and she decided to try it.  When my snake flicked it's tongue on her finger tip she shook every so slightly, but did not pull her hand away. There was not a movement or noise in the audience. I felt that everyone could feel her anxiety lessen with each step and they were rooting silently for her. Next I asked her to hold the snake while I held it's head. I slowly and gently placed the back half of my snake on the palm of her hand. I had her curl her hand lightly around my snakes body while it slowly slithered through her hand. A small smile was on her lips and the fear that I saw in her eyes moments before had lessen a great bit. As the snake slithered into my hand I told her that now she had the chance to pick up my snake and hold it on her own. She asked if it would  be ok if her granddaughter helped her. I smiled and nodded my head yes. Her granddaughter picked up the front of the snake off the table and grandma picked up the tail. As I  took a question from the audience I noticed that the granddaughter had gently let the snake go completely to grandma's hand and she seemed quite ok with it. As I took the snake from her I gave her a hug and told her how brave she was. She whispered in my ear, it was for my granddaughter but a great deal for me, Thank you!!!! As a footnote granddaughter and grandma now own  a corn snake and have for 6 years. Please never try to do what I did with grandma and grandaughter as I  have been working with people and their fear of snakes for over 25 years, and the snakes I use in this program are specially picked for their calm manner.