I want to add my two cents to your observation. As you know I am terrified of snakes...I think some of it is as you say startle reflex and the other is having grown up in desert areas of Idaho, Utah, and Oregon where a majority of the snakes were of the venomous variety and so mother taught me to be fearful and give them wide berth.
At 59, I am attempting to learn and re-educate myself. Just looking at a photo of a snake cause me to go clammy and shake. But I am slowly learning.
Timothy is my greatest teacher. Timothy, the black racer,who lives in the tree in my front yard. I see his fear and he sees mine and we get along quite well. Now Bernard the 5 foot plus black racer who calls the barn home I may never get along with. He is literally longer now than I am tall.
So I guess the next step is Herpetology 101.

--Previous Message--
: Thought I would post this to help people
: out who have a fear of snakes. Though
: some research, (in my view, flawed)
: indicates that we might have a natural
: fear of snakes, it has come to my
: attention through decades of
: observation and study that most mammals
: have a startle reflex for snakes, but
: no real fear; cats have been reported
: playing with them and catching them,
: and dogs do not seem particularly
: fearful of them, some dogs actually
: attacking them.
: I do not consider a terror reaction to
: snakes natural or reasonable; too many
: people like myself have learned to
: handle and play with snakes
: (non-venomous!), and some people have
: even gotten familiar enough with
: venomous ones to actually handle them
: (very carefully!), such as the late
: Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. He had
: handled thousands of venomous snakes
: and was never bitten, though, in my
: view, he took chances with them that
: were a bit extreme.
:
: Now, I respect venomous snakes, and
: will not handle them under any
: circumstances, though I will use a long
: stick to move them to a safer area off
: a trail, or will actually catch them
: and place them in a cooler to take to a
: safer location, and I usually have some
: adrenaline going when I do, but I don't
: have an unreasoning fear of them, and
: have not ever frozen when dealing with
: them.
:
: Oddly, I did have a fear of snakes
: growing up, right into my 30's. I was
: taught by my relatives to have a fear
: of them, and was always afraid, even of
: a "Blacksnake" (either Racer
: or Rat Snake), though the fear had no
: foundation in reason. I only got over
: it when I took a class in Herpetology
: (Reptiles and Amphibians), and began to
: deal with snakes on a daily basis.
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