I find snakes interesting, but not as pets. I won’t kill them unless I have to.
I wish I could say the same about spiders, though. If they are outside, I don’t mess with them and find them interesting.
If I find one in my house, I will usually kill them. Not proud of it, but can’t help it. And if they crawl on me, it is a certain fight to their death. I can’t take that.
Nothing against them, and it isn’t driven by sadism, but I had a bad encounter in a drain pipe under a road with a spider as a kid. If I knew there was one in the room with me, I wouldn’t be able to do much else.
Well, it wasn’t really a spider I had an encounter with, it was a daddy long-legs, and to this seven year old kid, that is about the scariest thing there is.
I was about seven, and I was trying to crawl through a drain pipe that went under a road. You could see the daylight on the other side, and I don’t know why it seemed like such a good idea, but I was going to crawl right through and come out the other side. Well, as I went in, it got narrower and narrower, to the point I couldn’t go any further, so I began trying to back out.
I tried to look over my shoulder and yell to my brother I was coming back, but as I looked back, there was a big bundle of cobwebs and leaves stuck to my shoulder, with a big daddy long-legs sitting right in it. I completely went berserk in this narrow space, and might have beaten myself to death against the pipe walls, but my brother who was a year older than me crawled in, grabbed my ankles, and dragged me out.
When I exited that pipe, I shot to my feet, running full speed down the street, and pirouetting in the air as I slapped at that mess on my shoulders. But no matter how much I slapped and wiped, every time I looked, that daddy long-legs was still there. I finally ripped off my coat and disappeared down the street with my brother running after me. We both laugh about it now, but I still get a little nutty for a second when one crawls on me.
I'm not a big fan of spiders either. Don't know why. Just not. But like snakes, I never kill them (unless I can positively identify one as a black widow or brown recluse. If one of those two species is in or by the house, I will kill it.)
I'm from the desert, and have encountered many tarantulas. I LOVE THEM! They're actually quite docile. This may sound shocking, but I've placed an open palm underneath them and allowed them to crawl up my hand and arm. Yes, you have to mentally psych up to to something like this, but it's amazing fun. They're not aggressive at all, and I guarantee it will amaze and impress your friends.
Or not. They may think I'm a nut but are too polite to tell me. Ha!