I'm so scared of snakes!

I am a homesteader. Horticulture is my biggest hobby. I love the outdoors. I was once a certified lifeguard, and all activities involving being in water are among my favorite pastimes. There is only one thing I don't like about all that. Snakes!

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I would normally never use images that aren't mine, but I won't even go within photography range of a snake.

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My Facebook friend Molly recently posted a photo of a snake in her lawn. I left a comment and stated that I am scared shitless of snakes. I see garter snakes all the time, and even though I know they are harmless, my heart races and I panic every time I see one. I was then told by Molly and her friend Lucy that if I was more educated about them, I wouldn't be afraid of them. Lucy linked a snake discussion group not knowing someone already added me to that group, and Molly said she trained herself to overcome her fear of spiders. She asked me if I want to get over my fear of snakes, and I said no; I believe it is a natural survival instinct.

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I then did some research about Ophidiophobia. I ended up debating for hours this afternoon with her friend Rob after he said fear is based on ignorance. He was the third one to say or imply I'm only scared of them because I'm uneducated. I then threw out links and copied text of studies that suggest ophidophobia is genetically hardwired in some people.

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Despite citing numerous studies that suggest babies are scared of snakes because their pupils become larger when shown images of snakes and spiders and do not when shown other images, Rob continued to claim that those studies are flawed, and he has shown snakes for the first time to toddlers, and they are not scared of them. For hours he continued claiming it's a trained reaction, despite many studies suggesting primates have a natural fear.

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I do believe it is a very real phobia genetically hard wired in some people. Even seeing images on the internet causes my heart to race. I think my most valid personal points in the thread were about how one time I was in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia; and there were thousands of people around, and suddenly I began panicking and my heart started racing. I continued walking a good 30 more seconds before I conciously noticed a man with a snake around his neck. My subconcious obviously recognized it. I further explained about his "trained reaction" theory the fact that I've seen many shark attack videos, yet visits to The Baltimore Aquarium, Marine World, Sea World, and Epcot Center never caused me any stress. Obviously many less humans have been killed by sharks than snakes and spiders. That's another reason why I believe it is a hereditary response.

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Please let me know if you think it's an irrational made up fear or you think it's herditary genetics.

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