Ophidiophobia – Fear of Snakes

I’m absolutely terrified of snakes, well any reptiles really.  So much so, that I won’t go into pet stores unless someone goes in first to check, when I was in primary school boys used to throw national geographic on my desk with pictures of snakes and once I took my 8 year old niece walking in the woods, we came across a snake, I ran away leaving her behind.

Subsequently, when I took Madame to a Creepy Crawly exhibit yesterday at the Stockwood Science Discovery Centre in Luton I was horrified to learn, just as we were about to enter that it wasn’t just a spider exhibit but in fact reptiles.  I nearly bolted and a mate offered to take Madame in for me.  I don’t want her to develop irrational fears like this so I took a deep breath and went in with her.  My heart was racing and I scanned the room for the nearest escape route.  The folks at the exhibit were brilliant and as you can tell by the pictures Madame didn’t pick up on my fear!  However, you will notice that I’m not in the photos as I was quivering in the corner!

Photos Courtesy of @zooarchaeologis