What is Ophidiophobia?

Who can tell me what ophidiophobes are afraid of? I'll give you a hint: it's a specific reptile. Anyone? That's okay, I didn't know either until recently. Ophidiophobes have an abnormal fear of snakes. And I bet there are a lot of them out there. I feel like every time I bring up the fact that I'm fascinated with reptiles of any sort, peoples' first response is "Oh, I hate snakes! I can't stand snakes!" Honestly they are kind of creepy. the thing I hate most about them is the nasty stench they let off when they are in danger.

Growing up, I spent countless hours catching garter and water snakes and almost every time I got one, they would stink. So second learning opportunity for this post, what is that smell? Well, it's a defense mechanism some snakes have called musking. They release a foul smell from a gland in its vent which causes predators to avoid eating it. Sidenote: this can also lead to the snake pooping on you so watch out!

I hope everyone learned something today. So be careful handling those garter snakes. but if you're a ophidiophobe than don't worry about it, I'm sure the first thing you do when you see a snake is either scream or run in the opposite direction.