I fully sympathise. I’ve got an earthworm phobia. Yeah, I know. I know all about irrationality
My ex wife was pretty phobic about snakes when I met her. I was able to get her past it to the point that she bought me a boa constrictor for my birthday and we bought a ball python after. She not only would handle them but took them to the elementary school and gave presentations.
You could always tell your wife that when you kill a snake, it releases a scent which attracts more snakes. It’s total bullshit but it might work.
Just because a particular kind of snake is known to exist in a certain area does not mean you have much chance of seeing them. Technically there are two kinds of rattlesnakes in the area where I live but I’ve never seen one, dead or alive or talked to anyone who has.
That’s how I feel, too. I can’t even look at pictures of snakes, see them on tv, or talk about them for long periods of time (in fact, this thread is making me feel oogy).
When I was little, we lived in this building that had once been a large estate, now broken up into four apartments. There was a lot of brush and woods around, and the place was just infested with black snakes. Despite this, my father made sure I never knew until we moved out four years later. If my mom saw one when she waited for me to get off the bus, she managed to steer me away.
One thing my dad did was to keep the grass cut extremely short, trim all the brush and bushes, and make sure there was no tall grass for them to hide in. Maybe that would work?
Good luck. Please, don’t try to make your wife overcome this. People who try to show me pictures of snakes and what not have only sent me into anxiety attacks. (My cousins LOVED to chase me with nature books!)
I’m getting palpitations just reading this thread. Reminds me of an Emily Dickinson poem I read in school that really found an echo in me:
Zero at the bone is still the way I feel, even facing a simple garter snake in a terrarium.
Despite my directing Mrs. Plant to run over a Copperhead, (she missed it with a ton and a half Chevy) snakes like you and I, are just trying to make a living.
Thanks for all the helpful links and information everyone. I definitely saw the Garter snake. The pictures above confirm that much for sure. I haven’t seen them since that day, however, so I’m hoping my wife will start to settle down a little.
I know her fear is irrational, but I don’t look down on her for that (I’ve got my own fear problems). I don’t expect her to overcome her fears overnight, but I am hoping that she will educate herself on the benefits of snakes–and the fact that the garter snakes won’t hurt her. I also am hoping that our children will learn from both of us not to fear these creatures without reason.
We have no pets at this point, because of my son’s allergies. She is considering an outside cat, which I hate. She is usually very reasonable, so I’m hoping that after I show her the “Wisdom of Many Dopers” she will learn to live with the harmless garter snake.
You are a truly Evile person who likes snakes and hates kitties, or you are a responsible pet owner who doesn’t want the cat to stay outside? 
I had always been told that poem is about a trouser snake…
I had always been told that poem is about a trouser snake…
Now why I felt the need to say that twice, I’ll never know.
Sorry, but I’m with your wife here. Kill 'em. Kill 'em all. Ick!
Give her something else to occupy her mind.
Tell her about Hal’s great fondness for sheep.
If that don’t set her laughing too hard to be scared…
:dubious:
…uh, because they’re living, breathing creatures who don’t deserve to die just because someone who just moved into their turf is scared of them?
Just to add: when I see snakes in a populated area, I tend to catch them and carry them to the woods or something nearby where they will be safe and not bother anyone. Now, I’m not scared of snakes, so it isn’t hard for me to just pick them up… but I AM scared of roaches and scorpions, and yet I’ve caught both and carried them outside (not with my bare hands for those guys, though!!). I vote that you try to make the yard less snake-friendly, then just catch/release or chase away any that do come in.
Well, I’ve never been known for my responsibility…
Completely off-topic hijack: Opal, are you the same OpalCa who mods the mock_the_stupid community on Livejournal? Duuuuude! 
As for the garter snakes, if at all possible, pick one up and bring it to your wife. Ease her into holding it and let it slither around for a while. Cool experience as all get out.
Yep, that’d be me
Have you considered tying her down and letting the snakes crawl all over her, just to show her that they won’t harm her?
Worth a try.
We have garter snakes and black snakes at the cottage. I’ve managed to catch the odd one, and it’s always amazing to me just how silky smooth their belly scales are!
>>I don’t expect her to overcome her fears overnight, but I am hoping that she will educate herself on the benefits of snakes–and the fact that the garter snakes won’t hurt her.<< Again, if she is truly phobic, this will not help. If she is phobic, then her fear of snakes has nothing to do with any perceived danger, but is just fear of snakes. My mother, like some others have mentioned on this thread cannot stand to see a snake in a movie, or TV show, or a photograph. Obviously, she isn’t afraid that a photo of a snake will do her an injury – she is just so afraid of snakes in general that she is even affected by a picture of one. And, if she sees a snake in real life? Well, she is terrified beyond rationality. If she sees a snake she has no other thought than to get away from it. She has climbed trees and fences to get away from a snake. She climbed into the open rafters of my dad’s workshop once to get away from one. She almost knocked my little sister down a ravine once getting away from one. Another time, she would have run onto a busy highway, if my dad hadn’t caught her and stopped her. When she sees a snake, she doesn’t think ‘danger,’ she thinks, ‘SNAKE’, and she wants it gone.
Now, if she just dislikes snakes in a mild way, or genuinely thinks that all snakes are dangerous, you might be able to educate her out of her fear. But not if she is genuinely phobic. A phobia is an unreasoning fear and, as such, will not respond to education.