This fear is technically referred to as ophidiophobia and more commonly as snakephobia. It is one of the most common phobias that people suffer from. A person is said to have a phobia or a fear of snakes when this fear does not remain confined to a simple, direct contact with a snake, but goes on to accommodate the image of a snake and the fear that the very image brings with it in its entirety. Which means that any image of a snake on TV, in a picture, as a thought, or in dreams will instill the same degree of fear as that when one comes in direct contact with the snake.

Scientists have wondered why most people suffer from this fear even though they have probably never come in direct contact with a snake. It has been seen that this fear is a kind of evolutionary phobia that was developed because it had at its base the very instinct of survival. When man lived in the wild (which must have coincided with the snake habitat) and had a whole lot of elements to battle against in order to survive, there was the element of snakes as well. A fear of snakes forced mankind to avoid the snakes and thereby increase their chances of survival. Thus the fear seems to stem from the very genes.

Different people will react to their fear in different ways. Some of the common symptoms of this fear include a racing heart, sweating, heavy breathing, clammy hands, and cold hands and feet among others. For some, it might be more intense and might even be accompanied with an anxiety attack, a nervous breakdown, or even losing consciousness. Some people might even experience a displacement or a generalization of this fear and begin to fear things that are not directly related to a snake or the image of a snake