Oh c'mon!!! These are people who have read "IT" and can't tolerate a tiny harmless animated gif of squirming snakes?! Folks, they're not gonna jump out of the monitor! (Ahhh!!!!! They're in my lap!! They're in my lap!!! Somebody shoot me!!!)
Me, I hate rats with a passion! A lot more that snakes.
G-d, those disease carrying, red eyed, snarling, little flea-ridden gray bags full of hate freak me out.
The weird way they walk ... and the tails! Plus they're just mean as hell! But still I managed to read Graveyard Shift! And I watched the movie. Did they get me over my fear of rats? Of course not! They may have increased it! But try and find a way to conquer your fear. Maybe go to Toys-R-Us, dump a bunch of them buckets of rubber snakes on the floor and roll around in them! Of course you'll be escorted out and banned from Toy-R-Us for life, but it's less about restraining orders than it is about your personal growth. Several years back, the last time I had a serious rat nightmare, I remember it like it was yesterday. Still half asleep I staggered from my marriage bed, found our kitty Malachi (she thinks he's named after the prophet, but for me it's always been 'Children of the Corn'), and getting back in bed with what in my addled state I considered a furry chunk of
'rat kryptonite', pathetically happy and still half zonked, I muttered words to the effect, "You wanna dance rats? Let's dance ... snooore." It worked for me! Now here's the giant rat from 'Graveyard Shift' having some damn birthday cake. Look! He's enjoying it!