Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone, I posted this already a few days ago but no one took it seriously for some reason so I'm going to repost it now.

To make a long story short I asked my mom if I could get a snake and she said "I just don't want one". Umm, I just wanted to ask what that means?

She isn't afraid of snakes
it's not the fact that it's a reptile because I care for a leopard gecko already,
it's not the money because I said I'd pay for it
it's not the space because I've told her how little space they take up and I have a ton of space in my room
it's not that she thinks I wont take care of it because she knows I take excellent care of my leopard gecko and have for years.

After all of that is there anything left? Is she being irrational? Is there anything I can do? I have already typed out at least 10 pages of info on corn snakes as well as about 7 pages of pictures trying to teach her a little about them. What should I do? What can I do? I'm pretty desperate because I don't understand her logic here... If anyone has any input please post it. Thanks in advance for any posts.

It's not that no one took you seriously. It's just that this is an extremely difficult thing to give a simple answer to when we don't know you or your mom. How can we interpret what someone is thinking when we've never met them?
Some people are not allergic to dogs, have never been attacked by a dog, may have even had positive experiences with dogs in the past, but that doesn't mean that they want to have one. That's my mom.
The way I see it, you're going about things the right way by doing your research and displaying your maturity and how interested you are in owning one. However, if someone's got their mind made up, and you live under their roof and thereby you live by their rules, then you may just have to wait until you've figured out a living situation on your own.
My parents are afraid of snakes, and that was their reason for not letting me have one. So, I respected that decision and waited until I had moved out and was supporting myself financially so that they could see that I would be responsible, and then started buying snakes.

Sometimes there's just nothing you can do except wait it out. Do more research, save money for when you're in a position to buy/own a snake, see if there are any local breeders that you can visit and spend time with their snakes so that when the time comes you have someone to go to, and just bide your time. Your mom may change her opinion once she's seen how diligently you've been working on learning every single inside and out of corn snakes, or she may not. That being said, I think you're probably doing the best thing you possibly can, already.
Best of luck.
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-Jaime Palma
Mad-City Constrictors

I couldnt have said it any better!!!
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My inside problems only effect the outside world....And I am ok with that.

I agree!, that was a very good response to the post, and every situation is different.

I was lucky enough as a kid, to have a mom that actually BOUGHT me snakes for Christmas and birthdays!

But as I stated in my earlier post,......if I persisted after she said no to things, I'd more than likely get the crap slapped out of me!..LOL.......point being, there are good points, and not-so-good-points about every parent!,......so when I got put on restriction, or any one of her many other forms of punishment, I was able to sit in my bedroom while all the other kids in the neighborhood were playing,and hold one of my pet snakes!..LOL.....see!,.....it all works out!

just havin' fun of coarse!..LOL(again)

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I took you plenty seriously, but come on! She says she doesn't want it. What does that mean? It means she doesn't want it. End of story. Strange as this may sound to you, some people literally, really, just that simply, DO NOT WANT SNAKES.

Come on! This isn't complicated. She doesn't want it. I could offer you a hedgehog. Do you fear them? They're not hard to care for, and don't take up any more room than a snake. But maybe you just *gasp! shock!* don't want one.

When you live with your parents, you're stuck with their rules. If she's said no, it's not the end of the world. I had to wait until I was moved out on my own to get snakes. It won't kill you.

I absolutely adore animals of all kinds, but my mother can't stand them. I didn't have any pets growing up unless I snuck them in and then she would make me get rid of them. She is also terrified of snakes.

So...I volunteered around horses as a pre-teen for riding privileges, worked at a vet's office in my teen years, then went to U of Fl as an Animal Science major/pre-vet. My jobs there had to do with working with lab rats or lab ponies, and I volunteered with the equine neonatology/ICU team. I bought my first Savannah Monitor and snuck him into my dorm room.

Fast forward a lot of years....I didn't finish my veterinary studies, but stayed in medicine. I became a science teacher working with kids and animals. I have over 30 animals in my house, mostly reptiles, and I can do whatever I want with them. My own kids help me out with them and my teen daughter wants to study zoology/herpetology at U of FL. My mom never comes over...

There is a point to all of this...there was nothing I could have said or done to convince my mother to let me have a snake, lizard, dog, cat, etc. In a previous thread, I thought you also said that you had relative coming that had an irrational fear of snakes. That fact will not help your situation any. Now that I'm a mother of a teen and an almost teen, I can tell you that the more they bug me about stuff, the madder I get. I love lizards, but now my oldest is bugging me for a water monitor. The answer is, "No," but she drops hints and asks all the time. It does not make me want a water monitor...trust me!

I couldn't have animals, but was still around them all the time. I just had to bide my time until I was on my own and could do what I wanted. But then you have to be careful, because you'll have significant others and spouses. Fortunately mine is very tolerant of my herping. I see snakes that have to be rehomed because someone got married, had a baby, and their wife/husband didn't want it around any more.

Be patient...if you're in your teens, then you should have about 60-70 years on your own...