Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone!

I'm a sixteen year old girl, and very interested in reptiles. I currently have one green anole, and a pacman frog. My dad is all for me adding to my collection. I've been researching cornsnakes for the past 6-8 months, and fell in love with them when I actually saw them at a local reptile show. But my mom thinks snakes are an un-ladylike pet.

I have a job, and I will most likely will be living home during my college years. So future housing isn't an issue, since I'm an only grandchild, and will be receiving my grandfather's house when I turn 18. [he and my grandmother passed years ago]

She's just flat-out refusing. I currently give some money towards electric each month, and have bought my own generator to keep my pets stable during the black-outs we sometimes have here in Northern NJ.

How can I convince my mom that snakes are a good pet for a "young lady"?

I think she's just mad that I gave up riding for my reptiles, lol.

Well, you might not like my answer....

You might just have to wait until you get your own house! I'm a mom and I have two girls, 13 and 11. I'll tell you, the more kids bug their parents for something, the more the parents get aggravated and the less likely they are to say, "Yes." You definitely don't want to pit your parents against each other, but your dad may be able to talk to your mom for you. My mom hates, hates, hates snakes and I never had any pets as a kid unless I just brought them home and snuck them into my room. I studied animals in college, work as a vet tech to pay for school, cared for horses and rats and worked in research at the U of Fl, and eventually studied in human health care. I didn't like working in the hospital, so I used my science background to become a science teacher and also homeschool my girls. We have 6 lizards, a gator, 10 snakes, frogs, bugs, and we use them in our family business to educate people about reptiles. So, I waited and then had all the pets I wanted!

My youngest has pet snakes and she also trains in classical ballet at our pre-professional ballet school. She's very lady-like. If you'd like to check us out, our website is www.zoomomscience.com

cornsnakes are an excellent choice! they are simple to care for and most of them are extremely well tempered!

to be totally honest, i think that the cornsnake will be MUCH easier to take care of than the frog & anole...afterall, you can keep a year's supply of frozen rodents in the freezer, and you dont have to deal with stinky mealworms/crickets.

i reccommend educating you mom a little more about the captive care of cornsnakes, their wonderful dispostions, etc...

my mom wouldnt let me have a snake either, but i caught this 5ft female black rat snake, and after keeping her for a week...my mom decided that snakes weren't so bad, and after i let "Milly" go, we went to the pet store & i got my first snake

its been 2 or 4 years since then, and now i have 5snakes

it sounds like you & you dad could talk your mom into it though!

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0.1.0 Hogg Island Boa
0.1.0 Albino Columbian Boa
1.0.0 Carpet Python
0.0.1 Red Albino Cornsnake
0.0.1 Aberrant California Kingsnake
1.0.0 Greek Tortoise
1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Leopard Toad
2.2.0 Dogs
1.1.0 Cats
1.0.0 Rabbit
1.0.0 Gerbil
....................................

Shed Your Fears!
http://www.freewebs.com/ShedYourFears

To me, you can't really put pets into catagories by gender... I got my first snake when I was about 10, and have been keeping them ever since. I now have my own small business breeding and running educational programs for the public, and I'm a lady!

Maybe your mom just needs more information on snakes as pets, and needs to talk to some women who keep snakes, they're one of the best pets out there in my opinion.

I'm 12 and what I had to do with my mother(who thought snakes were evil killers) was do alot of things with no complaints and showing her some info on how sweet and polite(yes, polite) snakes can be

But that is so awesome that your dad likes the idea, my dad thought I was insane(because I already have a Bearded Dragon and 2 Leopard Geckos)
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1.1.0 Leopard geckos
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Ball Python
0.2.0 Dogs
1.1.0 Cats
2.2.0 Ferrets
1.0.0 Gerbils
0.1.0 Bunnies