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A Cornsnake Compromise

If my mom told me why she's afraid of snakes, I'd be more understanding. I try to put it in perspective with my fear of spiders. There are spiders all over the house and has long as they aren't on me or in my bed or clothes, I'm just fine. I've killed a few, but they were a little too close for comfort. If I apply that to my mom's fear of snakes, she should have no problem if the snake stays away from her. She doesn't go in my room often and she is mostly at work. And I figure promising no escape would put her mind at ease. *sigh* The human brain is so complicated. :confused: I don't even think she'd be interested in a baby, I showed her pictures one day that even show how small it was. She said, "That's your definition of cute?" I think it's a lost cause.
 
Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. But as far as asking her why she is afraid of snakes, she probably doesn't know herself. Sometimes people are just terrified of some things and they don't know why, and even if they are willing to think about it logically, all the logic in the world would not stop them from being afraid. I don't think people generally enjoy living in fear, if she could help it she probably would. However, even for someone with a phobia, she seems to be unreasonable. But on the other side of the pancake, I have had corns escape even the most secure cages. So far the only enclosure that seems to be escape proof is my rack. My advice, don't bring it up to often. But continue your route on a reasonable scale. She is bound to realize how mature you are being sooner or later. In the meantime, continue saving so maybe by the time you convince her the financial responsibility for your new pet will be able to be fully covered by you. With the exception of vet bills, but if you buy from a good breeder and take good care (which I know you will) you shouldn't have any vet bills.
Good Luck Kilo
 
I understand Kilo. My mother has tried telling my daughter that snakes are the devil! Like in adam and eve and the tree of life LoL!!! I will never beable to convince her otherwise, but she is a basket case! Gotta love her! Anyways my daugher is nolonger scared of snakes infact i cant pull Slinka out of the cage w/o my daughter begging to hold her!
 
i was here

although i didnt have to go so far as to make a treaty over it. instead when i first got my baby my father had built a really nice lid for the tank. its made in a way that i can open just one end or the other without having to completely take the lid off. and it has quite a few locks to it. needless to say you cant get in or out without opposable thumbs. after she saw that she relaxed a bit. nowadays she even likes my snake. they might be a bit startling at first but once she sees that they are very neat, clean, quiet pets maybe she will warm up to him. good luck with it!
 
I had the same experience when I was younger.
My mother was terrified of snakes and whould absolutely not let me keep snakes.
I managed to compromise with her and she let me have a lizard (bearded dragon) instead, even though she wasn't keen about lizards either.
Though I hadn't planned it out this way in the long run she had got quite attached to it and allowed me to aquire more reptiles and eventually snakes.
This isn't the easy way but it worked for me.

Sometimes it just takes easing them into it.
 
Yeah, my mom said she rather I get a lizard or a turtle. I really don't want a turtle, but I love lizards almost as much as I love snakes. Lizards, though, seem out of my budget. I only have $120. They need so much as well, not as easy to keep as a snake.If she was willing to pay for most of it, then I would gladly take a bearded dragon. I told her I'd need to keep crickets then and she said that was fine as long as it wasn't mice (I think she should have gone with the mice, they'd be dead). But wait till the crickets escape and run free in the house. She terrified of crickets too. I'd have to catch every single one before she kills them. I good at it too. The chirping would become annoying even if they're in the garage. I guess I should make a pet comparsion. How about cornsnakes vs dogs and lizards. I bet I can make cornsnakes look a lot better compared to her dog Zeus. The dog has more potential to hurt her than a cornsnake. I hope I'm good at persuasive and informative writing.
 
i guess i also did the roundabout way

i guess i also took the roundabout path to getting a snake i just never thought about it that way. my first reptiles were little lizards called anoles. they are tiny, inexpensive little guys that dont require much in the way of a tank. i made a little 5 gallon terrarium for a pair of them that worked well for them their whole lives. they eat crickets. the crickets are fairly easy to keep if you put them in a gerbil carrier (those little tiny plastic cages) and use a bit of seran wrap over the larger holes. after those guys finally died i got a leopard gecko. also a fairly small inexpensive guy. lives off of crickets when he is younger. really pretty colors too. the bonus to one of these is that when he gets older and full grown you can feed him small pinkies. *wink wink nudge nudge* sound familiar? anyways, once again, good luck!
 
a further thought

something occurred to me a few minutes ago talking to my mother, although im not so sure it is something you would like to hear. im not sure how soon this will be relavant either as i dont know how old you are. one thing to remember about corns is that they live quite a long time. this could cause you a few problems a couple of years down the road if you are looking at going away to college. in fact, if my mother hadnt decided my corn was a nice guy, and wasnt nice enough to agree to keep him for me initially while i work out living arrangements that will work for us both moving far away for grad school, id be having some problems. since your mother doesnt seem in the least bit interested in having a snake or bonding with him like mine eventually did, that wouldnt be a viable option for you. which might leave you trying to find a home for him if you were to go away for college or got stuck with an apartment that didnt allow pets. on that note, perhaps a shorter lived lizard might be a good answer to your urge to have a reptile in your life until youre out on your own. just one of those random thoughts that came to me. being separated from my baby is going to suck initially but at least its not a permanent thing in my case.
 
College is 3 years away and my mom said once I leave the house she'd get me a snake. I don't even know if I'd be able to take it (Haven't heard about any college allowing pets in the dorms). If I got one, I'd hope my brother would take care of it until I was done, probably only 4 years. Maybe my mom would warm up to it by the time I go to college. Who knows?
 
Welll....

I'd say go for the lizard now and wait those 3 years for a snake. (I hate to say or recommend it, but you can hide ANYTHING in a college dorm. I actually did know a guy who went to school and stayed in the dorms 4 years and kept snakes the whole time. He even brought them home in my car once and I didn't know it.) I know how hard it is to wait, since I wanted a snake last year in the spring, but couldn't get one because I was moving into a pet-free house (for college), and had to respect my roommates' wishes. I waited only 9 months to finally get one, but it was really tough, especially with internet acess and sites like Serpenco, Kingsnake.com and Corn-utiopia.com in my bookmarks!

But, there are a lot of other cool reptiles other than snakes! Even now I think about getting a beardie-- they're sooo cute and grow nice and big. When I first wanted a reptile so long ago, I "settled" for green anoles. They were fun to watch, especially when they ate their crickets, although not exactly handleable animals.

But think of it this way. Once you have a small lizard, even anoles or something, if you care for it well and it never escapes, maybe that can be more proof to your mom you are responsible enough to keep a snake, and to keep a snake away from her! Also, you can take her on trips to buy crickets or other reptile supples at the pet store and keep exposing her to the snakes. Good luck!
 
You sound like a very intellegent and responsible young person. If this can help, tell your Mom that another mother (me) allows her 2 small children, ages 2 1/2 and 4 1/2, to pet and hold her corn snakes with supervision. My children find them fascinating and totally cool! Snakes are not slimy and corn snakes are the gentlest around.
Lizards are very nice, but, as it has been mentioned, the live crickets can be more trouble than any frozen mouse in the freezer. When I bred chameleons, I constantly had crickets loose in the house. The constant chirping became very irritating, and the smell was absolutely horrid!
Even though you have your favorite morphs, you may suggest to your Mom that you would let her pick out the color of the snake. Since corns come in a variety of designer colors to match any decor, it may appeal to her "decorating" side. An example: a nice bubblegum snow corn could say to her..."It's a PINK snake! How scary can a pink snake be?"
Good luck!
 
you got it all covered!!

my mum was exactly the same as your mum towards ALL snakes, its sound like anyway . . . . I reasearched and reasearched everyday l00king for ANY information i didnt know already about these amaxing spiecies, and i just told her about cornsnakes everyday, like you i worked out all my answers to possible questions beforehand an i answered any question she had . . . .but still she wasnt going to let me have one!!!


well, on christmas day i had opened all my presents (that sound s0000 childish i know, but ey IM ONLY 15!!!) then she sed look behind the sfa so i did, and there was a box shape covered . . . i ad no dea what it was as i didnt think i would get a cornsnake . . .she said remove the paper off the thing and it was a vivarium!!!!!!! inside was a lil cornsnake!!! i juped and screemed the house down!!! lol

now my mum LIKES cornsnakes and she often handles Stella!!!

just dont give up because eventually you WILL won a cornsnake, so keep positive thinking and do what you are doing, come ack to these forums and learn more if there is anything more you can learn about!!!! and have fun!! :D:D:D
 
Lots of good advice and some interesting experience shared here...
Gosh, I feel lucky! My mom always has been a big animal person. The task was making sure grandparents would still visit...lol...not like I'd mind too terribly much! j/k ;) :D
 
Hey, college is 3 years away for me too! Anyway, my brother told me his college said no pets but if you go and ask specifically about keeping a small, harmless reptile in a secure container they let you. Of course this isn't what EVERY college will say and also you must make sure you aren't violating any state laws with your pet. He also told me about one of his friends who kept a kitten for 2 years in a "no pets" dorm without anyone finding out. Hm...

Anyway, Kilojara, I really do feel bad for you that your mom won't allow you to get a snake...
Hopefully one of two things with happen. 1. Your mom will come around or 2. You will win the logo contest.

Good luck~!
 
Hey Kilo guess what my mom is the same way but last night I was talking to her and she said "maybe"!!! Hear is what you can say if you live in a state that is warm during the summer!!!! You can tell her that you will the leave the snake outside(in a building or shed of some sort)and if the snake does not escape or if she does not feel comforatable after having the snake in the shed untill the end of the summer you will take it to a snake show and sell it!!!(But atleast you will have a snake for the summer)and chances are that she might let you keep it!!! Plus I would suggest that you tell her that you will buy the food with your own money!!!!!!;)
 
I think there are plenty of colleges that will let you keep a pet that lives inside a tank or cage. I went to Cornell, and a neighbor of mine kept a boa constrictor in her dorm room all four years. :) And reptiles are even easier than the hampsters and gerbils that some people kept, because no one is ever allergic to a reptile... But you might find that there are more restrictions, like that you can only keep pets in a single room (no roommate), which is a lot more expensive than your typical double.

If keeping a snake in a dorm doesn't work, you can try looking for an apartment. Even if the landlord says "No pets" at first, you can try explaining that your pet is non-allergenic, doesn't shed and lives in a tank so it can't damage any furniture or anything. A large college or university may be inflexible about their rules, but a landlord will often allow your pet when they find out how clean and non-allergenic it is. :)
 
Maybe if I go to an art college, I can say the corn is my muse (inspiration) and I can't draw without it around. Or if I go to college for science I can say its part of my research.:D ;) I going to try one more time. I wrote about cornsnakes vs bearded dragons and 20 reasons corns are easier than dogs. I also wrote about dealing with fear so I hope it works this time. If not, I think I'll take a lizard and just work really hard on the logo contest.
 
Eh, college. I'll be moving to my room next month - no pets allowed, it says. I'm gonna see if there is any way for me to keep just one with me...Good thing I have a cool dad :), and the snakes are my hobby as well as his...he still expects me to come home every weekend to feed them (45 min away). :D
 
All pets except fish were banned at my college, but I had a really great Ecology professor who required us to keep an animal to study for the semester. Some people kept them in their rooms and just hoped they didn't get caught, and she let us keep some in her classroom, so we had access to them every day but couldn't get in trouble for it! :)
 
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