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if You were a parent what would you do?

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Ok your son/daughter comes home and he has all the money to buy a corn snake. The setup and everything it would have a perfect life. (now you dont like snakes* i know this is proablly the worst place ever to post this.) he has a lizard witch he takes care of and promises to provide everything for the snake. Mice/water/aspen blaa blaah blaah.

Would you say yes.

NOW: remeber your not a corn snake lover. You dont like snakes. know nothing about the snake. but spend no money on it what so ever.

I plan on doing this over summer buying a corn in august.
 
I don't like spiders, so I'll treat this as if it's how I felt about a child getting a tarantula.

"Yes you can have it, but the moment it escapes, it is no longer welcome in this house."
 
When I was in the 8th grade, I wanted to get a baby rat from my science teacher. It was $2 and a permission note from my parents. The $2 was easy and I already has the set up from owning mice previously. My mother was ok with all the other critters I'd had before, but a rat was not on her good list. Finally she agreed, with the caveat that she didn't have to see it, touch it or know it was in the house. So after school one day she picks me up, I have my little Habitrail cube to keep the baby in for the ride home and off we go to my music lesson. I come out 30 mins later to find my mother in the car with the baby rat crawling up her arm. I asked, "What happened to not wanting to see it or touch it?" She looks and me and gushes, "But it's sooo cute!". I lucked out on that one!! But she was not willing to give in to a snake. I waited until I moved out to get one. I did move back briefly while she had cancer and I told her the snake was coming with me. She was ok with that, lol.

So if I was parent and it was something I didn't like, I'd make my child keep it in their room and if it got out, then we'd have to talk about re-homing it. LOL
 
How old is your child? I think it needs to be explained that corns are a very long term commitment. They live 20 years or so, which means that the child would very possibly have to deal with rehoming the snake when he/she goes away for college or moves into an apartment where pets aren't welcome. As a college student myself, I live in constant fear that someone in a position of authority will find out about my two and ask me to remove them. Hiding the babies isn't that hard, but hiding a five foot long snake would be more difficult. See if you can explain this to the child from the perspective of doing what is best for the animal. I dunno, it might work.
 
I do suggest respecting your parents' rules. If you provide them with educational material about the snake, give them guidelines for how you're going to care for the snake and they still say no, then please be mature enough to abide by that. Don't be one of the whiners who think their parents are unfair. It's their house and their rules. I would hope, though, that by already being responsible for a lizard will deomstrate to them that you can provide for another animal, even if its not their favourite.
 
1st of all - I think snakes are much easier than lizards - so if he can look after the lizard well and meet its needs I see no reason why a snake would be out.

KingCrimson<3 said:
How old is your child? I think it needs to be explained that corns are a very long term commitment. They live 20 years or so, which means that the child would very possibly have to deal with rehoming the snake when he/she goes away for college or moves into an apartment where pets aren't welcome. As a college student myself, I live in constant fear that someone in a position of authority will find out about my two and ask me to remove them. Hiding the babies isn't that hard, but hiding a five foot long snake would be more difficult. See if you can explain this to the child from the perspective of doing what is best for the animal. I dunno, it might work.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this if we were talking about a BCI - but a corn honestly isn't that big. And their caging requirements also aren't that big. I know that here the no animal rule usually refers to the furry kind and birds (which make noise). A blind eye is normally turned to things like snakes and fish, etc. It might be a bit more strict on your side of the world. I dunno - but
I'd let the kid get it.
 
Shiari said:
"Yes you can have it, but the moment it escapes, it is no longer welcome in this house."
Click to expand...
It sounds like it would be most welcome in your house when it escapes, lol.

Good comparison, though. I also am a bit squeamish about spiders, but *if* I had a child that had shown the knowledge and responsibility to properly care for it, than I would certainly be fine with it. Parents should encourage their children to follow their interests, even if it's not their own, and so long as they have the proper dedication to succeed in their endeavors.
 
I would mostly be concerned about the long term commitment. Children/ teens/ young adults in college have uncertain futures, and changes in living arangements and income can make it nearly impossible to make a long term commitment to an animal. There also tends to be a lot of scheduling issues and stress that can make it tough to keep up with the work of an animal, even a low maintence one. I am a college student, but my snake has a permantant home with my fiance who isn't in school and lives with his dad in a house they own. I am hoping to bring my snake to an apartment with me, but I am not giving up an apartment I want for the snake and I am not getting my hopes up about finding a landlord that isn't freaked out.

So while I plan to allow my future kids to have pets that are "theirs", I will take responsibility for anything in my home because people without permant living situations and jobs aren't in a position to do that. If my future children asks for a pet that I would not be willing to care for, then the answer will be no. Letting kids learn is important, but when a living creature is involved I would not risk putting them ina situation where eventually they may not have a home or someone willing to care for it properly.
 
I only want to add that while it's true that cornsnakes can live quite a long while, it's also true that most of us don't feel like it's an ethical problem to sell or otherwise re-home one's snakes when one's situation/interests change. Therefore, the possibility of eventually moving to college and needing to make other arrangements for the snake doesn't seem to me to represent a deal-killer.
 
dionythicus said:
When I was in the 8th grade, I wanted to get a baby rat from my science teacher. It was $2 and a permission note from my parents. The $2 was easy and I already has the set up from owning mice previously. My mother was ok with all the other critters I'd had before, but a rat was not on her good list. Finally she agreed, with the caveat that she didn't have to see it, touch it or know it was in the house. So after school one day she picks me up, I have my little Habitrail cube to keep the baby in for the ride home and off we go to my music lesson. I come out 30 mins later to find my mother in the car with the baby rat crawling up her arm. I asked, "What happened to not wanting to see it or touch it?" She looks and me and gushes, "But it's sooo cute!". I lucked out on that one!! But she was not willing to give in to a snake. I waited until I moved out to get one. I did move back briefly while she had cancer and I told her the snake was coming with me. She was ok with that, lol.

So if I was parent and it was something I didn't like, I'd make my child keep it in their room and if it got out, then we'd have to talk about re-homing it. LOL
Click to expand...
Awwww, that's super adorable!!!
desertanimal said:
I only want to add that while it's true that cornsnakes can live quite a long while, it's also true that most of us don't feel like it's an ethical problem to sell or otherwise re-home one's snakes when one's situation/interests change. Therefore, the possibility of eventually moving to college and needing to make other arrangements for the snake doesn't seem to me to represent a deal-killer.
Click to expand...
True, but if a parent is mostly familiar with the dog and cat variety of pet, they may not understand the concept of rehoming a beloved animal.

My parents not only wanted me to pay for all the supplies myself, but also to assure them that
A) They would never have to see the mice or touch them and
B) They would never have to help me care for them.
They take this extremely seriously and won't even change water in one tank while I change water in another.
 
Well

Pretty much, you have to do whatever your parents say...:awcrap:
They deserve the respect for them raisng you.
My mom hates snakes and she wont even visit me, unless I make it where she cant see any. Some people have a fear of them.
 
stephen said:
Pretty much, you have to do whatever your parents say...:awcrap:
They deserve the respect for them raisng you.
My mom hates snakes and she wont even visit me, unless I make it where she cant see any. Some people have a fear of them.
Click to expand...

I have friends like that. One friend refused to come over at all because I had snakes. She didn't care that they were secure in a room upstairs.
 
stephen said:
Pretty much, you have to do whatever your parents say...:awcrap:
They deserve the respect for them raisng you.
My mom hates snakes and she wont even visit me, unless I make it where she cant see any. Some people have a fear of them.
Click to expand...

dionythicus said:
I have friends like that. One friend refused to come over at all because I had snakes. She didn't care that they were secure in a room upstairs.
Click to expand...
What a bunch of weirdos. Maybe it's like cilantro, where the genetically superior taste an herb and the genetically inferior taste soap :p They must be missing some crucial sequence in their brains to not think snakes are awesome!!!
 
:shrugs: I guess I'm a pushover :shrugs:

I can't stand spiders! They give me the heebie jeebies and send me running and screaming... In 1997 my inlaws got my, then 4 year old, son a tarantula. Of course a 4 year old can't do all of the care taking, but really, it's not that big of a deal to care for a spider in a terrarium....

Never had a snake, but wasn't as squeamish about them as spiders. Neighborhood kids drug home a garter snake from a local creek. All the kids were passing it around, mishandling it, begging all their parents to keep it. I felt sorry for it and brought it in... that was in 2002 and it's essentially been my snake all along (and started a bit of an obsession <gg>).

So, as a kid, of course you have to follow your parent's rules. As a parent, I say lighten up and let the kids learn to love all living creatures. I know I'm talking to the choir here, though :)
 
I am not a parent. That has to come first. That said, it depends on the age & responsibility level of the kid. I kept MULTIPLE aquaria & bred tropical fish before I was 18 yo, but mom was OK with that because I did the work & had proven that I was responsible enough to expand from one tank to multiples by being 100% on the 1st tank, then the 2nd, and so on. I had also demonstrated that I was going to stay interested in fish for a while, and that I was even willing to keep them alive during a 72h winter power outage (which was a lot of work!). So if it were my kid and they had demonstrated they were mature enough & responsible enough that I would not have to take care of the animal or pay any $ for it or its care, I would say yes. I had to imagine a tarantula to have any qualms, as I love snakes, but I am a little creeped out by large hairy spiders! LOL

Corn snakes are long lived, but do not get so attached to their owners that they cannot be rehomed, so I see the college issue as less important than a long-lived dog and a kid who is likely to go to college during that dog's lifetime.

The bottom line, though, is that if the parent is paying for the home, you have to follow their rules even if you are over 18.
 
I do not think it's okay to bring any pet into a household unless everyone in the household agrees. Added to that, your mom is legally responsible for the pets you get. If you get sick, leave town, or get bored of a pet and neglect it, your mom has to either provide care, rehome it, or face neglect charges from animal control.

If you can't wait until you are living on your own in a pet-friendly apartment and financially stable, you should not have a snake. We rescued our snake from a young woman who thought she wanted a snake, got it right away, and then never really looked after it properly because she thought it was so boring. It took her a year to find someone to take the snake and she nearly got evicted from her apartment for having it. Now she's out hundreds of dollars and we have a snake with health problems due to neglect.
 
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