Kevin can take them or leave them. He'd rather we get a snake than a Tarantula, which I've also considered. He hates spiders.
We just got the snake yesterday. I was at a Girl Scouts science event with my Brownies last weekend, and the presenter said she had a 4-ft. corn snake for sale. She had been giving reptile presentations in the schools, but now the schools don’t allow it! (Probably one person in the district complained ...)
Anyway, Tom (11) had been asking for a snake, and this one was reasonably priced with all his (her?) equipment, so we got it for him for Christmas. We also have two tropical anoles (little lizards), which we’ve been keeping since late summer, with a few replacements due to deaths :-(. I think one is still original. They’re not much fun.
The great thing about the snake is that it eats only about every other week, and you can order a year’s supply of frozen mice for about $20 on the internet. I checked up on corn snakes before we bought it, and the books said it’s about the easiest snake to keep at home.