I have been wanting a corn for the past 6 or so months. Im trying to convince her into letting me get one. She has said that a snake is a wild animal not to be domesticated (ie. dogs and cats). Like a form of animal abuse I guess. My dad, brother, and sister have/had pet mice, chinchillas, hamsters. Point there is those are wild animals too, not meant to be domesticated, but yet it was ok for them to have them?
These corns are captive bred and they live in paradise when properly taken care of. They dont have to worry about finding food, they get fed roughly every 6 days. They get taken out and get excerise, they dont have to worry about predators, etc.
So if anyone else can throw there two cents in on this to help me convince her that having a snake is ok I would gladly appreciate it. If it works ill be sure to post some pics of my new corn
Thanks
It can be difficult to convince parent's to let their children have snakes for several reasons, though usually it's because of fear or dislike on the parent(s) behalf - not saying this is the case here, but just wanted to point it out.
As for snakes being 'wild' animals - it is true in a since because they can't be trained. However, a good number of the snakes on the market today are not technically 'wild' - meaning that they are not taken out of the wild and sold as pets, they are bred in captivity.
So, the first thing to try, is to find out if your mother objects to the snake because she is afraid it will be a wild caught animal (one taken directly from the wild) or if she's worried about it biting you or someone else in the house because it has a 'wild' nature.
Make sure you approach the whole problem in a calm manner, because the more mature you behave while trying to convince her, the better chance you will have.
Once you know more about why she doesn't want one in the house, you can start building your case for why you should be allowed to have a pet corn. Here are some things I'd suggest doing once you have a better idea of why your mom refuses.
1) Do research on corn snakes, put together a report (yeah, sounds like school work doesn't it? lol) with basic information such as what kind of care corn snakes require: ie proper housing, diet, size, and temperament. Make it a point to mention that most corn snakes will take Frozen/Thawed mice as food as opposed to live. Sometimes, it is the thought of feeding off something cute and fuzzy that turns people off of snakes. Make sure to find out if your local pet stores carry F/T mice - many of them do.
Be sure to include that most corns are fairly calm when interacting with people, providing that they are handled often. Sure, snakes may bite, but so do cats, dogs, and rodents - heck, my husband was even bitten by one of our fish. I'd still rather have one of our snakes bite me than one of the rats or mice - hurts less.
2) Put together an estimate of how much it would cost to properly house your snake and the cost of the snake. Compared to a mouse, a snake might seem to be an expensive pet, though generally it will live far longer than the mouse.
3) Once you've done those two things, I'd sit down and talk to your mom about wanting a snake again and show her the information you have gathered. Be sure to answer any questions she has with facts you have learned. By having all the information you gathered you will also be showing your mom that you are acting responsible and are really serious about wanting a snake (That it's not just a passing fancy that she'll end up having to deal with later.)
4) Sit down with your mom at the computer and read some of the forums with you. There is a huge source of information all over the place here that can answer most any question that either of you might have.
You can also so a search for similar topics that asked the same questions you did, and read through some of their suggestions.
Good luck... =)
