Honestly, don't sell your parents short. My daughter went away to school last year, lived in a dorm and couldnt take her snake. I was terrified, but with the help of people on this forum I got from being unable to touch Dakota, to handling him at least enough for cleaning and trusting he wouldn't strike me when caring for him otherwise. Now Lydia lives off campus and wants to bring her snake with her, but I believe it's a bad idea - travelling back and forth for winter break and summer vacation would be too stressful. I've found Dakota and interesting hobby - took some of the stress out of my baby leaving for college and an all around fascinating project. Oh...and he's really cute - much bigger, but definitely cute.