Rex looks wonderful. Welcome to BPNet to you and your daughter.

I love the things that snake ownership can teach a child. I have four kids myself and 40 snakes. It's been a lot of fun over the years watching the snakes teach my children things like patience, trusting your gut instincts, empathy, research skills, creating and maintaining routines, responsibility, etc. As a mom I can harp on that stuff till the cows come home, but for some reasons the snakes get the point across much better than I.

They also come in really handy at science project time. You've got a built in and very unique pet that can make for a very interesting science presentation. One of my kids won a science contest based on a study she did of the rats that feed our snakes (we raise our own feeder rats).