hehe He is 6 and actually isn't really afraid of the dark too much. He just got used to sleeping with a lamp on and while he's been doing good knowing that the snake needs dark, I like him to be able to reach over and turn on a light if he needs to He's super excited to have a ball python, someone came to his school and showed hers off so he's been asking for one ever since. And after doing much research we decided to get one I'm not sure if we have a male of female, but my son named it Steve, after the Crocodile Hunter lol