I hear your pain....seriously. My husband and I are on opposite sides of the snake-lovin' scale. He tolerates them...just barely. It's taken me seven years to work my way up to one colubrid and 4 ball pythons....and that will be my absolute limit for the foreseeable future. I have fallen in love with and "kissed goodbye" many, many wonderful animals that I could not have.

It's not an easy thing to balance, at all.

If money is your only sticking point, though...then maybe start squirreling away your spending cash and building up your own special little pot of savings. Might be too late for this particular animal, but trust me, there will be many others to fall in love with along the way!