I was in the same boat you are in now. My entire family hates snakes, and yes we got waaay to many animals, 9 cats is enough but thats just the begenning of pets. I wanted a snake badly enough that i snuck it in the house, set it up, fed it, all the works. Then my parrents found out and yes my dad freaked cause hes a lil puss whos deathly affraid of a snake thatsin MY room that I have to deal with not him. Anyways he kept telling me and hinting i should get rid of it, but i never did and my mom was like oh well lifes to short to blow up and argue about something little. So here i am a year later with my Ball python, actually.. 2 ball pythons. :p