I'm sure we all have that one person (or several) in our life that hates our reptiles, specifically snakes. How do you deal with it?

I'm currently off at college and live in an apartment that doesn't allow dogs or cats. I got my first snake, a ball python, for company soon after I moved in there. My mom is one of those people who thinks that all snakes are venomous killers that grow to be 20 feet long.I just recently found out that for a year, she thought my Ball Python was one of those huge snakes that are loose in Florida, and that she is just a baby.

I recently adopted a red tail boa from the wildlife shelter that I work at, and I can understand my mom's fear of a boa constrictor. However, I'm pretty certain that the birds of prey I work with at the shelter are more dangerous than my red tail, yet according to her, me holding an eagle on my arm is cool and perfectly safe (even though an eagle could break my arm with their talon pressure). My mom is not scared of snakes, she just doesn't like them and thinks that they are going to turn into the snake from that movie Anaconda and eat me.

My current situation is that my mom desperately wants me to come home and visit for the summer, but yet she refuses to let the snakes in the house. I told her that I wouldn't come home unless my snakes were allowed, as I figured that if she wants me home so badly, then she would accept my snakes and accept the fact that I love them just as much as she loves her dogs. Plus, I don't trust anyone else to take care of my snakes while I'm gone. Now, our phone calls consist of her being sad that I chose my reptiles over her and such, which isn't true, I just don't want to give up my pets just because my mom, who no longer supports me at all, doesn't like them.

How do you guys deal with parents/friends/family members that don't like your reptiles.