I know where you're coming from, Gio.

I have a history of that. I have a lot of animals, and I love them, but as you said: they became old news.

I'm really hoping that this spark never dies, and that's why it's good for me to wait for a bit until getting an animal with such a large responsibility. But the problem was with all of these animals: they were on impulse. If you want to know how I got a ball python it was because I went to Petsmart to get another fish tank and my dad had interested me into getting a snake. I love her to death and she had to get some upgrades on some things but it bothered me that I went in headstrong not knowing where to start with a snake. I had never owned any reptile before. Luckily it turned out okay because I educated myself quickly and found out what was right for her but - I really wish I planned.

Like for this retic, dwarf, boa, whatever snake it is going to be I am planning for it. I want to make sure it's on my mind day by day and it still feels right and the animal has the right habitat and gets a healthy life right when it gets to my house. If I'm still passionate in one or two years about snakes and about this - I should be good. One great thing that keeps me going is learning something new everyday about them. Whether I own the snake or not, the more educated I am the more I get into it.

I'm going to educate myself more, get hands on experience, visit a breeder that is an idol to me and really see what I'm heading into.

I know that my mom doesn't like snakes too much. When my dad and I brought home a ball python she was mad. But I told her of what I learned about ball pythons and other snakes and let her interact with the snake and she slowly started to think that they were cute and that they are great animals. When I told her about a ten foot Jampea retic she freaked out but I showed her a video of an owner showing his Jampea and she thought the size wasn't too bad. Then again, she didn't like the medium-sized boa constrictor because "it's face isn't cute."

??? They're still great animals???

I'm telling her things about snakes everyday and she's starting to loosen up on them. Someone was holding an adolescent retic at a reptile show and she thought it was cool. Hopefully in however long it takes, one to two years, she would've warmed up enough to a bigger snake. My dad is fine with these snakes, but my mom I will have to work with. She's defiantly being nice about it at least.