the main reason i was thinking sand boas is because last fall i had spoke with some one about them at a show here, just not a lot at that point in time.

i did get to find out that a male can be kept in a 10 gal. tank it's entire life.
so size of the animal would be something the mom could deal with with out freaking out to much as aposed to something that would be 4 ft or longer.

i will have to let her look for herself at the show and make up her own mind as to what she thinks will be best for her son, just need to help her out a bit as to what direction to lean to over all for her best interest cause my fear is that the snake will become like that puppy all kids want and as soon as the new wares off the mom will be the one tending to it.

thanks for the replies

oh and AWSOME looking snakes there!
thanks for sharing those with me, gives me a better idea what an adult one looks like (the ones i seen were babies the size of night crawlers )