Snake Boy

So, the quest has begun. Little Helmut has been into snakes and reptiles for quite some time now. I believe it all started when he went to camp at the Heard Museum one summer. He has begged me on and off since then to get him a pet snake. This year his teacher, Mrs. Pruitt, has a pet corn snake named Solaris she keeps in the classroom (and wears around her neck most of the time). A few days ago, Helmut came home from school very excited because Mrs. Pruitt let him hold Solaris during class. I couldn’t resist his sweet science nerd face any longer. I told him he could get a snake (sorry Mom, I hope you will still come to visit if we promise to keep it in the garage while you’re here).

As a stall tactic, I told Helmut he had to earn all the money for the snake, habitat, food, etc. I also told him he was in charge of doing all the research about what he needed to buy and how he needed to care for the snake. I didn’t realize what a genius move this was until I looked on the Internet and found a corn snake hatchling costs between 75 and 100 dollars (not to mention the habitat cost around $100). In the meantime he walks around all day with a stack of 3 X 5 cards that contain all the information he had gathered so far. His goal is to earn all the money by the end of the year. How can I resist such a cute snake nerd boy?