Well this thread went to hell real fast didn't it?
freakin children in here....
Anyone...regardless of age and level of mental competence..... who i still living with their parents should wait for anything like this.... including larger snakes and monitor lizards, venomous, and crocodilians. You will not be living with your parents for ever (if you are any kind of functional human being) and more often than not, when you first move out on your own you will NOT have the space or even money to accommodate such animals, if you are in an apartment, dorm, rented house... anything that you don't actually own it's entirely possible you will not be allowed to keep some smaller harmless things (although that is pretty easily avoidable) and even some home owners associations state specifically what types of pets you can keep there. Then of course there are city and state regulations you need to be aware of as well... if you plan on advancing past basic college for a more in depth career....
for example... I am going to be an exotic vet... that means after I get my bachelors I have to apply to vet school....which is EXTREMELY competitive and there is no guarantee of me getting in to the vet school in the state that i live in.... hell, there's no guarantee that i will get into a vet school in the US. So I have been mindful of what I am keeping right now and save some more extreme things for later.... I have a caiman on my list as well but I will not have one until I am settled in an area that I am not going to have to leave for a long long time. So basically after college and once I have a house.
You have the rest of your life ahead of you and you don't HAVE to get into everything all right now. stick with some smaller more manageable things on your list and save some of the more difficult ones for later.
also... as long as you are living in your parents house they make the rules... unfortunately thats just how it is.....
and this isn't coming from a parent.... this is actually coming from an angry young woman who has hated her parents for the past 10 years of her life lol They have gotten MUCH better recently... still way over protective and make me freakin insane but much more accepting at least.... well....they don't actively discourage my love of reptiles anymore but they sure as hell haven't embraced it (moving out in 6 months and I could not possibly be any more over joyed)