Nina, <P>I have a virtual zoo of reptilian animals in my house. We have a pet fire-belly frog, and he is great!! He has a red tummy and he eats tiny little crickets, so we buy them at the reptile store. It is my son's job to use his allowance money to feed his reptiles but he does it! The frog, has a half wet/half dryish habitat in a cage, and he sits in the mossy water, he jumps and chases the crickets, he jumps up the wall and sort of sticks, he sits on his log, and he sits on his beach. Frogs run about $15 and their set up might be another $15, but you can buy the cage and moss first for about $6 and then add on.<P>I also have a California King snake that is pinkish orange and brown. He started off to be the size of my pinky finger, and he is now larger around than my big toe! We have had him for three years, and he is also a wonderful pet. He likes to curl up in my hand and watch TV, and he also loves to curl up in my pocket and snuggle up on my shoulder. Yes, I said snuggle. Anyway, snakes usually start at about $25-$50 as "babies" and their setup is about $30 too. They need a cage, stuff made out of newspaper for a bed, water dish, and some way of getting warmth (usually a heat lamp or rock). Honestly, this pet is more sophisticated and is usually cool for a teenager. <P>I also have an iguana. They are cool pets that can literally last 25 years or more! You can buy a hatchling for about $25, and a used aquarium for the first couple years. They also require some cedar chips for a floor, a heat lamp, a couple branches from the trees, a water dish and food bowl. Iguanas eat salad made of lettuce, spinach, carrots,etc. and they LOVE LOVE LOVE bananas, so we always make our salad and put in tiny pieces of banana to entice them. Now, iguanas can be very tame and fun--and they can be let out of the cage. <P>I also have an anole. This may be the pet for you. An anole is very small, green lizard that is actually usually used as food for some of the bigger reptiles--but they make good "beginner" pets for littler kids. The are about the size of your finger, and you can buy them for about $2. Their setup is a small $5 cage and a water bowl. Add some grass as a floor (or small rocks or sand or moss) and some tree branches they can "climb around" on, and anoles are happy. They eat small crickets, which cost about $1 for 10, and that is a week's worth of food for them. Sometimes, they will change colors if they are warm or cold. <P>Good luck with your son, but my personal recommendation would be the anoles. They are inexpensive, cheap to maintain, but "IT'S A LIZARD MOM!!"
<P><BR>CJ<P>------------------<BR>Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.