[adamanteus]

That's pretty much how it happened with me. I was forbidden from keeping them, but I just kept on bringing them home! No amount of shouting or being grounded would stop me. I guess my parents eventually realised that my interest wasn't going to just go away. I think it also helped that my Father was born in Canada, and had grown up playing with Garter snakes, so he was probably a little more sympathetic than my Mother.