Tips on pet frogs or snakes?

My almost 10yo son has been talking about being a herpetologist for
over a year now. He's lobbying very hard for a new pet for his
birthday in March. He would love either a snake or a frog. I'm not
excited about either one, especially when I think about having to feed
them live critters. However, I think it would be a good experience for
him and he's shown with our dog that he can be a responsible pet
owner. I found some information here
couple African Dwarf Frogs look to be the best place to start (you can
feed them frozen blood worms instead of live crickets). My main
question though is what do you *do* with a pet frog or snake? They
aren't something to cuddle with or teach tricks. To me they seem
even more boring than fish, which we've had before and I've never
really seen the attraction. I don't want to go through the expense
of setting up the right habitat only to have my son tire of it a few
months later. Have any of you had experience with snakes or frogs that
could share some tips? How quickly does the novelty wear off?

enigma...

let's see... i've had assorted "pet" reptiles since i was 3 &
i'm 51 now... so, i'd say the novelty is pretty durable ;)
that said, i wouldn't start with African Dwarf frogs. they
aren't very exciting & they take more work than the "wow"
factor needed for even a budding herptologist 10 year old.
if you like frogs, a White's tree frog is a nice, fairly easy
frog... although they are more nocturnal & they do eat live
food (bugs).
i see no reason not to start with a nice temperate climate
snake, like a corn or rat snake. they don't need the elaborate
heated setups that tropical snakes like boas or pythons do.
most snakes will take prekilled food & you can buy frozen mice
from pinkies to full size at Petco.
one caution when getting a first snake: do NOT get a baby.
get an adult. they tend to be easier to both feed & handle.
another reptile you might consider is a skink. they do need
live bugs, but they have personalities. house geckos,
uromastix, & bearded dragons are also all good "starter"
reptiles. insisting on something that only eats pre-killed
food is really limiting though. most reptiles will not do so.
we currently have (in reptiles):
1 Bell's Hingeback tortoise
a pair of Spider tortoises
1 year old snapping turtle
2 common toads
1 Schneider's skink
we'll have a corn snake as soon as i can find a place to put
it ;)
lee