Brother wants a little critter for his bday.. Any suggestions?

[ViperJr]

First of all, please note that I do not know your brother or you, therefore please do not take anything personally. This is just my own opinion on this general subject, ok?
Moreover, I'm in a very similar situation. My younger brother (just a few years older than yours) really wants a Rankin's dragon, but I pretty much have the same opinion there as what I'm going to tell you, so I'm not talking totally out of my ***... Only mostly

Before anything else, get your parents onboard, since they are the ones resonsible in the end, no matter how responsible your younger brother is. Until he's an adult, it's their busines just as much (if not more). The next step is getting the little one to actually decide on a specific species that he really likes and want to take care of, not just the concept of taking care of something. When that is settled, get together with him and research-research-research! Of course, this is hard when you are at the age of 10, so you probably will have to help him a lot with this part.
After that, it's the usual "setting up a proper terarrium"-aspect, which is probaly a great deal of fun to do with your brother!

After all of this, it might be time to get him his pet. Now, of course, all of this might be hard to do before February. Animals is a terrible gift, unless all the preperations are done beforehand. You gift could be to pay for all of this and help him.
Lastly, if he is a ten year old kid that wants something "fun to look at", a reptile or amphibian might generally not be the best pet in the first place.

Best of luck and wish Congratualtions from Frog Forum to him on his big day!