# Site General > Off-topic Cafe > Introduce Yourself! >  Hello from a small and rainy European country 😂

## Ripley

Hi! 

I joined because I just became a snake-mom! 
She's my very first ball python, and though I did a ton of research, I found this forum to have the most useful and quality information.

I've always been intrigued by critters of the coldblooded variety, and as a child I nagged my parents for a pet snake until it drove them nuts, but sadly to no avail.

So, "adult" (hahaha nope. Just pretending, ya know.), and with my own house it was finally possible for me to get the pet I so long desired. 

I spent approximately the equivalent of a Skyrim playthrough thinking about if I wanted a wild color, or one of those spiffy morphs.

I ended up with a lesser het desert ghost female, purchased from a local breeder, and named her Ripley. (Yes, I'm one of thise users that uses their actual pet's name as a username :') ).

I picked her up yesterday, to find she was going into shed at the breeder, so I hope (like a worried parent does) it goes okay! It's good that I get to inmediately see this pricess and learn how to handle it, but I hope she's not too stressed by the move and shed state combined. 

Here she is!





Furthermore I'm just some nerd pretending to know how to adult. Big fan of Bioware games (and before anyone gets smart, I KNOW Skyrim isn't a Bioware game  :Very Happy:  :p), motorcycle enthusiast, devourer of all things Star Wars or scifi related. 

So yay, there it is!  :Smile:

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_Ashley96_ (12-17-2016),jbzapanda (12-16-2016)

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## DLena

Ridley is a beautiful girl, congratulations, and welcome to the forum. I'm a big fan of Star Trek, Firefly, and Slither.io. I, too, had to wait to indulge my passion for snakes, but I'm sure making up for lost time!  :Razz:

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## Ripley

Thank you! 

Ah, a fellow Trekkie/Browncoat I see  :Very Happy:  

And yes, making up for lost time is what I'm planning too. When she's grown up, I will move her to a larger enclosure and get, perhaps, a male... possible babies! Who knows. First I need to learn all the things haha  :Very Happy:

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## BR8080

She's gorgeous.

I'm new to the forum, and snake ownership, as well and find the knowledge contained by the members is amazing, helpful, and comments are done without a judgmental attitude.

Good luck with your first shed, how exciting!!!

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## Reinz

Welcome to the forum Ridley, and congrats on your pretty girl!  :Smile:

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## Zincubus

Welcome ...  to the newbies  :Smile:

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## Zincubus

> Thank you! 
> 
> Ah, a fellow Trekkie/Browncoat I see  
> 
> And yes, making up for lost time is what I'm planning too. When she's grown up, I will move her to a larger enclosure and get, perhaps, a male... possible babies! Who knows. First I need to learn all the things haha


I may have missed it , where are you from ??

England ??   ( wet and windy )

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## Sandi1961

Welcome! Ripley is a very pretty girl!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

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## Meerna

Nothing quite like that first snake feeling ^_^ though honestly I still get excited with every new snake.

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## ladywhipple02

HUGE fan of both the Mass Effect games and the Dragon Age games, so I'm happy to see another Bioware fan! I'm dying for Andromeda to come out next year, but hugely, exceedingly excited that there is another Dragon Age rumored to be in the works. The Origins is still probably my favorite game of all time. 

I also just recently purchased the remastered Skyrim for PS4 (sadly I do not have a gaming computer, or a computer at all right now...). 

Nice looking scale-kid as well!  :Very Happy:

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## Ripley

@Zinkubus: Oh crap, I forgot to add the actual country, didn't I? Whoops.
I'm from the Netherlands, actually! Even tinier. Just as rainy. 


Thank you all! She's currently curled up on the warm spot under her branch all day (she hasn't figured out the hides yet and I don't want to disturb her too much) and very dull in color, so I guess the shed will begin soon. I'm kind of scared if not excited, because I just hope it'll go okay! 


I'm hoping that once she's older, I can help people overcome some fears by introducing her, since she's super sweet (the times I handled her she just hung out on my always warm hands or tried to use my sleeve as hammock) she is kind of feisty, not striking at you feisty, but she putting her head up and looking at you like "girl, what do you want?". I'll handle with care and not too often. 


There's only one thing I'm worried about currently, and that's the temperature at night. And the humidity. I have a ceramic heat lamp for her for the night, but I'm worried it's not strong enough. The heat mat stays on always, but yeah... I think it's a bit of a process too, gotta learn, gotta get in the flow. I measure the temp a lot, keep a chart, going to make some cool graphics from the basic care things that I can frame in stupid kitch frames and hang up above her home in case I'm not home and my hubby has to do the checking. New and exciting!! 


I saw her on the breeder's website a while ago, and my first thought was... oh my god. That is a beautiful snake? How is this snake so beautiful? HOW??? For me, she wasn't cheap. Especially when you can get a wild color for very very little money and the snake will be just as amazing. But she stuck.
Long story short, it's almost Christmas, I've been through a TOUGH two years, hubby saw how much I was enjoying the whole studying, setting things up, and how much in love I was with her. So... he helped.  :Happycry:  <3 He's amazing. 




FELLOW NERDS YES!!!! Andromeda is constantly on my mind man, I jut CAN'T WAIT for it. In frustration I replayed all three Mass Effect games and now that I'm done there I am going though Dragon Age again, currently right before the Landsmeet of Origins  :Very Happy:  
Bioware, man. 


I talk a lot, as you see. I'm a very hyper person (I got serious ADHD, which is both annoying and a gift at times), love to talk about the things I love passionately, so I hope to find some cool threads here to discuss stuff with y'all  :Very Happy:  




Oeh I have an instagram where I did a stupid "I'm going to pick up my new noodle" video: 


I'm going to shield the sides for her, to make it more secluded.


https://www.instagram.com/p/BOCkZs6AWbW/




Here I'm on the way! Live footage of noodle at the end ^_^ : 


https://www.instagram.com/p/BOCzaVIgrOd/

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## Zincubus

You'll fit in nicely here  :Smile: 

I know a little about ADHD ..... I am Aspergers which also comes with many advantages / disadvantages  :Smile: 

It maybe worth you joining the RFUK reptile forum as well as it's all European members , just to get the European angle on things if ya get my meaning ... 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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## pbyeerts

Welcome, and Ripley is beautiful!  How's the shed going?


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## Ripley

@Zincubus nothing wrong with either Aspergers or ADHD, just makes people a little different, probably more fun!  :Cool:  

I'll check it out! 

@pbyeerts: thank you! She really is. I keep looking at her with awe and admiration, haha. 

Shed is currently in the phase where her eyes have cleared again, I checked on her yesterday as I was cleaning her waterbowl to make sure she was okay, made sure the substrate in the hide was sprayed down a bit for humidity. I was glad she found it and crawled into it! 

I'm keeping a close eye on her, but don't want to disturb her too much. New environment AND shedding, pfff.

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## Dumdum333

I'll be moving to amsterdam soon, was wondering which breeder you used?

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## Ripley

Nice! This is his website:

http://www.vanharenballpythons.nl

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Dumdum333 (12-19-2016)

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## Dumdum333

Awesome thank you so much  :Smile:

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