Hello from California <bay area>

[barbie.dragon]

Hello everyone!
Like the title says, hello from the bay area, California! I'm a full time college student that has a job.
I am very new to snakes and I started taking an interest in corn snakes but they were too skinny and I just didn't like them.
I did more research and a few months later I decided I want a bally python. And now that I have a job, I am paying for everything and I've been saving up money to buy the best I can for my price range I guess.

Living in the Bay area kinda sucks because there aren't very many snake people that I know of. I mean the petcos here feed the baby corns crickets....
So far I have a 20 gallon long glass aquarium (Petco was having a sale, $1 a gallon. So 20 bucks for the tank!), a screen top. So yeah that's all I have with my physically. I put in an order from reptilebasics.com (a lot of people seem to trust that site):
VE 300 (thermostat)
Healthy Habitat (cleaning, deodorizing thing)
Chlorhexadine (cleaning)
Ultratherm Undertank Heater (UTH) - 11"x11" (heating)
2 small hide boxes (the black ones)

From amazon:
Acu-rite indoor/outdoor thing with humidity thing (2 of them)
24 qts of aspen (zoomed i think)
water bowl: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00
Feeding tongs. I'm not sure if these work but a rat or a mouse cant be too heavy right?: http://www.amazon.com/Scalloped-Edge...keywords=tongs

I have these books about ball pythons:
Complete Ball Python by Kevin McCurley
and a few other random books

So yeah. If I forgot anything PLEASE tell me so I can prepare everything! I'm hoping all the stuff gets here this week or next week so I can get everything set up! Then I will be ordering a snake.
The only ball python morph I can somewhat afford and my family is terrified of or doesn't hate is the albino... So I am looking for a female albino ball python maybe $350 shipped. I really want a hatchling! So if anyone knows someone that is selling an albino hatchling please pm me! I've been shopping around faunaclassifieds and it's hard finding an albino... for me at least!
Oh god and I will be ordering mice later.
I will also be ordering rats soon. What size rat am I supposed to order? I will be ordering from Layne Labs because it is the cheapest for me since they are located in southern California, and that is the closest location compared to the other places.

OK, thank you so much for reading the wall of text and I am open to any suggestions!

[The Serpent Merchant]

Looks good, I just use needle nose pliers for feeding they seem to work fine.

[Mike41793]

Welcome!

Checkout Brian Gundy (For Goodness Snakes). He's in the bay area i think.

[satomi325]

Hey! Welcome!
I'm from the Bay as well! But I'm currently in Davis for University (UCD). I do visit home quite often though.

It sounds like you're off to a good start!

If you need breeder recs for the Bay Area, there is Brian Gundy in the South Bay (http://www.for-goodness-snakes.com/)
And I highly recommend Robert Seib in the East Bay (rseib73@gmail.com). Both have top notch collections and are very knowledgeable.
There is also the Reptile specialty shop in the East Bay (East Bay Vivarium). They're a little pricy, but their animals are healthy.

[barbie.dragon]

Ok so I took a look at the breeders you mentioned and none of them have a female albino let alone an albino
The search continues! For a hatching what size rat do I need to order via Layne Labs?

[LadyOhh]

Welcome to the forum! Hatchlings would need rat pups, but I would wait to see if the breeder you purchase from feeds live or frozen first.

[The Serpent Merchant]

BHB has some: http://bhb-reptiles.myshopify.com/co...s/ball-pythons


I would get some rat pups.

[Capray]

Hey! I'm in Oakland
Check out the East Bay Vivarium in Berkley, they have a ton of young morphs in right now, they have really clean high quality feeders and general great supplies etc.

- - - Updated - - -

they have an albino male hatchling for sale right now

[barbie.dragon]

Welcome to the forum! Hatchlings would need rat pups, but I would wait to see if the breeder you purchase from feeds live or frozen first.

If the breeder is feeding live, is it rude/unacceptable to ask him or her to get them used to f/t?

[satomi325]

Ok so I took a look at the breeders you mentioned and none of them have a female albino let alone an albino
The search continues! For a hatching what size rat do I need to order via Layne Labs?

Robert had a female albino last time I looked on his kingsnake classifeids ad, http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=949776
He doesn't update his website, but he does answer emails and phone calls. And since he's local, you wouldn't have to pay shipping like other online breeders.

http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=952439

If the breeder is feeding live, is it rude/unacceptable to ask him or her to get them used to f/t?

Not at all. It's fine to request if they could convert a snake for you. But will the breeder agree? Maybe, maybe not.