New Austin (soon to be) BP Owner :)

[jillofthejungle]

Hi! I'm getting ready to have my very first ball python. Purchasing a gorgeous baby boy bumble bee from Mark Ogden, who has so far been absolutely wonderful to deal with. On a minor payment plan mainly because I am traveling a lot this month due to work & holidays and don't want to have a new critter in the house and not be around.

I used to have a pair of leopard geckos - a normal I purchased in college (Starbuck) and a second...purplish-grey girl (Boomer) that I acquired a couple of years later from some dorm-living friends who got caught with a leopard gecko and had to get rid of her. Boomer was never very healthy and unfortunately died while I was out of town (my boyfriend was terrified that was the end of our relationship because he was the one watching her). Had a necropsy done that revealed an odd-shaped heart, which the vet thinks was the cause - she lived to be about 7-8-ish years. Starbuck lived to be about 12-ish; she had an odd growth on the side of her head that the vet thought could have been a cancerous bit - she was already feeling her age, so I opted for a quick end instead of waiting.

Figured it's time to bring another reptile into my life and I've always wanted a ball python. I'll have questions in the future (won't receive my boy until January, but I think I've already settled on a name - Smaug) but just wanted to say hello! Been lurking a lot the last two months. Figured I better introduce myself before I reply to other posts and have folks wonder who the heck I am.

Live in Austin, far-northwest Austin, and work at the University in a neurobiology lab. Don't have my PhD yet, but I've got my BS & MS in animal science (livestock) with a focus on endocrinology. Despite working with livestock, I had some cool chances to work with reptiles - used to draw blood on rattlesnakes to check circulating corticosteroid concentrations. I'm a pretty laid back kind of gal...I hike a lot, but don't go out for the night life that often any more (I've become a home body honestly...a lot nicer to sip whiskey on the back porch than deal with all the drunken college kids downtown, though that is fun once in awhile).

Any other Austin/Central Texas folks?

[edgarfl]

Welcome to the hobby and forum. Lots of good people in the Austin and San Antonio area. Im in Laredo but travel north for anything I need. Good luck

[SylverTears]

Hello and to the addiction! Can't wait to here more once you get the bP

[blafiriravt]

Welcome

[Antimatter]

Yo! How do you like it in Austin? It's a place a think about living one day when I am free of my educational shackles.
I just started on a PhD in Biology (molecular/cell but just a hop skip and a jump from neuro) so, y'know, nerd solidarity n all that.

I'm a new owner too actually, hope we can share baby pictures in the future!

[reptileexperts]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the new aquisition. Be prepared though, you never really can have just one! I'm a few hours from Austin, but there fairly routinely, have a place I stay at in Beecave. Feel free to ask questions as you run into them.

[jillofthejungle]

Yo! How do you like it in Austin? It's a place a think about living one day when I am free of my educational shackles.
I just started on a PhD in Biology (molecular/cell but just a hop skip and a jump from neuro) so, y'know, nerd solidarity n all that.

I'm a new owner too actually, hope we can share baby pictures in the future!

Austin's pretty cool. Mostly chill, lots of cool things to do outdoors all the time, and music music music everywhere. I like it a lot. The heat kills in the summer though, especially in a dry summer. And if you have cedar allergies, the beginning of the year can be pretty terrible.

Sweet on the PhD program! Good luck with it! I left school for a bit to make some money (and give myself time to decide where I want to actually focus)...I do some minor molecular stuff, some PCR and whatnot, but mostly behavioral experiments with mice.

[jillofthejungle]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the new aquisition. Be prepared though, you never really can have just one! I'm a few hours from Austin, but there fairly routinely, have a place I stay at in Beecave. Feel free to ask questions as you run into them.

I'm a little worried about just having one. I suspect my boyfriend may want to jump in and add to the collection at some point (or maybe I should say I hope instead!) I have a cousin in Beecaves, so I'm there pretty often.

[reptileexperts]

Get him involved, that just makes it funner. Use compatible gene flow and make a routine out of it :-). Beecave is a really nice place. I stay down by Hamilton Pool. Nice place during the summer to swim, if and only if they do not have it closed due to bacteria. Eek!

[PitOnTheProwl]

Welcome from just down I35 from you