Our family has been seriously considering getting a baby ball python for about a month now. It is something I have wanted for years and the time seems right. We've read quite a few care sheets online and have been browsing this forum and a couple others during the past month, so hopefully we've got the basics down. We plan on going to the MARS show this weekend and may bring home a baby if we see one we like. I do have a few questions about buying at a show and bringing the baby home.

1) - Is it reasonably safe to assume that anybody selling at one of these reptile shows would be safe to buy from? Or are some of the vendors just as bad as many pet stores?

2) - We live more than an hour away from the show. How do we safely transport our new baby home?

3) - How much do normal hatchlings go for at these shows? Will there be a price difference between males and females? Or does everyone just bring their fancy stuff and we might not even see any normals?

4) - Anything else I've forgotten to ask that we should know about or look out for?

Thanks!