What made you want to get a BP?

I am just curious to find out other peoples stories about their ball pythons :)

For me it is: I always wanted a pet snake when I was younger. So January 3rd 2011 my dad got us a corn snake and we loved him. But then I wanted another snake so I got a job last summer, saved up and decided I wanted a bad ass snake and got a ball python on August 11th 2011. I then found out that they are not only bad ass but beautiful and cute. It was so weird handling her for the first few times because Hermosa (my BP) was 10x thicker then my corn snake, and her head was way bigger too. :)

In 7th grade one of my classmates brought in his pet bp for a week to keep in the science classroom. After spending a week observing all of its habits and feeding etc i knew i wanted one. I also loved the disgusted/scared reaction most people gave it. I wanted a unique pet that made people curious and ask you questions about. When i tell most people i have pythons they immediately think im talking a 20foot burm. I kinda play it off at first like im a big tough guy lol. But eventually explain that my snakes could fit in their lunchbox lol. Then they are AS impressed :/

I have had various reptiles since I was 7 years old ranging from snakes to lizards (some not so legal)...this has been a passion for the past 24 years... unfortunately once I moved out of my parents house none of my exes have been fans of any reptile, my husband isn't a fan at all but he tolerates him very well. So I guess the short answer would be having another opportunity to own one for the past 3 years since my childhood. I want more but my husband isn't a fan of animals or reptiles so I am lucky to have a BP, 2 dogs, and a cat. :P

When I was a kid I had a neighbor who had converted an entire room of her basement into an enclosure (among other renovations she made for her exotics) for her son's albino burmese python. When he visited them he'd wrap her around his neck and take her walking, and I was the only one in my family that wasn't afraid of her :)

I'd stupidly picked up a "piece of wire" that turned out to be a snake when I was a very young kid, my grandparents called it a copperhead and killed it, but I don't remember enough to know more than it didn't look much like a hognose but was rather orange. I'd also saved a redbellied northern from getting stomped on by some boys back in middle school, and helped a science teacher of mine move a particularly angry black rat snake out of the way once.

I'd played with and handled other wild animals before, but I guess never being allowed to have a snake is what drew me to them in particular in the long run. I'd been debating between a corn and a ball but decided I liked the stout, slow python better :3

I been, collecting snakes, newts, turtles, frogs outside before The age of ten. Even got in trouble in first grade for bringing a garter snake on the bus lol. So loving snakes how could I not eventually fall in love with a great snake like the ball python.

I was petrified of snakes :) For the first 18 years of my life I really was scared of them, then I went to college to study Animal Care. The Reptile house was on my schedule for the week, and snake handling, cleaning out and feeding was a big part of said schedule... I had a corn snake thrust in my face and had a panic attack, refusing to go near the snakes again...

But I felt bad afterwards, I had hardly given them a chance...So I went back and told the curator how I felt and she told me that my best bet would be to get out "Enzo", and she took him out and gave him to me for a few minutes.

Male Adult Ball Python, looking up at me with the cutest face I had ever seen? He was so so chilled and lovely to handle and that was that. How could I resist? Fear conquered. YEAHHHH MEEEE.

In love with them now. Took me another year and 4 months to get her, and about nine months of pestering and reassuring my grandparents but eventually got Pretzel :D

Back in the mid 90's I started dating a girl who had a ball python, and that experience taught me what cool and interesting creatures they are. That romance didn't last, but my interest in BPs did. Once I retired from the military and wasn't being deployed all over the place, I began to collect my own BPs. I've had some ups and downs in this hobby, but I don't ever see myself not owning a ball python.......or six ;)

I've always wanted snakes, but when I was living with my parents my step father would never allow it. Then I got married young to a controlling pos who didn't like snakes, so I couldn't have one then. After about 1 year after my divorce it finally dawned on me that I could own whatever I wanted. I brought my son to the reptile shop and bought Julius, my first ball python, only expecting to get one. It went downhill from there. Now I have 14 ball pythons, 2 boas, 2 pet rats, 1 bearded dragon, 1 red foot tortoise, 3 leopard geckos, and 12 tarantulas lol.

When I was in college I lived in an apartment that wouldn't allow any pets. I grew up always having pets so this was pretty hard on me. I started researching different pets I could keep in a cage thinking that maybe I could convince my landlord to let me have a pet if it was caged. I came across ball pythons in my quest for a good apartment pet and basically fell in love. To me you can't get much cuter than a ball python (though my boas come very close :P).

I sadly was not able to convince my landlord that a snake would be an okay pet. They were concerned it would get out and get into one of the other tenants apartments (since there wasn't any common space in the apartment I thought that spoke of bigger problems in the building but kept my mouth shut). My brother got a boa right around this time and it really cemented my desire to have a pet snake.

After I graduated I ended up moving from NH to WI. I now live in a super pet friendly apartment and in October of 2010 I went to the pet store for dog food and left with my first ball python. I way over paid for her but I got lucky and she was in fact a she. My collection has snowballed almost out of control since I learned about the different morphs. :rolleyes:

My brother is the person that had all the snakes and honestly i was petrified of snakes. Maybe had something to do with my ex husband placing what he thought was a dead blacksnake in my truck but it was actually alive and REALLY pissed. I swear everytime i went into my brother's house i would have a straight up panic attack. Last year i started investigating and researching snakes and which breeds would make a good first snake. I kept going into pet stores and felt so bad..poor babies. I think what cinced it was there was a young boy around 9 walking around with a female around his neck she was probably about 3 ft and just as gentle as a kitten. I touched her and feel in love. So last year around September i got Chaos. I was so upset with what had happened to this poor little worm of a snake he had such a rough start. His spine was broken and he was starved. The wonderful people at the store i got him from nursed him back to health and i took over. He's been nothing but a perfect gentleman of a snake. I'm learning his little quirks and his temperment. Best part is my kids love him and he seems to have really taken to our 5 y.o. So of course my addiction has been brewing and i just got Lucy this week. She is such a sweetheart. So here i sit still wanting to feed my addiction! LOL Looking for yet another one to catch my eye. I know my babies aren't any special morphs but they each have something special. I love them and soon i'll have to build a room just for my babies....ummm my husband isn't too keen on that idea! If i can pass anything on the the future generation i'd want to teach them snakes aren't slimy and scary...like I thought those so many years ago.