So I'm curious, what's your BP story?

That's so funny, most people that I've come across with ball pythons always have more than one lol they are very magnificent creatures. I've always wanted to get another one, I was going to rescue one a while back but my ex refused to let me (if it wasn't for the fact that I got andromeda behind his back, he probably would have said no to her too). But I'd definitely like to get another one, they are just so awesome! :)

Letsee....My story goes back to around 1990 when I was 5.

Typical kid growing up outside of New Orleans, LA. Loved watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It wasn't until I went to a back door BBQ that one of my dad's coworkers put on that I saw that his son had box turtles in a pen in their backyard! From that moment on I wanted turtles as pets. (I used to dream about going in my own back yard and being surrounded by hundreds of them!)

From about 5 until near the end of High School I owned numerous box turtles and even had a couple of clutches of babies hatch.

A few years later as I was nearing the end of college I impulse bought a Bearded Dragon. I saw it at a local pet store and just had to have it. It was a little baby and grew up to be a pretty magnificent lookin stud. I ended up making some friends with a girl not far from me that had a female and adopted him when I graduated and my mom refused to let it live at home. She is now breeding him with her female.

Fast forward a few more years. I finished college a couple years ago and got a job and moved out. Got me a pet cat to keep me company...and then that reptile crave started trickling back into my mind. As of that time I wanted to get a Sulcata Tortoise...(I have always wanted to own one) but living in an apartment and fearing that a baby Sulcata would outgrow my living space I looked for alternatives...

For the record I hate snakes. Ok...not really... But up until now...most all of my snake encounters have been in the wild and were usually venomous. Cottonmouths and copperheads when I lived in Louisiana and a couple of rattlers when I lived in Colorado. I dont like being unaware of a snake and then reaching down to get something from a shelf in the garage and being rudely scared!

However, my interest for owning a snake still peaked and I thought I would do some research and get a cornsnake as a start (a friend of mine when I was a kid had one that I remember seeing once or twice before he moved) I ended up getting a Ghost morph corn snake which was pretty cool. I ended up getting a second Corn Snake as an impulse because it was a very gorgeous morph and I just...decided I wanted it!

Now here's where I get to getting my BP. I wanted something...bigger...more docile. Corn Snakes are cool, and I love mine a lot. But I wanted the "flag ship" of my small reptile collection. So Just yesterday I went to a Reptile expo here in Houston. I went looking for a BP but with no particular morph in mind. I had a budget and nearly settled on a normal. I knew I wanted a female but other than that my budget was my limit and I knew the one that was for me would call out. Sure enough she did! A beautiful Pastel female hiding under a Spider in the same display box. I was able to negotiate down the price just a tad to get it safely in my budget and was home not long after!

36 hours later...here I am typing this! And I do admit...I can't stop looking at her!

Here is Bellatrix (Bella)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62...t/DSC00806.jpg

Here is my Amber Het Anery Corn Snake (Orville)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62...t/DSC00780.jpg

And the first Corn Snake I bought a Ghost morph. (Swayze)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62...t/IMG_6950.jpg

I grew up in Indianapolis where I could see the skyline from my yard, but we had family members with farms and my dad always took my brother and I camping. Those trips are when I fell in love with reptiles. I may have had a snake that I caught in my youth for a few days or so, but I only got my first real pet snake a few months ago when a friend got married, bought a house, and asked me to foster his three BP's. I only wanted to keep one, and as he had all of them in a 40 gallon breeder:( I adopted 1 off to a good friend of mine, and 1 to a very responsible breeder from Lawrence Exotics. There were two 7 year old males and a 4 year old female. I chose to keep a male because we just clicked. I think he may be a reduced, banded or just a good looking normal. So now I caught the addiction and have not stopped reading all that I can, and am taking my first vacation days at work to go to the midwest reptile show October 16.

I got into snakes in hopes of curing my fear of them (sadly I can't seem to do that with spiders lol). You always fear the unknown. My first snake wasn't a bp but a kingsnake. It took me a long time to figure out his bark was worse than his bite. :rofl:

Snakes are kinda like tattoos....once you get one you want another! A couple of months after getting the king, I bought a bp. Best pet I ever had! It wasn't too long before I was rescuing snakes, mainly wc bps. My own pets were a king, a ball, a burm, and a red tail.

After Anneliese, my first bp passed a few years ago, I gave my collection away. I was heartbroken and for the time I didn't want to have any. I knew I'd get back into them again....just didn't know when.

About 6 months ago, after grieving over a baby sparrow I rescued, I went to a pet shop and was looking for something to ease the pain of being a bad bird mommy. They had bp's on sale as well as reptile starter kits. I called the boyfriend and told him (because he had wanted a snake) and he told me to get one and whatever it would need for a home. Now, I have a total of 5 in my home: 3 bps...2 of which are my kids (they're practically grown and grew up around snakes, loving them as much as I) and 2 albino burms. Collection kinda grew quick! :rofl:

My parents hated reptiles of all sorts but I was always a snake fan. I never caught any as a kid. But like I said as long as I lived in my parents house, I couldn't have any. I lost interest for years. Anyway, I ended up getting an apartment with my girlfriend (now my fiance), and we were looking at fish tanks, and ended up getting corn snakes. And the addiction grips my soul to this day.:D