I first got into reptiles when I was 12 and my grandpa took me to the local petstore. A baby garter escaped and the cashier was too scared to pick him up, so I was told I could have him for free if I caught him. His name is Houdini, and he's still hanging in there at twice the average life expectancy for his species. It's a miracle he managed to live through my first attempts at snake-keeping considering I was not just a kid but a kid with no internet access at the time.
My first experience with BPs was about two years ago when my husband went on a cricket run to PetSmart and said they had a BP up for adoption for being 'too aggressive'. I went in to look at her, and when I saw how thin she was and covered with retained shed I just took her home immediately despite knowing exactly jack-squat about BPs (which is how I ended up here).