Hello from California <bay area>

Hello everyone!
Like the title says, hello from the bay area, California! I'm a full time college student that has a job.
I am very new to snakes and I started taking an interest in corn snakes but they were too skinny and I just didn't like them.
I did more research and a few months later I decided I want a bally python. And now that I have a job, I am paying for everything and I've been saving up money to buy the best I can for my price range I guess.

Living in the Bay area kinda sucks because there aren't very many snake people that I know of. I mean the petcos here feed the baby corns crickets....
So far I have a 20 gallon long glass aquarium (Petco was having a sale, $1 a gallon. So 20 bucks for the tank!), a screen top. So yeah that's all I have with my physically. I put in an order from reptilebasics.com (a lot of people seem to trust that site):
VE 300 (thermostat)
Healthy Habitat (cleaning, deodorizing thing)
Chlorhexadine (cleaning)
Ultratherm Undertank Heater (UTH) - 11"x11" (heating)
2 small hide boxes (the black ones)

From amazon:
Acu-rite indoor/outdoor thing with humidity thing (2 of them)
24 qts of aspen (zoomed i think)
water bowl: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00
Feeding tongs. I'm not sure if these work but a rat or a mouse cant be too heavy right?: http://www.amazon.com/Scalloped-Edge...keywords=tongs

I have these books about ball pythons:
Complete Ball Python by Kevin McCurley
and a few other random books

So yeah. If I forgot anything PLEASE tell me so I can prepare everything! I'm hoping all the stuff gets here this week or next week so I can get everything set up! Then I will be ordering a snake.
The only ball python morph I can somewhat afford and my family is terrified of or doesn't hate is the albino... So I am looking for a female albino ball python maybe $350 shipped. I really want a hatchling! So if anyone knows someone that is selling an albino hatchling please pm me! I've been shopping around faunaclassifieds and it's hard finding an albino... for me at least!
Oh god and I will be ordering mice later.
I will also be ordering rats soon. What size rat am I supposed to order? I will be ordering from Layne Labs because it is the cheapest for me since they are located in southern California, and that is the closest location compared to the other places.

OK, thank you so much for reading the wall of text and I am open to any suggestions!

Looks good, I just use needle nose pliers for feeding they seem to work fine.

Welcome!

Checkout Brian Gundy (For Goodness Snakes). He's in the bay area i think.

Hey! Welcome!
I'm from the Bay as well! But I'm currently in Davis for University (UCD). I do visit home quite often though.

It sounds like you're off to a good start!

If you need breeder recs for the Bay Area, there is Brian Gundy in the South Bay (http://www.for-goodness-snakes.com/)
And I highly recommend Robert Seib in the East Bay (rseib73@gmail.com). Both have top notch collections and are very knowledgeable.
There is also the Reptile specialty shop in the East Bay (East Bay Vivarium). They're a little pricy, but their animals are healthy.

Ok so I took a look at the breeders you mentioned and none of them have a female albino let alone an albino :(
The search continues! For a hatching what size rat do I need to order via Layne Labs?

Welcome to the forum! Hatchlings would need rat pups, but I would wait to see if the breeder you purchase from feeds live or frozen first.

BHB has some: http://bhb-reptiles.myshopify.com/co...s/ball-pythons


I would get some rat pups.

Hey! I'm in Oakland:cool:
Check out the East Bay Vivarium in Berkley, they have a ton of young morphs in right now, they have really clean high quality feeders and general great supplies etc.

- - - Updated - - -

they have an albino male hatchling for sale right now

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Welcome to the forum! Hatchlings would need rat pups, but I would wait to see if the breeder you purchase from feeds live or frozen first.

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If the breeder is feeding live, is it rude/unacceptable to ask him or her to get them used to f/t?

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Originally Posted by barbie.dragon

Ok so I took a look at the breeders you mentioned and none of them have a female albino let alone an albino :(
The search continues! For a hatching what size rat do I need to order via Layne Labs?

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Robert had a female albino last time I looked on his kingsnake classifeids ad, http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=949776
He doesn't update his website, but he does answer emails and phone calls. And since he's local, you wouldn't have to pay shipping like other online breeders.

http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=952439

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If the breeder is feeding live, is it rude/unacceptable to ask him or her to get them used to f/t?

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Not at all. It's fine to request if they could convert a snake for you. But will the breeder agree? Maybe, maybe not.

Hey for rats go to rodents4u.com they deliver to campbell, CA and they are pretty cheap for frozen or live. Not cheap as layne labs, but you dont have to pay for shipping or anything. I'm from bay area too and I buy my rats from them.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Robert had a female albino last time I looked on his kingsnake classifeids ad, http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=949776
He doesn't update his website, but he does answer emails and phone calls. And since he's local, you wouldn't have to pay shipping like other online breeders.

http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=952439



Not at all. It's fine to request if they could convert a snake for you. But will the breeder agree? Maybe, maybe not.

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Wow thanks for the ads! very helpful! I am taking a look now!
Ok good, I didn't want to offend anyone by forcing them to switch a snake to f/t. I'm just... I don't like feeding live that's all and I don't think I could do it, let alone find a live rat....

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Originally Posted by Maddumpling

Hey for rats go to rodents4u.com they deliver to campbell, CA and they are pretty cheap for frozen or live. Not cheap as layne labs, but you dont have to pay for shipping or anything. I'm from bay area too and I buy my rats from them.

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Woah awesome, thanks! :D

Welcome to the forum! I second what everyone else has said previously. Though I would email Brian Gundy and ask him exactly what he has, I just paid a visit to him and you might be able to get something interesting in your price range. I live in the Bay Area as well (San Jose) and I just started setting up with him to buy a pair of 100% Het Pieds for a really good price. Maybe he will have something that will suite your tastes? Good luck getting a little BP! And welcome to the forum!

Welcome, and it sounds like you are off to a good start! Check out these, I have dealt with Garrick, and he is great.

http://www.royalconstrictordesigns.c...erarchy/5/1944

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Capray

Hey! I'm in Oakland:cool:
Check out the East Bay Vivarium in Berkley, they have a ton of young morphs in right now, they have really clean high quality feeders and general great supplies etc.

- - - Updated - - -

they have an albino male hatchling for sale right now

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EBV gets a lot of their balls from Dr. Seib..............

I'd buy directly from Robert if you can. Or you try Sam and Naomi at GBU in Lodi - which just outside of the Bay Area.

Freedom Breeder is also just outside of the Bay Area, but the owners live in the Bay Area properly. Lindy and his son Jeff also breed ball pythons and sell frozen rodents. Yes, one of, if not THE premier rack builder is a Bay Area company.

As for the Bay Area sucking for snakes - really?

There are several herp societies in the Bay Area and the surrounds and tons of people who are passionate about reptiles. We have some top breeders in the area and a couple of the best stores in the nation. Just because you are unaware of just how much this area has to offer in terms of reptiles does not mean that the Bay Area sucks - it just means you are uninformed.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

EBV gets a lot of their balls from Dr. Seib..............

I'd buy directly from Robert if you can. Or you try Sam and Naomi at GBU in Lodi - which just outside of the Bay Area.

Freedom Breeder is also just outside of the Bay Area, but the owners live in the Bay Area properly. Lindy and his son Jeff also breed ball pythons and sell frozen rodents. Yes, one of, if not THE premier rack builder is a Bay Area company.

As for the Bay Area sucking for snakes - really?

There are several herp societies in the Bay Area and the surrounds and tons of people who are passionate about reptiles. We have some top breeders in the area and a couple of the best stores in the nation. Just because you are unaware of just how much this area has to offer in terms of reptiles does not mean that the Bay Area sucks - it just means you are uninformed.

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I didn't mean there weren't people that were excellent in the hobby! I meant the Herp community isn't as large as... Florida haha! But I was trying to go to a reptile show in California and the only one was the Sacramento show... Just envious of SoCal and east coast geez :(

So if I call a breeder to ask what they have and ask questions they won't be bothered right?

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Or you try Sam and Naomi at GBU in Lodi - which just outside of the Bay Area.

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I second this! Sam and Naomi are great!
And Sam has a lot of nice morph hatchlings right now!

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Originally Posted by barbie.dragon

So if I call a breeder to ask what they have and ask questions they won't be bothered right?

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Right. More questions the better in my opinion. They're always very willing to answer all sorts of questions.

Thanks for all the help! Next time you hear from me will be when I have the snake!