Got to meet some amazing snakes today! :)

[kiiarah]

There is this reptile shop that I have been dying to go to, but it is in the city and about two hours from where I live. Well it just so happens that a friend needed a ride to the airport today and I finally got to stop in. They had a huge collection of animals including a beautiful albino reticulated python (this girl was huge!) a few rainbow boas, a juvenile green anaconda, a huge stock of tarantulas, and a giant black throat montior. We even got to watch the store owner feed the monitor. I had never seen a retic up close and just couldn't believe how cool these guys are. I would really love to have one some day, but it would be a long ways down the road. I am tiny (5'1''), so I am not sure something like that would even be advisable. I have seen huge men struggle to handle those guys, but a girl can dream I guess. I was especially impressed by the full grown ball pythons, some of them were huge by ball python standards.

These days, any shop with more than two types of snakes is like Disneyland so just getting to see so many species was incredible. We stopped at Petsmart for a return and they actually had a pied bp in stock. I have never seen anything but normals at the huge chain stores, but they had normals, pastels, and the little pied there. The pied morph was really an eye opener the first time I saw one in photos, as at the time I had no idea how many varieties of balls there were, so to actually get to handle a pied was a huge deal. In a way the pieds are the morph that really sparked my fascination. It always feels like such an honor getting to be close to the more exotic species. I just cannot wait until I am in a position to grow my collection. For now, just my one little bp seems like a good slow start to the hobby, but it is so exciting to see all the variety out there and plan for the future.

[mohawk]

You must be in MN ....... I love that reptile store !

[frostysBP]

What shop was it? Sound like i need to make a trip if its i MN

[mohawk]

Pretty sure she was talking about Twin Cities reptiles, in St.Paul

[kiiarah]

Actually it was a place called custom creatures in Phoenix, AZ. It was the first specialty exotic store I had been to since getting into the hobby so after spending months just browsing pictures it was so cool get get to see those amazing species in person. The shop isn't anything fancy but the variety really blew me away. All the animals seemed healthy which was a plus.