New member of the household!

[Coluber42]

Today I brought home a new young'un, a little lesser pewter boy. He doesn't have a name yet, because I want my better half to help name him. But I'm just so happy he's here!!

Back story is, I saved up my allowance for a baby ball python when I was 13 I think. The pet store was right near my middle school, and I'd stop there to buy live feeders after school. Two years later, I got a baby albino corn snake as well. The ball python, Oswaft, died after 9 years (bad day involving a broken furnace, a UTH, and a crappy college apartment..... ). It was a horrible day; I adored that snake. Eclipse, the corn snake, died just under two weeks ago at the age of 18 or maybe 19 - I'm not even totally sure. I was really upset; he'd been around for over half my life, and it was just unimaginable that he was gone. I buried him in the back yard, along with all the remaining feeders from the freezer. I got rid of everything out of his tank; I couldn't even think about getting another pet. My better half was pretty upset too - he'd lived with Eclipse for almost a decade, took care of him when I went to grad school overseas, and had grown pretty attached to the little guy.

But after a couple of days, I decided that I really, really wanted another snake. Like, so much I couldn't concentrate on work and couldn't sleep at night.
It turns out that there's a reptile store, Jabberwock Reptiles, within (long-ish - 3.5 mi) walking distance of my house. So I ordered a bunch of new stuff, set up all over again, and this evening I walked over there. I picked out an adorable little lesser pewter boy, and then called an Uber to bring him home. Upon seeing his new enclosure, the first thing he did was soak in his water dish for awhile. I was slightly worried by that, until I realized that even though I did my best to keep him warm on the trip home (that being the reason for the walk-cum-Uber) he was probably chilly and the water bowl is over the heat pad to help the humidity, so the water and the bowl were both warm; and a soak in warm water is probably a pretty efficient way to warm up. He has since found his way to his warm hide.
It's kind of crazy to think about how the last time I bought a snake, no one had heard of Monica Lewinsky and I wasn't old enough to have a job, and that little guy was with me until two weeks ago.

Anyway, I'm just so happy to have a new baby ball at home. They really have the most adorable little faces in the reptile kingdom (err, reptile class. Or the sauropsid clade...) And that soft baby skin, there's really nothing like it.

So here's the new little guy, more pics when he's had a chance to settle in.

[EDR]

Good looking little boy congrats. Sorry to hear about your loses i'm sure the corn had a long and happy life.

[Caspian]

Beautiful little boy! Congratulations!

[AKA Dave]

Nice! Love the pattern.

Dave

[Lady mkrj58]

What a special Ball Python Im so happy for you now you can start making new memories. . Your corn snake had a long life RIP

Sent from my SGH-T999

[DellaF]

Beautiful snake! They do have the most beautiful little faces. Enjoy!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Slim]

That is an outstanding Lesser Pewter!!! Super awesome choice

[Coluber42]

Here's another photo. He's still a shy little guy, but he's only been here for a couple of days. This morning I found him in his cool-side hide, which had me sort of relieved; when he first got here, he went straight for the warm side hide and I think was too nervous to even come out and discover that there were other choices; I even turned the heat in there down just a bit so he wouldn't overheat if he just wasn't going to leave for awhile. But now he seems to be thermoregulating normally. I'm going to try feeding him sooner rather than later, since I bought him on feeding day so he missed his dinner.
Had a bit of a hard time getting a photo, because he didn't really like that big scary phone pointing at him. But after awhile he calmed down.
I'm going to try feeding him today, even though I'd like to let him settle in a little longer... but I bought him on feeding day so he totally missed his dinner.

[cristacake]

He is beautiful