Brand New to the Herp World :)

[my.plants.eat.rats]

Edit: I apologise for the length of this post!!! :/ This is my first post, and my posts won't be this long in the future. Sorry!
Hey There
I'm brand new to this forum, as well as to the Herp World. So, I thought I'd say hello.
I'm Chance, I live in and love North Dakota, and I'm 14 years old. I've been growing Nepenthes pitcher plants for about three years now, and I absolutely love them. I'm a huge theatre fanatic, and probably couldn't live without it. Other than that, I love my family, my friends, and contrary to the typical teenager, I love my school.
Considering that this is a reptile forum, I probably shouldn't keep going on and on about my life, but I'm getting to it!
I absolutely love the idea of owning a reptile. I love them, but I don't actually own one... yet. I am taking care of my friends corn snake for the time being. She is in the process of moving, so it's a win-win. I've loved the snake for the month I have had it, and it's gone really well. The only reason I don't have one already is, you guessed it, my parents. But the corn snake situation is more like a win-win-win now, because the experience actually convinced them to let me get one of my own! It's been two years that I've wanted one, and all it took was a few weeks of having one in the house. How come nobody ever told me that THAT was the way to convince them??
Now that I have a green light, I have been doing more research on them than I ever have before. My dad and I made a deal that we would build an enclosure for it. I'd have to show him the plans for it, and he would need to be sure that it would be sturdy, entirely safe for the snake, and that it wouldn't look like it was something made in a garage by two guys that had never done it before (and of course, we haven't... ). He pays for any cost of the enclosure, food, bedding, ect. (which was a fantastic gift to me on his behalf!) and I would be in charge of buying the snake myself.
I am absolutely sure that I would like to start out with a Ball Python. I have $300 to spend on it (courtesy of my job... ;D). I would love to have an interesting morph. Nothing too extreme, but a bit of a step up from a normal BP. Which means that I will need to find a reputable breeder (Somewhere in Minnesota or North Dakota, we're willing to drive anywhere in the land of 10,000 lakes ). Any suggestions?
Also, from the research I've done, morphs have no different care requirements than a normal BP. I'm sure this is correct, but would like to verify it before I go out and buy one. I'd hate to see my investment go down the drain.
Also, if there's anything that you feel like I should know about before I go buy one (other than the basics I've done plenty of research to cover that), let me know about it! Like I said, I'm a beginner, and open to any suggestions or comments you guys have, seeing as you're the experts
I can't wait to be a part of this forum.
Many Thanks!!
Chance