Hi everybody, I'm Pickenprod. Recently I have been seriously considering buying a ball python, since I have wanted one for years, and it seems I can afford to care for one now. It will be my first pet snake (aside from the garters I constantly brought home as a kid ) but I am pretty sure I picked the right species for a beginner.

Here's the deal: A couple of days ago, I saw a beautiful Butter morph ball python in my local pet shop - and, of course, am now obsessing over it. I know regular old pet shops aren't exactly the greatest place to buy animals... but this snake is so darn cute! I'm falling into the old trap and I need to know if it is even a remotely good idea to go down this path... so now some thoughts:

-the pet store in question is very well-maintained, for the most part. All the snakes look healthy on first inspection, and the cages are clean. However, this may be the case simply because these animals are from a recent shipment. I plan to visit the shop once a day and keep an eye on the reptiles, to sort of monitor the conditions.

-the ball costs $350. As far as I can see, this seems to be a reasonable price for a Butter.

-I have located a vet in my town who deals with reptiles, so that's covered.

-if I decide to go through with this, I plan to really interrogate the pet shop staff. I'll be asking where the snake came from, how old it is, and whether it's feeding.

-I want captive-bred for sure, so I won't have to worry about complications as a new owner. I am guessing a Butter wouldn't have come straight out of Africa? Other than that I'm not too worried about knowing its ancestry, since this would be my first one and I'm sure not ready to start a breeding program yet!

-the one thing that truly scares me is the possibility of IBD. I don't know if there are any early warning signs I can look out for... all the snakes in the shop seem fine, no wobbling or spinning. The Butter is however housed in a plastic Critter Keeper, which is within another tank. Some of the tanks had Boa constictor imperator in them as well; I can't remember if the Butter shared airspace with them... would this be a red flag?

So, what are your thoughts? I've really enjoyed looking through the posts here so far - some spectacular looking snakes!

-Pickenprod