Hello BP.net forum-goers,

I am new to the forum and just have a few quick questions! Recently I have been getting more and more interested in purchasing a BP for a pet. Here's a little background of myself. I have owned snakes before in the past (Kingsnakes/Gophers), but never a BP. I am 19 and will be taking my snake with me to college (I will be renting an apartment and have my own room in a pet friendly complex so there should not be any issues), and am looking for a good companion snake. I have chosen a BP as my primary candidate due to the fact that they have the most wonderful dispositions and are very calm snakes.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me a little about which are some of the more affordable morphs/which affordable morphs would be a good investment if I ever decide to breed in the future. However I will most likely never breed, I would just like to have one BP as a pet (hence why I would like to invest in a morph since the snake will be a companion of mine for a while).

Along the lines of morphs does anyone know a good breeder in the Northern California region? I am about 30 minutes North of Sacramento but am willing to drive a little in order to pick up a BP (I would prefer not to order them from a breeder online and have them shipped as I would first like to see the snakes pattern/color and behavior and I do not want the snake to become stressed by being shipped). I have heard that it is best to stay away from the general pet stores such as Petco for buying snakes. What is everyone's thought on the matter? The Petco near where I live has a gentleman in charge that is a snake enthusiast and seems to take great care of the snakes there. The cages all looked clean, he was able to handle all of the snakes and they were calm, they are already on a frozen diet, and they seem relatively young (right around 16 inches in length). He also highly recommended a BP.

My last question is about the humidity. I have read that BPs can have issues with shedding if the humidity is not in the correct range. I will be purchasing a 40 gallon tank with a top and clamp for the top. I already have a burrow (half of a hollowed out log) for the snake, a fake tree for climbing, water bowl, astroturf (of the variety specifically sold for reptiles in the store), heating pad, lamp, thermometer, etc. As I mentioned I am in Northern California right around the Sacramento region and it can become very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. The cage will be in my bedroom of the apartment which will have one window. Will there be anything special that I will have to do to make sure my tank has the correct humidity levels?

Thank you very much in advance for any help you can provide and I apologize for all of the questions (I hope that I did not post this in the wrong section of the forum).

-Christian