My wife and I went to one of the local pet stores tonight and found a beautiful female ball. Right now, she's about 18 inches long with a black and gold pattern. She was very very calm and docile. She was even on the verge of shedding!!!!! We both held her for a few minutes and the owner of the store held her the entire time that we were there (about 30 minutes). She was just a happy as she could be, crawling all around and being very curious. We're going Saturday to see her get fed (per a lot of people's suggestions), and hopefully bring her home either Saturday night or Sunday. We're going tomorrow to get all of her stuff for her new home and hopefully get it set up tomorrow night. I just fell in love when I held her, even if I was shaking a little bit, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. The guy there seems extremely knowledgeable about herps and is going to set up an appointment with their vet if we want him to to get her checked out. She looked very good, no mites or ticks, very calm, but also very curious. She has a lot of gold stripes along her top line. Anyway, just had to share. As soon as we get her and get some good pics, I'll be sure to post them. Thank you all for your very helpful advice and suggestions.