Ok so Repticon Atlanta is in 6 days! First time attending for me. I'm a snake lover and my six-year-old daughter has luckily gravitated towards that love also and after some gentle persuasion we have convinced her mama a.k.a. my wife to let us get a ball python. So after lots of research and careful planning we have our habitat set up with temperature and humidity right where it needs to be and still have somewhat of a plan in place for after we get the new family member home but for the show itself I'm panicking LOL!
I can't really decide how to prioritize the snake because there are several different variables at play:
Budget: $300-$350
Morph: my daughter loves the white pythons… BEL, Super Fire, Ivory. I like them too but I also love the pied. My wife loves whatever one we get that is least likely to bite my daughter lol.
Feeding: It will absolutely have to take F/T. That just is what it is. I actually had a braz rainbow boa when I first met my wife 13 years ago and she could not get over the live feedings so that was part of the agreement was that I knew I could go the F/T route with the new one. The problem is a lot of the bigger breeders feed live so I'm a little nervous about trying to buy something that is feeding live and trying to convert it to frozen. Am I better off asking the person at the show what it's feeding on and simply staying away from anything that is feeding live?
Handling: This is a tough one. We definitely want a snake we can interact with and learn to hold and respect and learn and body language etc. but I absolutely also know that a lot depends on the snakes personality. I have had both types of personality… A beautiful Colombian Redtail boa that was puppy dog friendly and the greatest thing on earth then I've also had an albino Burmese python and my rainbow boa we're both very very defensive and difficult to handle. That's part of the reason we like the ball python because generally it's more docile but I also know that there are some that are just nippy and more defensive. That's the main reason I have not bought online because I want to be able to handle it and just see if something feels really calm and comfortable not that I will know because I'm not super familiar with the balls and haven't had a snake and 12 to 13 years.
So I thought I knew what we wanted… A beautiful, tame, BEL for $350 or less feeding on frozen then I started thinking maybe that's a pipe dream and what am I going to do if I can't find that snake at the show! I know the best deals are probably on the second day of the show but for fear of not finding the perfect snake for us I'll probably buy the VIP ticket and be first in line LOL
I have seen several beautiful white snakes online that are feeding on frozen and many in my price range but without handling the snake ahead of time I'm just worried that we might not get something that would be a great fit for our situation so that's why I haven't pulled the trigger on line. I've interacted and communicated with several breeders and a couple even sent me videos of their snake being handled but I just thought it may be better to see it in person.
Any advice is welcome!!!!
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