I would go directly to the breeder unless you have a breeder that also runs a pet store! Generally speaking my wife and I have developed good relations with 2 different breeders already and are working on one from here! Don't be afraid to get mailed snakes from a reputable dealer. We had two shipped from two different Florida breeders and we are using one of them again for the Albino Female we bought. Not a single problem with shipping other than the weather needs to be watched closely. We would have went to a breeder in our local area if we could have found any. (It is always nice to be able to see how other people do things first hand instead of asking questions.) We also ordered another Female from HeathersHerps here on line and so far the experience has been great! Just have to get the weather to cooperate again so we can ship it!

Pet stores are for the very beginner or unfortunately impulse buyers. Due to the lack of knowledge most pet stores have with ball pythons they don't always recieve the best care. Still it is generally a good idea to develop a relationship with the local pet store as this is where you will more than likely be getting your feeder mice/rats from and they tend to hold things back for regulars they know they can expect every other Friday that is buying $50 worth of rats and mice!

Something I am not sure if it matters or not, but I see a lot of breeding projects where mom or dad get bred back to the siblings or the siblings get bred together. While I know this is necessary for making some morphs, I hope my BPs will be slightly better by getting the initial breeding pairs from different breeders. (Note: Have to be careful with this and Axanthics though!)