Good for you!
Now your learning.
I really did not want to jump in and say "Hey,how would you feel if someone took you out of bed and put you in a cage and fed you cream of wheat?".
But on the other hand i do have friends who research different species of snakes including myself who do take them from the wild and keep them for a short period of time just to study the animal.
Obviously we let them go in a month or so back where we got them from after getting the information we need.
Length,weight,feeding,parasites and over all animal physics.
If you are looking for a nice pet snake go with a cornsnake.
They are from the colubrid family much like the garter,have a better attitude and are born in a captive sictuation which means you wont get an animal from the wild.
Not to mention not high priced at all to purchase one.
Just a suggestion.
In any case glad to hear you made the right choice and i am sure the animal appreciates it.