New BP owner! Howdy!

[GoBoilers]

Hey All!

I've been lurking around here for about a month trying to absorb as much practical experience that I can in preparation for the arrival of my first BP! I've raised several types of reptiles over the years, but fell in love with BPs at the first clinic I worked for a few years ago (I'm a vet tech)...one of my co-workers brought in his normal female and it was love at first sight!

I started my research back then and came across the piebald morph and immediately had my heart set on one...well, fast-forward a few years (and a few price drops) and the stars finally aligned so-to-speak! I took delivery of my little female pied a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier!

Anyway! Just wanted to say "hey" and thank ya'll for a great site...in addition to the numerous books I've read, this site has been an invaluable tool!

Quick cute story: Up until a week ago, I had been keeping 'Betty' on newspaper until I switched over to cypress to boost the humidity in her enclosure...However, I left a small piece of newspaper under her favorite hide as she likes to grab her prey and swallow it within the safety of her hideout (she eats f/t) and I didn't want to take the chance of her accidentally ingesting the substrate. So today I decided to take away her piece of newspaper (or, apparently, "safety blanket" as I found out) in order to mist the substrate while she goes through her first shed with me to increase the humidity in her hide. Well, typically, when I'm putting her back into her enclosure all I have to do is show her the entrance to her hide and she slides right in...however, when I went to show her the entrance after taking out her newspaper, she tenatively poked her head into the hide, looked around for a second then looked up at me like, "I'm not going in there, there's DIRT!" So I put her down, put her newspaper back underneath her hide, showed her that I had done this...and she slid right in like, "That's better!" Sweet girl...

[RyanF]

lol, i love pied too.

[CBI]

Awesome choice!

You went all out huh?

[GoBoilers]

Awesome choice!

You went all out huh?

LOL! Yeah, at the time, I thought I would just have ONE, so wanted to hold out for the morph I really wanted...But after getting to know Betty, I can see how these guys are like the old potato chip comparison: can't have just one!

[rabernet]

Congratulations! There aren't many people who can brag that a pied was their very first ball python! She's a beautiful girl!

[GoBoilers]

Congratulations! There aren't many people who can brag that a pied was their very first ball python! She's a beautiful girl!

Thanks! Yeah, also part of the reason that I waited so long (in addition to waiting for prices to drop) was to make darned sure that if I was going to hand over that kind of cash for a piebald, that I knew how to care for her properly! Fortunately, not only has Betty made my job much easier (she eats like a champ), but her care is sooooooooooo much less intensive than some of my past reptiles (iguanas, beardies, etc.)...in fact, the hardest part for me is NOT feeding her every day! LOL! I just love her to pieces...she's really a sweet little snake (and much smarter than I figured a BP would be)!

[Lolo76]

Welcome! And what a nice "starter" BP you have there...

Funny story too, LOL - they can be quite silly, as you will soon discover.

[Vypyrz]

I can see how these guys are like the old potato chip comparison: can't have just one!

to the forum and congrats...

They are definitely addicting...


Rob

[seeya205]

Nice pied! Welcome to the site! It is a great site for beginners and vets alike!

[trott]

Sweet . Congrats and welcome !!