Yeah if you had a Rat Snake escape on you and you already nixed him off the list after only 2 months, i would make sure to get an escape proof enclosure. Have you not heard of the dozens of cases were snakes were loose for up to 6-10 months before found?? I would wait a little till you get the right setup and then make your decision.

It seems as if you want to breed, but don't have the money to do so. It's very expensive to breed and takes a lot of work, so i would just get a nice pastel because you like the colors, not because you want to breed. Also female pastels are only like $125 for a fairly good one, so not that expensive at all.