Long time snake lover, first time snake owner, excited to join the club :)

[Antimatter]

Hi world! I'm Jin. I'm originally from nowheresville-Canada, but left there when I was 17 for life-learning and education. Since then I have lived in various places in the US including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and, most recently, Rhode Island. Due to my nomadic lifestyle I never felt right keeping my own pets, but wherever my home is tends to be the "go to" place for friends leaving animals when they go away for extended periods of time. Earlier this year during one such occasion, a friend leaving the country for 5 months on a research project left Nikki, her red-tailed boa with me. It was my first experience caring for a snake, and I absolutely adored it. About a month ago my friend returned and took the snake back. I found myself missing Nikki terribly, and since I am now bound to Providence for at least the next 4 or 5 years while I finish my doctorate, I decided I had absolutely no choice but to get a snake of my own. I didn't feel quite up to owning an 8 ft boa like Nikki myself, so I decided to go with a Ball Python. Mordred came in the mail a week and a half ago from BHB, he's a normal and still a baby. He just had his first feeding and took the thawed mouse right away like a real champ. I'm giving him another few days to digest and get settled in before I try really handling him but I really can't wait . As a first timer I expect to be poking around these forums and asking advice from more seasoned herp owners quite a bit. I look forward to getting to know you all and annoying you with what will likely be a whole lot of dumb questions.

[BFE Pets]

Congrats on the pic up. They are very addictive so be careful! lol and to the club

[Antimatter]

Thanks! No joke about addictive. Watching them eat is amazing.

[Kaorte]

to the club, lol! I guess it is sorta like a secret club

It only gets better Do you have any pictures of your new little guy? If so, feel free to share in the BP pictures section

It always starts with just one

[Virus]

Welcome to the club.

I started with a young ghost male, and it's been growing since. I had a couple of red tails, but ended up taking a break from them, and have fallen for hognose snakes as well as balls. Be careful when looking at pictures of those hoggies, or you'll end up with one of them as well.

Either way, I hope you stick around, this is one of the best communities online.

[Antimatter]

to the club, lol! I guess it is sorta like a secret club

It only gets better Do you have any pictures of your new little guy? If so, feel free to share in the BP pictures section

It always starts with just one

They are coming ASAP, just as soon as I either get my camera back from the person I lent it to and/or figure out why my archaic not-so-smart phone doesn't want to let me put the files from it on my computer!

[blafiriravt]

Welcome to the forum

[AmandaJ]

Welcome! And yeah, they're addictive. Less than two months ago I had zero snakes. Now we have four.

Oops?

Anyway, nice to meet you! See you on the boards

[AnimaculeCracker]

Jin, are you at Brown? I'm between undergrad and grad school right now, taking time off since I graduated early anyway and am broke/undecided as to exactly what I want to study but, I've been checking out some schools. I think I saw in some other thread where I was talking to you you're in the Bio department, which I would be too. You like it? Anything I should know? I like Providence so I've been kind of snooping around their webpage.

Second, where/when did you live in LA? My home state!

[Antimatter]

Jin, are you at Brown? I'm between undergrad and grad school right now, taking time off since I graduated early anyway and am broke/undecided as to exactly what I want to study but, I've been checking out some schools. I think I saw in some other thread where I was talking to you you're in the Bio department, which I would be too. You like it? Anything I should know? I like Providence so I've been kind of snooping around their webpage.

Second, where/when did you live in LA? My home state!

I am! I've only been here a year but I really love it. The faculty is by far the best part. I feel like anywhere you go you'll meet some brilliant people, but the one's I've met here have also been really supportive, unpretentious, helpful, all that. I'd definitely recommend it. I'm in the Cell Bio programme, I don't know if that's what you're looking at. I've heard good things about evo-eco too but I don't know about it from experience. The thing I'd look out for is being really ready to jump into research when you get here. It's my first year and my profs and advisers are already asking me to start thinking about personal projects. I'd figure out what aspects you're most interested in before applying, otherwise you'd get here and be pretty lost.
For your second question, I live in Louisiana for 2 years starting in 2009. I transferred to Tulane from Drexel my sophomore year and graduated from there. I loved New Orleans. I think you'd like Providence if you liked living near there. It's got a really good music and art scene. Any time you want to go see a free or cheap show you can basically find one that's good. As long as you promise not to be an axe murderer you should let me know if you end up moving here, I'll show you around!