Just thought I should chime in here. Thanks to everyone for the welcomes. Smulkin and I are happy to be a part of this. I never figured myself for a reptile person, but our middle son acquired an iguana last year, then our youngest asked for a snake for Christmas. (That's Vasuki, the ball python.) Her gentle nature won me over immediately, so when Smulkin started pining for the African Rock, I offered no resistance. I'm now reading all I can about our cold-blooded pets and have even subscribed to Reptiles magazine. We're looking forward to attending our first reptile show in Pittsburgh next month.

As for the other pets in our household (besides our three sons), we have two dogs (a maltese and a german shepherd), a cat, and a dwarf hamster. (We may end up feeding the cat to the African Rock at some point. ) We're waiting on a parrotlet which hasn't been fully weened yet, and we're attempting breed mice for our snakes. We'd also like to start breeding ball pythons at some point in the future when we're a bit more experienced and knowledgeable.

At any rate, it's great to find forum with so much activity and so much knowledge being exchanged. We look forward to hearing your advice and at some point hope to know enough to offer some ourselves.