Hey OP,

I dig the enthusiasm. I've seen a few of your posts on the RTB forum here. Here's the deal, and again take NO offense because its just advice. Snakes, as you know are very complex animals. More so than most know. The species you are looking at here is IMO one of the most "hands on", full attention required types out there.

I'm not by any means an expert, but,,, at 17, and 17 is not a bad thing, you just can't possibly know where and what you'll be doing 2, 3, 10 years down the road. School, boyfriend/girlfriend, new interests, new hobbies, jobs or lack of work and the possibility that the people that say they'll help you with the snake will not always being there, are all things to consider.

You made some intelligent comments on the RTB forum in regard to the 19 year old that popped up for about a month, then had snake medical issues, money trouble and after several people said "reptile vet", they never posted again. I wonder why??

I'll say this about any snake, or pet in general: IF, you don't have ALL of the means, money, equipment, time, and help to take care of a certain animal, don't get it. Reptile Experts made a great point about going to visit a big snake instead of owning one. It might be the way to go.

Now, after saying all that, you still may be able to go the SD route. The front end expense VS the lesser down the road feeding cost surely balances out.

And $300-$350 (if I read that right) for something like that is a nice deal.

Good luck.