I bought my ball a year ago this month at the same type of show in Dallas/Ft.Worth and he's perfectly healthy . I agree that you should take your time and ask a lot of questions. We talked to the guy we got ours from for an hour before purchasing him and he was more than happy to answer all of our questions. One thing that I urge you to consider is how you are going to feed your new snake? Mine was used to eating live and sometimes it's hard for them to switch from live to frozen so you might want to make sure you know where you can get both types of food before you buy your snake. We feed him outside of his enclosure to discourage confusion during feedings and in a year he is already 3 and 1/2 feet. It's good that you are already prepared with a larger tank! Have fun and enjoy your new snake!