If the breeders are local, you might be able to meet the snake first IF the breeder is willing to invest a lot of time and allow someone in to look at the various snakes. Not all breeders like to do this.
If the breeders are not local, then of course you have a wide range of breeders to choose from but there are bad breeders. There are sellers who sell from lots of snakes they buy from other breeders(just like the pet store). There's even breeders who scam people.
So what I'm saying is not "all breeders are bad" but pointing out that some pet stores might have a good animal for you, or some breeders might have a good animal for you. If you find a good animal at the pet store and you like it, there's no reason not to go ahead and purchase it. If you went for a local breeder, the price MAY be lower, the animal might be higher quality, etc. But you might also end up paying shipping fees if the breeder is not local. Or the breeder may want a higher price.
Instead of being automatically disappointed, give the pet store a chance and if you don't like any of the animals they have, you can always try convincing Mom that you'll get a better deal from a breeder instead.
Also I second the "double check the morph" since we've seen plenty of folks pop up with snakes gotten from Petsmart/Petco type box stores that were not as advertised.
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