Hi there. My name is Jozef (like Yozef) and I am cautiously looking for a snake or 2 or 10. My username pretty well sums up my issue. I had a bad experience as a kid with a ball python that I saved up all Summer to buy ($129.99 for an unsexed, normally colored hatchling). I had previously been afraid of snakes (getting bit by them) but I really liked the look and feel of them, handling them, having them hanging off my neck, etc. and I really wanted to buy a python or boa (love the chubby, derpy look they have LOL they are like plush animals), so I got this one after reading up and finding out that they are the best python for a beginner. I had it for a year and by the end of that year, I was so terrified of snakes that I couldn't even get near garter snakes in the yard, they all scared the hell out of me. He never managed to actually bite me because I was so careful, but he was so aggressive that even my family was afraid of him, he would strike at us through the tank even when he was full, he could barely be handled, and there were times he appeared to deliberately go past the food in order to get your hand, like I swear he was ignoring the food for the purpose of biting. I blamed myself for being a beginner and I thought I must be making him miserable somehow, must be making him act this way by not taking good care of him. I ended up giving my baby snake away to a local herpetologist who later told me he didn't even think it was possible for a ball python to have such a nasty temperament, and that he was so sorry my first experience with them was such a freak of nature. (He still has the snake, he finds it entertaining how aggressive he is and shows it off to his friends). I was sad about it, but relieved I no longer had a pet I was terrified of. I later had the good fortune of moving into a house where we have some very small brown snakes with orange bellies that show up in the yard. No idea what they are but they are docile af, tiny, and really helped me get my confidence back. I was around a friend's corn snakes too and that helped a lot, I learned a lot about the animals and how to handle them without stressing them, and he offered me a snake if I ever want one, but I have my heart set on getting another ball python, specifically a lighter-colored pinstripe or something similar. But this time, I want to do it right, I want to know anything and everything that seasoned keepers recommend. I have done a lot of research and I have a pretty good idea of what I THINK is right, but I still want to know what you guys think, you being the experts.

I'm planning on a 75 gallon acrylic display tank with a screen top, moist & dry hides, cocofiber substrate, large but shallow water dish, full-spectrum lighting, and additional undertank heating on one end (my bedroom is cold because my rabbit likes it that way... No I did not have the rabbit with the first snake, but he isn't going anywhere, I know to wash my hands, etc.)

Give me any advice you can, and if anyone knows where to acquire a particularly tame snake, that advice would be appreciated as well LOL.