Newbie! Picking first BP

[redshepherd]

I don't think all pet stores are bad and I don't think all private breeders are good (take a look at the post titled "very skinny Ball Python". I personally want to put my hands on pet before I buy, a reptile expo would be ideal but the one closest to me was in 4 hours away when we were ready to buy so it's not always practical. we have two outstanding pet stores locallyl, Denny's pet world and Bridges pets. Bridges does an amazing job with their reptiles and their prices are quite reasonable. I got my Fire Spider there for $150. as for a place like petco it's very hit or miss depending a lot on management, so it's definitely "buyer be where". I try to avoid petco but have to admit that their 50% off reptile sale and $1 a gallon fish tank sale have drawn us in more than once. Our BRB was purchased there for $75 two and a half years ago and has been in perfect health and our Bumblebee was purchased there for $100 and I'm not too ashamed to admit it. One or both my BP's came with mites, not sure which and dealing with that sucked but otherwise all our snakes are shedding and eating readily.

That's great that you found a good pet store/reptile store local to you!

Most people don't have good pet stores near them selling reliably healthy snakes. But everybody has access to online reputable breeders with good reviews and healthy animals.