Quote Originally Posted by The Night King View Post
I was watching a video from Garrick on YouTube from royal constrictors and he made a great point about new owners or less experienced hobbyists. That it's not always a great idea to buy a hatchling or brand new snake as there are more challenges getting them to eat, get comfortable shedding etc. It made sense as he was recommending something maybe 130 -140g as a first snake is a good idea.

As I read through tons of listing on morph market and kingsnake I do come across listings that mention the snake is very nippy or tags out of defensive nature and have even seen some videos with larger balls to where they're still just very defensive and strike a lot. I know that as a previous snake owner (before having a kid) it comes with the territory but for our purposes which is introducing my young daughter to snakes with the wife that is not a snake person it's going to be difficult if we acquire one that turns out to just want to bite all the time. Our plan was to go to the reptile show to see a bunch but I wonder if we are better off going with an experienced seller and trying to explain clearly what we are looking for and seeing if they have something that just seems a whole lot calmer and better adjusted. If we get one that ends up wanting to strike often no matter what we do or handle it properly we will end up having to get rid of it or my wife may bite me.

any thoughts?
i heard the Leopard morphs are bitey. j/k. well, i hope your wife doesn't bite ya Lol. anyway just do anything to antagonize a snake, old or new. get your setup going in advance, let it acclimate it's new home before handling, better yet if u are patient - hit the trifecta before handling (feeding, pooping, shedding), keep husbandry on point, don't antagonize it during sheds.

also learn the S-stance (striking position) and avoid handling when your its stressed. u can hook train or hook handle it (or use a roll of paper towel). i think most learn their BP's personality quickly.

Quote Originally Posted by The Night King View Post
I'm in the Atlanta area...repticon is in 3 weeks
one of our forum Mods, Deborah, lives in the area. she hatched out some nice Pieds recently too. Albey's Too Cool Reptiles is over there, as well as the masterful Justin Koblyka lives an hour or so north of ATL. u can use MorphMap to locate a nearby breeder: https://www.morphmarket.com/us/stores/map/?cat=reps good luck, have fun and post pix!