Quote Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle View Post
I think the big differnce between getting a snake at a pet store or a breeder is pet stores usually(especially this time of year) have CH or captive hatched snakes that basically were hatched in Africa and shipped here by the thousands and sold to petstores dirt cheap. Most of these animals are not established and have never eaten yet(they can go weeks/months without eating). In transit they usually pickup mites, ticks and stress related problems(RI, wont feed). My first BP came from a reptile specialty pet store. They swore it was captive bred and it turned out having ticks and mites! CB sure it was. Yes they lie to tell you what you want to hear to make a sale.

Most breeders wont let an animal go until it is established and has had at least four sucessful feedings. If you think shipping overnight is scary(it's not) think of what shipping 1000's of snakes from Africa in a crate. You can also get a het from a breeder which looks normal but carries the genes for a recessive trait (like albino or ghost) for about the same price as a normal. The breeder will also give you accurate info of when/what it is eating and solid husbandry advice.

Can you get a good snake from a pet store? yeah maybe but why take a gamble when a good breeder will give you an established animal for the same if not less. If I were you the only thing that would concern me about shipping is the added cost.

Hope this helps

Super-awesome post
Buying from a respected breeder, with a great reputation, is the way to go. Shipping is no big deal when it's done by a reputable seller. For your first snake, I would search for a breeder that had stellar feedback and great references. The size of the breeder is not what matters IMO; it is their clientele's favorable opinion of them. There are breeders out there with 5 females, that I would buy from before certain mass-breeders. But there are awesome professionals out there as well that devote all of their time to these animals. The Feedback section of this forum is a great place to start looking Most morph breeders always have some normals around to sell.