Snake Experience??

[salsaking]

freeride, look me up in PM if your interested but I go to the reptile swap that is run by breaders and they have just about every type of snake depending on the season and whats laying or hatching. It is Ball python time and there was about 200 balls there all ranging from $15~$25,000 so you can pretty much fit your price range. They are a little touchy to get to eat sometimes but once started they get to a pretty decent size and thickness. I have a baby male and my GF (queen) has about a 5+ft female that we will breed when my male is of age. Other than that I have had Corn, Red-Tails and my favorite; the Brazilian Rainbow. The rainbow needs just a bit more humidity and they stay hidden for a while sometimes but they are so beautiful to handle, get amazing color and look even better in the sun but as babies they can be a little nippy right away but mine never bit me. The rainbows will run you about $150 from a breader so its not too bad but resale is around $300+ for a nice adult. First timer, prolly a ball is your best bet and there are about 100 different morphs of that breed alone (mine is a 100% Orange Ghost Het.), but if you want to really read up on a snake and have a slight challenge, get a rainbow, I know I am getting another one soon.

You can get them to eat off of frozen after a while, most snakes from stores and breeders use live prey cause its easier, some use frozen but majority are live. I feed live to my ball to get him to start eating, took him 2months to finally eat the first time but now he takes them in under a few minutes and is getting better, once he learns that its feeding time, he will start taking frozen. BTW they sell all of the prey there too, frozen around $0.35~$0.50 per mouse and live around the same, all the way up to bunnies (live of course and now selling frozen baby PIGS for a little bit bigger snakes.