About 14 years ago, I began keeping ball pythons. This journey has been a long, but educational and fun one. When I began keeping ball pythons, I was 16 years old. I had been trying to convince my parents for months to let me get a ball python because my cousin moved here for college and got one and I fell in love with it. My mom wouldn't let me have a snake, but I went to the pet shop every day looking at them and even drug her with me (that was funny to see her in a room full of snakes). At that time, they were about $100 but it seemed like $1 million. One day, I was at the mall and I saw some BPs in a 10 gallon tank for $25, and I figured it was a sign form God that I was supposed to get one. I bought a 10 gallon tank, an undertank heater, reptibark, a hide box and a snake. I took the snake home and hit it under my night stand. I looked at him every 10 minutes to make sure he was OK, and prepared myself for the day my mother found him and I would have to get rid of my miracle from GOD. Well needless to say, mom found him. It answered for her the burning question of why I started doing my own laundry and cleaning my room so much. She finally agreed that if I kept doing what I had done, I could keep my snake. The only stipulation was that if he ever got out, I had to get rid of him. I was finally able to put him on display for all the world to see my little miracle. Like most of us, this hobby has grown into an obsession. I am going to do a little thinning of my collection. I have decided that I want to work with albinos, pieds, and caramel albinos, and pied albinos and pied caramels only. I have wanted an albino ever since they were $7.5k and now I got one. Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to convey my joy to all my fellow hobbyists/obsessionists. I am also sorry for the shed in the pic. I got him 4 days ago, and has been in shed. I have checked his tank 3x daily to see if he had shed so I could share this moment with you. I really didn't even see the shed until I started to post this. A special thanks to Dewaye Richard of albinoballpythons.com for the beautiful animal, and his excellent customer service, and putting up with my impatience for my animal to hatch, eat, and Dewayne to get back from Daytona to get him shipped.
Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
