I would plan on buying a snake from the show you going to attend. Make sure to ask questions, if you buy one you will want to know if it is wild caught or captive bread, hatch date, sex, type of food it has been eating, The last time it ate, ask to see it eat if has been a couple days since it last ate. Ask if it has ever been handled, type of substrait or cage it has been kept in. Ask if the seller will guarentee it. Look it over good for mites, any foam at the mouth, left over skin on the eyes, kinks in tail or bone structure. If it is a baby snake ask how it eats -- will it take a thawed pinky or is it finicky. Those baby Arizona Mtn Kings can tend to be tough to get to eat mice. Read about some feeding tricks for the young snakes. Snakes that have been fed lizards tend to carry parasites in their digestive track (this can be fixed later with some effort)
I like to look for cheap substrait there at the shows. Bed A Beast is awesome for about $3 a brick. Aspin shavings are good too. I dont like the calcium sand too much -- it is messy, heavy and expensive. The white calc sand is cool looking, it even glowsin the dark but it smells and clumps up alot. I also noticed it's dust gets in the belly scales and makes for an irritated snake. Get the book "The art of keeping snakes" and read the chapters about using dirt mixture with live plants. If done right the natural bactiera in the dirt mixture takes care of its self and the plants love it. All you have to do is clean poo and stir the dirt once a week (remember not to keep it to moist for that can be bad on the snake) -- get the book it is AWESOME!
I also usually buy my cages at shows. Dont pay more then $25 for a 20 gallon long (w/o screen). Make sure the top fits and the clips are tight (About $10-$15). Remember a baby snake can be kept in a 10 Gallon for about a year. Those are $10 at PetSmart. Look for cheap under the cage heaters -- those can be expensive from PetSmart.
Also buy your frozen mice there. Plan ahead and bring a cooler or something to keep them in on the way home. Buy them before they sell out and ask to keep them on the side until you are ready to go. Buy some ziplocks of various sizes and when you get home, quickly seperate the frozen scoobie snacks into a few bags (might want to date them) This prevents future freezer burn when opening and closing the same bag every week. If you are only buying one snake you wont really need that much. I bought some mice today at PetPlus for $1.19 and fuzzies for $1.29 (thats way to much) My friend in Florida buys his full Size mice for $0.40. Live hopper mice from my local pet store (private owned by a bunch of freak stoners) are $0.99
As far as the price you are going to pay for your snake, try to do some shopping around on the internet. Figure out and get within a price range and go to the show with that in mind. I think the last Arizonia I saw the lady wanted $70 for a baby. It might have been more. Those are very cool looking snakes!
Hope this helps!
Oh yeah and remember to get to the swap EARLY and bring cash!!
ChubbaBubba
