A Ball Python

So I finally took the step - I bought my first snake. For many years I have wanted to keep a snake, but there always were objections: when I was living with my parents they wouldn't let me, and afterwards in London it would have been impractical and expensive especially on the salary I was earning. So when I moved to Hong Kong I started thinking of it again, and began to look around for information on breeders etc. I found that there was hardly any information available, if any at all. There may be more in Chinese, but unfortunately I don't read that language so I got stuck.

It did seem unlikely though that there were no snake lovers in Hong Kong - and when I say snake lovers I mean the people who love the live animal as opposed to the soup ingredient. Snake soup is popular in Hong Kong in winter months.

Last week my suspicion got confirmed. There are reptile lovers in Hong Kong, and I knew where to find them: the Hong Kong Reptile Expo at HITEC. After a trek and a half I arrived at said location with my friend, endured the queue to buy tickets, and started walking around the expo. There weren't as many snake breeders as I expected there would be, but there were some. The very first breeder we met was Mike Wilbanks, and he's also the one I went back to after doing the round since had by far the nicest collection of snakes.

I picked a Ball Python. They come in a wide variety of colour patterns, and the one I really liked was the Mojave. That and the pure white one, but that one was just a bit over my budget (ahem). Had a nice conversation with Mike, who in the conversation confirmed the research I had done on beforehand. He knew what he was talking about, and obviously has a passion for snakes. I'll introduce his website in a future post, you'll see what I mean.

So here I am - proud owner of a ball python in Hong Kong. I purchased a cage at the expo (more about that later) and took my new friend home in a taxi. The next day I went hunting for supplies. More on that later too.