"My first question is when you buy a snake from one of these breeders do you get to choose which one you get or do they send you a random snake from they type you ordered."
Well if you are buying a corn snake from a breeder, you don't really get a choice to choose any from them. They do all the picking for you. If you really really want to pick one yourself, you have to either go get it in a pet shop or go directly to the breeder in order to pick one. But then trust me on this, the breeders do know how to pick them and they are just georgous. Any one of the snakes that the breeders pick are absolutly the best. All the snakes that I got from the breeders are much much more better looking than the 2 that I got from the pet shop. Also there are some reasons why you shouldn't pick a snake from the pet shop. 1) a lot of the pet shop owners don't know anything about snakes
2) a lot of them feed them crickets instead of the regular meal of pinky (day born mice)
3) they might have diseases
4) might even have mites
5) dehydrated
6) some die within a few days of purchasing.......
but these are just some of the pet shops, not all......but then snake breeders have guarantee that they are healthy and if you you don't like them in anyway, you can always refund them within a few months. (this applies to most big breeders only)
"Also, how well do corn snakes handle shipping?"
they do great with shipping. I just got 7 of mine shipped from a breeder (Rich) to my friend's place. They arrived great and they are eating already.
"I see listings still for 2001 hatchlings, about what month are the 2002 hatchlings expected?"
well the hatchlings tend to pop out around this time. Some people have already posted that their little ones have already started poping out. But them most of them come out during June - Aug. If you can wait a few more months the 2002 price list should be coming out very soon.
Which breeders do you recommend?
well I would recommend a few breeders (not in any particular order):
www.corn-utopia.com (Bill and Kathy Loves)
Note: if you are going to get a corn snake, you MUST get the "Corn Snake Manuel" from Bill and Kathy Loves. This book has so much information on corn snake and trust me, you will benefit a lot from this. It's only around $15 US so it's really cheap, but with tons of information. (Ordered from Kathy before)
www.serpenco.com (Rich Zuchowski)
He has a lot of great looking corns. He is also very helpful. (Ordered from him before)
www.cornsnakes.net (South Mountain Reptiles)
Also has a lot of great looking corns.
(No experience yet, but hopfully soon)
www.gherp.com (Glads Herp)
A lot of variety of snakes, not just corns. All good looking and healthy.
(No experience yet, but have been there a few times)
"If any of you are in the Southern California area, do you know of a good place to buy snakes and supplies here?"
this I don't know.....maybe someone else can help you with this...
Hope this helped.....if you have another questions just come back and post again.
Good Luck and Happy Herping!