diff --git a/civo/instances/resource_instance.go b/civo/instances/resource_instance.go
index 7d406489..2dc7df8e 100644
--- a/civo/instances/resource_instance.go
+++ b/civo/instances/resource_instance.go
@@ -289,6 +289,22 @@ func resourceInstanceCreate(ctx context.Context, d *schema.ResourceData, m inter
 
 	log.Printf("[INFO] creating the instance %s", d.Get("hostname").(string))
 
+	// Initialize diagnostics
+	diags := diag.Diagnostics{}
+
+	isFirstInstance, err := checkNetworkFirstInstance(apiClient, config.NetworkID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return diag.Errorf("[ERR] failed to check network instances: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	if isFirstInstance {
+		diags = append(diags, diag.Diagnostic{
+			Severity: diag.Warning,
+			Summary:  "First Instance in Network",
+			Detail:   fmt.Sprintf("The instance %s is the first instance in network %s and will be automatically assigned a public IP", config.Hostname, config.NetworkID),
+		})
+	}
+
 	instance, err := apiClient.CreateInstance(config)
 	if err != nil {
 		customErr, parseErr := utils.ParseErrorResponse(err.Error())
@@ -340,7 +356,11 @@ func resourceInstanceCreate(ctx context.Context, d *schema.ResourceData, m inter
 		}
 	}
 
-	return resourceInstanceRead(ctx, d, m)
+	// Append read resource diagnostics
+	readDiags := resourceInstanceRead(ctx, d, m)
+	diags = append(diags, readDiags...)
+
+	return diags
 
 }
 
@@ -631,3 +651,23 @@ func customizeDiffInstance(ctx context.Context, d *schema.ResourceDiff, meta int
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// checkNetworkFirstInstance checks if this is the first instance in a given network
+func checkNetworkFirstInstance(apiClient *civogo.Client, networkID string) (bool, error) {
+	// List all instances
+	instances, err := apiClient.ListAllInstances()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to list instances: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Count instances in the specified network
+	networkInstanceCount := 0
+	for _, instance := range instances {
+		if instance.NetworkID == networkID {
+			networkInstanceCount++
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Return true if this is the first instance in the network
+	return networkInstanceCount == 0, nil
+}
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 0aa0bd4e..17c6ad3c 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 module github.com/civo/terraform-provider-civo
 
 require (
-	github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.85
+	github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.89
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.3.1
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-cty v1.4.1-0.20200414143053-d3edf31b6320
 	github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-sdk/v2 v2.31.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 4f0bc2f4..1efade86 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.84 h1:jf5IT7VJFPaReO6g8B0zqKhsYCIizaGo4PjDLY7Sl6Y=
 github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.84/go.mod h1:7UCYX+qeeJbrG55E1huv+0ySxcHTqq/26FcHLVelQJM=
 github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.85 h1:rXRbDT9B60Ocp/IxAoAs90yAJog2la1MajQqgXETxd4=
 github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.85/go.mod h1:7UCYX+qeeJbrG55E1huv+0ySxcHTqq/26FcHLVelQJM=
+github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.89 h1:g+I4NGVa5t0L2Z9+QbnEAqxE/3OCDUYvepje3oUkKVo=
+github.com/civo/civogo v0.3.89/go.mod h1:7UCYX+qeeJbrG55E1huv+0ySxcHTqq/26FcHLVelQJM=
 github.com/cloudflare/circl v1.3.3 h1:fE/Qz0QdIGqeWfnwq0RE0R7MI51s0M2E4Ga9kq5AEMs=
 github.com/cloudflare/circl v1.3.3/go.mod h1:5XYMA4rFBvNIrhs50XuiBJ15vF2pZn4nnUKZrLbUZFA=
 github.com/cyphar/filepath-securejoin v0.2.4 h1:Ugdm7cg7i6ZK6x3xDF1oEu1nfkyfH53EtKeQYTC3kyg=