Hey all, I am new to this forum, and pretty new to owning a ball python. I recently purchased a ball about 4 days ago. She is said to be roughly 6 months old. I was told by the breeder that he was feeding her hopper mice. The hopper mice seem to be a bit too small. I just fed her yesterday and I cannot tell that she ate. I'm not sure if I should feed her another hopper, or try adult mice next time. Any suggestions?

Also, I have been monitoring her viv. The warm sides seems to be staying at about 79-80 degrees depending on my house temp. I use a UTH but was told to put cardboard between the substrate and the glass so the snake doesn't get burned, but it seems the temperature is too low. I use a digital thermometer and it seems the cold side is roughly 71. The humidity is reading 22% and I'm not sure that's right. I don't know what to do. I can't seem to get the temps right. Should I buy a heat lamp, should I remove the cardboard, what should I do? The temperature in my house is currently 72 degrees. Any advice that anyone could give would be great.