Hi everyone

I'm new to snake-keeping and hoping you could help me out with something I really know nothing about:

Firstly, I got my baby ball python two weeks ago - I haven't handled it yet because I thought it should get used to the new environment first and have a successful feeding - the pet store fed him a day before I went to pick him up, and I fed it on Thursday last week - so he seems to be adjusting nicely to his new home - but the dumb question I'd like to know is - how often do they defecate / urinate? I have been inspecting the substrate every day for droppings and urate, but I can't see or smell anything - this can't be normal?

Secondly, a question of substrate - I have read a few of these posts and most refer to Aspen or Cypress - which the reptile shops don't stock around here. (Cypress is available only rarely and extremely expensive). The alternatives they sell around here are corncob and 'sphagnum moss' - initially I set up the terrarium half sphagnum and half corncob (because the stockist didn't have enough of one type to fill the whole terrarium with) - but the corncob smells bad so I'm in the process of replacing it with more sphagnum. Does anyone else here use sphagnum and have any tips like how often to replace it and special care related to it?

Lastly - I notice that he never ventures to the 'humid' area of the terrarium, also the spot where I keep the heatpad - The average temperature in the terrarium is about 25 degrees Celcius, 28 degree Celcius on the heatpad. The pet store owner advised me that the heating pad should not be larger than one third of the terrarium, and that I should place the water-bowl partly on the pad, so that it promotes humidity and keeps the water at a nice temperature. So I did it like that - a qaurter of the waterbowl overlaps the heatpad and the humidity in that area is about 70% - but the snake never goes there - is there something wrong with that setup?

And if you got this far, thanks for reading all of this!!! I'd appreciate some advice on this stuff.