hello everyone, new to the forum, new to snakes, looking into getting a ball python for my 7 year old son and me

been watching a lot of videos about caring for your python, i tried to avoid video made from petshops.

there is a few things that are not clear, to me anyways..

1-the thermostat, do you guys have a place to order online that ship to canada, i dont seem to be able to find anything on amazon

2-the thermostat again, how does it know the temperature that you heat pad is on?? i mean, it ok to put it a 89 on the thermostats, but does the thermostat really know if the heat pad is heating at exactly 89 it is just hook up to it with a power plug! does the thermostat know if you are using a 4w, 8 or 16w heat pad??

3- if i cannot find a thermostat, depending on the answers for the question number 2, aint a dimmer would do the same thing considering i am monitoring the temperature inside the tank?

4- i plan on using no substrate (newspaper), i have no idea if the heat pad will be too powerfull or just right, can i use it without remove the film on it at the begining? so i can readjust it later?

5-without a dimmer/thermostats there is no other way to use the heat pad without substrate, right?

5-sexing, i am buying from a local breeder, it is not a business, he is saying it is a female, is there any special way to trick him (not in a mean way, but just to make sure he is proffesional) to find out if he knows what he is doing?

Francois