Newbie - Concerned about new snake purchase

[HugYourDucks]

Hi there,
I am looking for some help from people with more experience and know-how.

After spending the last couple of years researching ball pythons and what it took to own one, I decided to finally get one this month. I ended up getting the equipment and the snake in a deal that gave me a discount on both as long as I bought them together. I was able to put the snake on a three day hold while I set up the tank.

When I bought the snake and materials, (Saturday, December 26th), an employee informed me that the snake, a 10 week old female, had just eaten that Wednesday and was good to go, however, the breeder had told them that she would only eat live rat pups. My understanding thus far is that picky snakes are typical, so I didn’t see an issue with that.

I got the tank set up and brought her home on Monday evening (December 28th). She explored the tank inquisitively until settling down on top of a hide. Didn’t seem too agitated or too incredibly stressed. However, I thought she looked a bit skinny.



I came back to the store today (December 29th) to help a friend set up a fish tank, and was approached by several of the employees and a manager, who explained there had been a miscommunication and the snake had never actually eaten at their store and she was not supposed to have been sold. Apparently, she has eaten twice with the breeder (that was how they knew she only ate rat pups), but not since then. The manager asked me to bring her back so that they could monitor her and try to get her to eat. She then said if it failed, they would let me exchange for another. (I really don’t want to do that.)

The employee who sold her to me explained when I brought her back this evening that he would try four things: Different temps, putting her in the dark, blooding the rat pup, and finally, force feeding her. He seemed confident that if he had to resort to force feeding her, she could come home with me and I wouldn’t have that issue later. I texted a friend who actually works at the store and she said the last thing they tried before they had to close was bloodying the rat, but don't have news on if that did anything. (I'm also just concerned that she won't want to eat anyways? She's had two rapid environment shifts, going to my house and then back to the store!)



I don’t know what I should do. I know snakes can be picky, so my thoughts are that perhaps the store environment (they’re in pretty small tanks with very bright lighting, sitting at 85F constant temp) is just too stressful for her and she’d do better in the tank I have. OR, this snake has serious issues that will not be resolved by whatever the store is going to try, including force feeding… My weak human heart is already very attached to her and I’d hate to just ask for a refund and look elsewhere, but it also sounds like maybe this snake is just not a good fit for me as a beginner – what if I brought her home and she still refused to eat later? To my understanding, only breeders typically have to assist/force feed babies if they haven’t eaten on their own yet, and you should only resort to that with babies that have eaten and adults if they’re sick. ?



Any thoughts or advice would be helpful and appreciated. I’m just not sure on the best course of action here as a newbie in this field and if I should take the risk of bringing her back if they offer.
-Hugyourducks