From what I have seen pet shops do a horrible job of taking care of their ball pythons.

Most of them around here are either not provided with a hide or the hide they have is totally wrong for the snake. In the pet shops I have been to around here they have one ambient air thermometer with no floor thermometers and do not even monitor humidity in the enclosure.

I think the pet shops are more interested in displaying them than in them having the proper living enviroment so their behavior is not normal in a pet shop.

Having said that I am still new to snakes but I have learned enough here to know more than the people that work at my local pet shops.