I have fallen in love...

[rabernet]

That's how I ended up with my little female bp.
She was in a small display with the substrate all soaked from a spilled water dish and a hide so small she lifted it completely off the substrate by balling up inside it.

"You don't purchase from a chain petstore, you rescue from a chain pet store"

EXCEPT that you aren't rescuing. You're encouraging the continued sale of them. You may THINK you're rescuing one, but what you've really done is create a demand and an open spot for another one.

You come to a point where you realize that you CAN'T save them all, and that by doing so, you're doing a dis-service to another animal who has to fill that demand.

However, with that said, the description of how she was kept doesn't sound awful to me. You'd be surprised just how tight ball pythons want their hides. The temp isn't bad, and the small enclosure is TEMPORARY display housing. It was never intended to be a permanent home for the snake. So of course it won't be how you would keep it.

I am very friendly with the folks at my Petsmart. I have no objection to how they are keeping theirs. They even ask me if I'll sex them for them, so that they can tell potential buyers the gender of the snake. And if they have an interested customer and I'm shopping, they hunt me down to talk to the person about proper housing and care.

If you LOVE her, then get her, but it's really not a rescue. It's a purchase of an animal that was displayed in a manner to draw in the consumer - and it worked.