You have to consider the source when dealing with pet stores. Considering the big box pet stores have done what big box stores do. They have washed out the good ole small stores. Most pet stores have poor husbandry and the people working in them have literally no good experience with reptiles. Plus the people working in the stores are minimum wage first time working kids. No offense to that at all but those stores dont pay for experienced people. Also consider the aninal your keeping. Consider where they come from. Ball pythons come from africa. They spend the majority of their lives underground. In most cases they are found in big termite mounds. They are not a very good candidate for a display animal. They like to hide. Proper temps and humidity is key. I walked into a pet store, i wont mention names, hahaha of course i will, petco. And i acted like i didnt know anything. I asked the guy about a ball they had. I said hey where do they come from? What do they eat? How often should i feed? And last but not least whats the best temps? Ok word for word here was his answers. The come from the jungles this is why they are called jungle ball pythons, they eat mice, birds, anything they can find, they should eat once a month, 70s to 80s are ideal temps. oh and when i asked him about smell of the cage he said i could put cedar in there. Cedar. Freakin cedar. Lmao i seriouslly lost it. I had to come out of undercover. Not only did i tell him he was full of crap, i also made a point to show him the mites he had in the cage along with the fact the ball pythons he had in his tanks were horrible looking examples of the species. I would have bought em just to get them out of there but im not paying 79 bucks a piece for sick normal wild caught ball pythons.