Do we know why these animals are so poorly cared for in these chainstores? You'd think it would make business sense to get on top of this, and I'm surprised animal welfare groups aren't hitting them harder.

At the very least, they should be sending care sheets to the stores with the animals (for staff use, but maybe also to give to customers?). Or do they do this, but they are ignored by bad or over-worked staff?

I'd imagine these issues aren't exclusive to Ball Pythons - I guess all exotic animals (or even all animals) at these stores have a bad time.