Thermostat-
This is hooked up to the heat pad under your cage to keep the belly heat at a constant temp, preferably 88-94. Heat pads without a thermostat normally run up to 115, and this will burn your snake, the thermostat keeps it steady by either restricting electricity to the pad when needed, or turning it on and off for desired temps, just like in a house. This measures temps with a probe that you can run into the cage, most tape it down to the glass so it doesn't move and mess up the temps.

Thermometer:
This is to measure your temps, You need a digital with a probe, or a temperature Gun, The probe is cheaper, but i love the guns. With this you need to place the probe in the cave, with the probe pressed tightly against the ground, this will give you the surface temperature of the spot, so you can adjust the thermostat to give the right temps. A probe can be left inside 24?7 constantly telling the temps at a glance. These range from $5-20, Tempguns are instant, you point and click and get it, very accurate, and range from $20+, You may also want another thermometer, this may be a digital without a probe if you want to measure ambient temperatures to make sure the air temp is not too cold, You can get one with a hydrometer build in as a two in one. Non digital meters of any type are very innacurate, and misrepresent the temps, which may be bad for the snake.

Hydrometer:
This measures humidity in the cage, Though opinions on this can vary, you want between 40-60% humidity, and whent he snake is shedding you can bump it up to 70%. A digital hydrometer is supperior to the non-digital as the non-digital can be very innacturate.

Rheostat-
This is basically a dimmer switch that you plug into a electrical device. If your house or apartment has a steady tempurature that does not fluctuate, you can use this and just dimm down the heat pad to the right level. If it does fluctuate, you have to get a thermostat. In any case a thermostat is safer, but these can work in some cases. They work great when using additional heat like a Ceramic Heat emitter to dimm it to the right level.

As for getting them, Heres some examples:
Thermometer with probe:
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...roducts_id=392

Tempgun:
http://www.tempgun.com/order.html#pe1

Thermostat:
http://reptilebasics.com/Ranco-ETC-1...d-p-16172.html

Hydrometer/Ambient thermomiter:
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...roducts_id=655

With the tempgun/probe, get one or the other, I use both, but its not needed.

Breeders:
My snakes from RCreptiles, he is super friendly, for a ball python he eats great, is nice looking, and healthy. All you can really ask for. Plus very professional and friendly, and great packaging, Ron gets a thumbs up all around IMO.

Other breeders listed are very reputatuble too, (I have not used them).

As for astro-turf, It works ok, and I liked it, my snake liked it, and it looks clean, but You do need 2 peices if you use it, so you can take the dirty peice out, Clean it off, let it dry, and you can swap. I now use Repti-bark and I love it, but yet to have a mess to clean up in it, so that will be the test. It does hold humidity great though without getting wet/moist, and looks good, and is pretty soft, and clean looking.

I hated aspen after a few days, I found it dusty and messy, It got all over and was a pain to feed on. But many do like it, Just find what you like.

Luckily substrates are not that expensive so you can experiment a tad.

Everything else has basically been covered, My advice now is this, Read as many caresheets as possible, for each breeder you see, read there caresheet. Find the methods of care, and reason behind each, and then see if these theories make sense. Find out the similarities between all the caresheets, what overlaps is probably a safe place to start as far as care.

Good luck,
Ben