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ORIGINAL: TheLadyM

Your bp may not be eating because of your husbandry. You really cannot listen to pet shops as they are often not sufficiently knowledgeable on these animals. Ball pythons need several things to thrive: a warm and cool side - warm side temp should be 90 - 92, cool side - 80 - 82. In the 70's and you are risking a respiratory infection. Never use a heat rock - use undertank heaters and a heatlamp if necessary. Just be aware of the humidity requirements when using a heatlamp. They need a tight identical hide on each side of the enclosure - it should touch them on all sides - ball pythons will sacrifice thermal regulation for security. Humidity should be 50-60%, increased to 70% when your snake is coming into shed. You need to be able to accurately measure temps and humidity - an accurite thermomoeter/hygrometer available from walmart is an excellent and affordable choice - the ones from the pet shop are useless. Substrate - there are a variety of options but many experienced herpers use newspaper. It's cheap and easy to change out. Cypress mulch is reasonably good - NEVER pine or cedar. And of course a source of clean drinking water. As to feeding: you should be feeding one prey item a week, no larger than the widest part of your snakes body. I would recommend joining a community like ball-pythons.net, where you'll find many knowledgeable and caring people and get spot on advice. Here's a good caresheet to start with : http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&id=59

You can contact me through my profile if you need further assistance.