Bubbling scales on the belly?

[Ranulf]

Ball pythons like to have security as well as heat regulation in one convenient package, which is why it is recommended that the temperatures inside the hides be at their preferred temperatures. This is a failing of bulbs and other overhead heating solutions. Ball Pythons in the wild are rarely found outside of a hide basking, they are not basking animals, which is why having their hot spot being a basking platform of sorts is not recommended

However(!)

The golden rule of herp keeping is, if the animal is healthy, happy, and lives their entire expected lifespan (30-40 years for BPs in captivity) then the husbandry is acceptable. This is not an exact science.

[Elitedog]

Little Update:
Got a thermostat hook up and fiddled with it a bit. The glass itself wont go any higher than 36C, the bedding over top it sits around around 30C. Not the best, but I'd rather be safe.

I took her to the vet and she doesn't have any infection, it's just a burn on the outside that blistered. All things considered, that's the best case scenario. I got some cream and meds to help with it. Once my Betadine comes in, they told me it's good to give her a bath filled with it diluted.

Thank you for the people that responded to this that actually cared about my girl and provided advice

[PitOnTheProwl]

Always measure your temperatures in the hottest surface your animal can touch, this would be the glass.
If the surface of your substrate is too cool you may have too thick of a layer. Most snakes will burrow to the heat.

[Craiga 01453]

Awesome!!

Don't stress over the temp of the substrate. Focus on the actual surface temp of the glass above the UTH (heat mat). That's where you're "hot spot" will be.

Snakes burrow and push substrate around so you don't need to worry about the substrate temp, since the snake will likely end up in direct contact with the glass. Most of my snakes end up pushing the majority of their substrate out of their hides anyway.

Good luck with the meds and keep up the good work.