If you want to go the maternal incubation route, you can. If your ball's enclosure is holding the proper temps for her and the humidity is no less than 70% and you want to be a bit unorthodox, I say go for it. That's what I did my first year and I have no regrets.
I will say, however, that it would be in your best interest to have an incubator (either store bought or homemade) on standby just in case.
If you do choose to go with maternal incubation, there are a couple things I've learned along the way that I think might help..
1) You do NOT need to bump your enclosure's humidity the same way as you would in an incubator. The humidity range needs to be no less than 60% and I really wouldn't force it to be much higher than 80%. In most cases, their enclosures don't need any tinkering to adjust humidity - especially if you're keeping your snakes in tubs. Saturating the substrate in order to trap higher humidity for the eggs can lead to problems with the female brooding them (belly rot, for instance). The temperature shouldn't need any alterations, either, if you've kept your female's enclosure or tub in the ideal ranges.
2) Females can, will, and do feed while maternally incubating. Don't with-hold food just because everyone has told you that they will refuse every meal. Offer smaller meals (weanling rats instead of sm/md rats, for instance) than usual and there should be no problem. Don't expect them to accept every meal, but do offer as you would with the rest of your snakes.
Hope it helps and good luck.
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