Well I have a couple different racks. Racks I have found make them feel safer. I recently got a male orange ghost ball python that my boyfriend wanted to display in a tank. Just a basic setup with two identical hides and a water dish....

Well he stopped eating, and was actually very snippy and struck at us every chance he got. I finally got fed up and told my boyfriend I was switching him to a 34 qt tub in my DIY rack. After a week of settling in, he ate for me, and hasn't struck at me since he;s been switched. He reeeeally didn't like the tank.

If you get a tub, you use an under tank heater to heat the hot spot. Ball pythons don't bask, so unless it is exceptionally cold in your house and the ambient temps are low you shouldn't need a lamp at all. I do use a lamp on a dimmer in the winter for my one tank, because my apartment is drafty.

Under tank heaters (also called UTHs) are found in pet stores and online. You can also use flexwatt if you wanted to. If you google both you will find many answers. I like to get my flexwatt from Reptilebasics.com. Rich is an awesome guy....

Whichever you choose, you will need a thermostat. The cheapest being something like this, and the more expensive and more reliable being something like this. Thermostats, (not to be confused with thermometers, which you would need to read temps also, are used to control UTHs. I had a small zoomed UTH from a pet store that exceeding 130 degrees without a thermostat....