Our first ball came with a tub and after doing some reading I felt it was the better option for our other snakes. Our snakes are not really display snakes. We hardly see them they prefer to hang out in their hides with just their heads poking out unless its getting close to feeding night then some are out looking. I'm having a rack made to save space and in the winter I will need that second heat source to bump up the ambient temps a coupe degrees.
My daughter has a tank for her corn snake. The snake eats like a pig and never had a issue with spilling water and cracking the tank. JellyBean seems quite happy in there but when it came to housing her hognose she choose a tub. She said its just easier to clean and she can see him just as well and the tub has locking sides. Jellybean escaped once so now he has 4 clips on his cage so she finds the tub to be less fuss in getting him out.