I will try to help as much as I can for this seems to be bothering you and none more experienced than me has answered yet so here it goes:
So I assume Mali is in a glass enclosure? For those your best thing for heat are lamps and under tank heaters (UTHs). UTHs are stuck on the bottom of enclosures and should cover no more than one third of the enclosure's underside. The UTH can be nice for a hot side but it NEEDS to be controlled by a reliable thermostat which are often expensive. My best option at the moment are lamps for my room cant stay warm enough to maintain a favorable ambient temperature. I have 2 lamps on my BP's glass enclosure. One on the hot side stays at 90 degrees, while the one on the cool end is on a dial thermostat to keep it at about 82-84 degrees.
You keep talking about day/light cycles which ARE NOT necessary for ball pythons. Although they do not appreciate bright lighting, a red or dark purple bulb can be used 24/7 and will not be hazardous unless poorly taken care of. As for her staying in her rock, just make sure the temps are correct and regulated. My thermostat was about $30 and works fine. Make sure she has 2 hides on each side of the enclosure as well. I use zilla dark purple 75 watt bulbs by the way and flukers lamps.
If you just got her, dont worry about her hiding alot, she is just stressed about the new home so give her time to settle in and try not to handle her too much.
And congrats on the BP and welcome to the site!
feel free to ask more questions the people on here are awesome, hopefully a more experienced keeper will chime in as well
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