It also depends on where you live. The Bakers are in TX, Deb is in Ga. I however live in MN and would not consider using room heat as my only heat source. I've got heat tape on everything. I believe that Ball pythons DO need variable temps to stay healthy, whether that temp varies in the distance between the front of the cage to the back of the cage or over time from the middle of the night to the middle of the afternoon. Places down south it's likely to get hotter in the later part of the day then in the morning, up here especially in the winter when we have to rely on artificial heat 24X7 not so much.