I have to think that the vets were talking about certain species of snakes and not all snakes. Boas and pythons have a skin fold or flap on the underside of their jaw which, along with the ability to running their jaws, allows them to eat prey larger than the size of their head. (Sorry for any misuse of terms) If we were to feed our balls prey no larger than their heads, then I think we would be permanently starving them. Since I've been hearing a lot about obesity in reptiles, perhaps the vets are recommending underfeeding intentionally?
So far as uvb lights go, I think it's obviously not a necessity. However, I have heard other people saying that they do benefit from it. I haven't seen any scientific evidence for this, but I have seen images of ball pythons hanging out under uvb lights, and I found an old book titled Snakes of Africa in which the author noted that royals could occasionally be found basking.
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