I also have experienced that a little cooler than the recommended can work. I'm even a little lower on the cool side than others here, not by choice but just what my temps come to with my particular situation. My cool side is only 74-75 in the winter months and 75-76 in the summer. It's almost like a cooling system for the breeding season even though I know cooling is now believed unnecessary, it just works out that way. My setup is homemade racks with 11" heat tape that runs across a little less than the back half of the tub. It is set at 90 which creates a hot spot of 86-88 in the tub. Because the hot spot is controlled by a thermostat, it does not fluctuate from winter to summer like the cool side. So they can regulate their temp between 74-88 degrees. I would of made adjustments to get temps up if I saw any issues but to my surprise they are actually all doing very well. They all eat well and breed incredibly well. After the first initial month of introducing males, I've had 100% lock success within 24 hours of introduction. This is not just with 2 ball pythons, it is with 15 females and 6 males being paired monthly, some of both being their first season. So in my opinion, if there are no signs of stress and the animals are all eating and breeding incredibly well, then these lower temps are not affecting them negatively in any way. Time will be the true test but this is not a super new setup either, I have been using this setup for two years now.
Just remember, you may not need to worry about getting temps exact to what the 'books' say, but it is very important to give your ball python a very consistent range so that it can regulate its body temp. If the whole cage is 80, that is not good. You need the cool side and the warm side so that your ball python can choose which side to be on and be able to regulate it's own temp as needed. The exact temp on each side is not near as important as the range.
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