Interesting read, though I wouldn't apply this to ball pythons since this was a study on rattle snakes. I wonder if the stress change is notable or negligible. The paper recognized it needs a long term study to answer that question.
I would have the same questions for a ball python. Is the stress from a fluctuating temperature negligible or not? What is considered a bad level of stress (BKA/CORT/H:L ratio) for a ball python? I would start with a hypothesis that stress from fluctuating levels would depend how big of a temperature difference is in the enclosure and how much it fluctuates. A ball python would probably be more stressed with a 20 degree change over a 5-10 degree change. Again, would the level of stress from the ball python recognizing a temperature change have any affect on its health? Or is it a healthy amount of stress?
A lite version of this study without blood samples would be simply observing your animal. Is it thriving without showing outwards signs of stress under which ever condition it lives in?
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