Ball python enclosure heating

[Chaos-n-Dissonance]

The problem with an enclosure that big + heat pads is they can be tricky. A heat mat (or flexwatt, or a head pad, w/e you want to call it) will have to get fairly hot in order to penetrate the bottom PVC AND the substrate. It's also not very good at adjusting your ambient temperature, so unless you keep the room it's in at around 80º year round then the rest of the enclosure will likely get too cold. If you're going to use one, I'd use them WITH one of these other options to help bring the hot spot where it needs to be... But not just by itself (Again, unless you just have the whole room it's in heated to ~80º)

Like other people have suggested, a radiant heat panel is probably the way to go. ProProducts and VE make RHP's specifically designed for reptile enclosures. It's also possible to retrofit other heat panels to work in a snake cage. VE/PP heat panels will probably run you around $100 give or take, but are designed to mount to the top of the enclosure and be used with a thermostat. Other heat panels you can get for around $40-50, but they aren't designed to be used in a snake enclosure so you'll have to figure out for yourself how to mount and how to attach your thermostat probe (And in most cases, that'll mean building a way to mount it or attach the probe). Also, VE/PP panels are usually under warranty, where other heat panels probably wouldn't be honored (since you're not using them for their intended purpose).

Deep Heat Projectors and Ceramic Heat Emitters are also options. They're lightless heat sources and do a decent job at giving you a hot spot + thermal gradient. Depending on the ambient temperature of the room you have it set up in, you may need 2 (1 on the warm side, 1 on the cool, both controlled by their own thermostat probe). CHE's are by far your cheapest option, tho they're known to dry out enclosures rather quickly. RHP's aren't too expensive (~$30), but you need a good thermostat to run them on (They'll burn out quickly on an analog (on/off) or pulse proportional thermostat, so you need a dimming thermostat). In both cases you'll have to either cut out part of the top of the enclosure so you can hook up lamps, or install light fixtures inside the enclosure itself (and add some sort of wire caging to make sure a snake can't touch the heat source directly).

Side note about heat mats: If you were going to switch out some of the bottom material of the enclosure, I'd do it with some sort of metal. A thin sheet of metal will be much safer than a pane of glass, conduct the heat better, and even be thinner (meaning you'll have to raise the enclosure up less to ensure heat doesn't get trapped between the enclosure, heating mat, and w/e you're putting the enclosure on). It's also a lot easier to attach, replace, etc... Just my 2 cents tho