well once you get a thermostat (reptilebasics.com---> thermostats) you just set a temp and it stays at that temp. as for the heat lamp, you might want to ditch it, as it kills humidity. ball pythons are terrestrial snakes (stay on the ground) so under tank heating (UTH) is best. when i had a tank i had 2 UTH one on cool side and one on warm side, with 2 thermostats. that worked for me, but now all my snakes are in tubs.