Ball pythons can "see" in infrared, though it seems that it's mostly with their labial pits rather than their eyes. They can also see in ultraviolet, and in color during the daytime.

I have been told that no matter what type of bulb you use, a ball python will be able to see it. I kept a small black light on one of my big girls at night, and she knew it was there. When she would come out to explore she would pay a lot of attention to that light - I think trying to figure out what type of animal emitted such a strange heat source.

If you want to see them at night, get a black light, red light, whatever, and put it on a timer. Allow it to come on when it gets dark outside, but before you go to sleep. Once you're in bed, it should turn off again to allow the snake to have complete darkness in which to move about.

Hope that helps.