With the radiant heat panel the ceramic might not be that bad for a ball python. I still want to run some testing on it, but in nature when a ball python is looking at getting warm in the evening they will look for rocks that have been heated by the sun. I think a radiant panel over a ceramic tile could mimic this very well. My biggest issue with that type of set up is where would you put your thermostat probe and what to set it at.