The first hour: move warmth, not the snake
When the power fails, a ball python is usually safest staying in its own enclosure rather than being moved to a strange box. Relocate the whole enclosure, if it can be carried safely, into the smallest interior room in the home, ideally one with people in it, since body heat and insulation make such rooms cool slowest. If the enclosure cannot move, bring the insulation to it where it stands and treat the room around it as the thing you are warming.
Insulating the enclosure from the outside
Wrap a ball python's enclosure in blankets, towels or foam board on the outside of the glass or plastic, covering the sides and top while leaving ventilation openings clear. Insulation does not create heat, but it stretches the hours before the snake's space falls to room temperature. Resist opening the lid to check by hand; every opening dumps the warm air you are hoarding and admits a draft of cold. A battery-powered thermometer with the probe inside the warm end tells you what the snake is actually experiencing, and readings taken every couple of hours show whether your measures are holding or losing.
Borrowed heat, applied with barriers
For a ball python in a long outage, disposable hand warmers and hot-water bottles are the standard stand-ins, and both need a barrier. Tape wrapped warmers to the outside of the enclosure over the warm end, or place a towel-wrapped hot-water bottle against the outside glass, never loose inside where the snake can lie directly on a surface hot enough to burn skin that senses heat poorly from below. Your own body is the last resort for a genuinely cold snake, inside a secure cloth bag worn under your clothing for short, supervised periods.
Feeding stops until the heat is properly back
Do not feed a ball python during a power cut, and do not worry about a meal missed because of one. Digestion in this species depends on warmth; food sitting in a cold stomach can rot rather than digest and may be regurgitated, which is a serious stress on the snake. If the snake ate shortly before the outage, keep it especially warm and undisturbed, and watch for regurgitation over the following days. Offer water as usual, checking the bowl has not gone cold enough to discourage drinking, and wait until the enclosure has held its normal temperatures for a full day after power returns before feeding again.
Heat sources that must never come near the enclosure
Never warm a ball python's room with candles left burning, camping stoves, or fuel heaters running in a closed space; the fire and carbon monoxide risks dwarf the cold risk for everyone in the home, snakes included. Generators belong outside, well away from windows, full stop. Equally, avoid sealing the enclosure in a way that blocks airflow to trap heat, and never place the snake on a heating pad designed for people without a thermostat between it and the animal. If the home becomes dangerously cold for people, the snake travels with you in its secure tub rather than being left behind for the pipes.
Watching the snake through and after the outage
A ball python that stays coiled in its hide, flicks its tongue when disturbed and breathes quietly is coping; wheezing, mucus, open-mouth breathing or a snake that stays limp and unresponsive after warmth returns deserves a vet call. Keep notes of the lowest temperature you recorded and how long it lasted, because that timeline shapes any later vet conversation. Logging those readings and warmer changes in KinsLe through Care Teams means the ball python's outage care is shared across the household, with each check marked done rather than assumed.