Of course they don't get "night heating in the wild, but what they do get is a very large choice of where to spend their nights, and these will often be in sun-warmed rocks (which will retain heat long after the sun goes down, and remain warmer than ambient temperatures throughout the night), or snug in very temperature stable hollow logs which don't get very cold at any time. And whenthe season change is advanced enough to stop them eating, they just come out and bask during the day, and retreat into their over-winter accommodation, curl up very tightly (to retain heat for as long as possible) and remain so until the next sunny morning.
This behaviour works for the snakes in the wild because they have the ability to make infinite choices about how to manage their physiology - when they eat, how they manage their temperature-related activities, when they stop eating for the cool season - the list is as long as you want to make it. When we put them in a box in our homes, they are in a "twilight zone" with almost no choices about what will suit them best, they have to rely on our understanding of "best management practices" to survive and remain healthy. Enclosures in homes usually don't get cool enough to initiate true brumation through the winter, so the snakes are too cool to feed, but semi-active and using energy, while their immune system is compromised beacuse this is what happens during the cooler months. It's a perfect formula for starting off a respiratory infection which may eventually kill the animal.
The saftest thing to do with a growing animal is to acknowledge that we are keeping in a TOTALLY artificial environment, maintain temperatures suitable for feeding and full activity night & day, throughout the year, and to maintain a strong immune system and good growth. Once an animal has reached close to adult size (and this may be a very subjective assessment), you can then consider night cooling in winter, especially if you plan to breed.
Millions of people worldwide, amateurs and professionals have been keeping and breeding reptiles successfully for decades, and basic husbandry practices are generally well understood, probably the most important of which is correct management of temperatures which suit the animal. We will always see newcomers who think they know it all come on board and try to reinvent the wheel, this is generally because they have a poor understanding of reptile physiology.
Almost ALWAYS, if the snake is otherwise healthy, non-feeding is related to INCORRECT TEMPERATURE regimes, with the addition of stress caused by over-handling. Less often by poor or inappropriate housing. You are having trouble getting your animal to feed, you have been given a huge amout of info about what you MUST do to fix the problem. It's up to you if you take it on board. If you don't, your animal will have a short and difficult life.
Jamie