helping a friend take care of a ball python and i have a question.... about behavoir?

For the past two days I've come home to my friends ball python being half way up the tank and his head in a s shape, (for hours at a time) she fed him last week and the tank is new so I don't know if this could be the reason why, but since I have 0 knowledge about pet python behavior I figure I would ask someone who knows more then I... attached is a picture of what hes been doing, also hes done it whether his heat lamp has been on or not.

[IMG]http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7f27ce6d.jpg[/IMG]

Looks like pretty normal behavior to me! Mine love to explore at night, which it looks to be in that picture.

What is the temperature of the ambient room and in the tank?

When snakes look up for extended periods of time like that, it usually indicates they have a Respiratory Infection(RI). Looking up allows them to breathe better because it keeps the mucous down out of their air ways since snakes cannot swallow it down like people.

Respiratory infections are a result of being too cold.
I'm not saying it is an RI, but that's a pretty common behavior for one.