ball python acting weird?

Hello!

I'm new here, so apologies if this is a dumb question. My girlfriend has a ball python, she's had him for about a year now, and he's approaching 2. He eats regularly without issue and is a healthy weight. His enclosure is a 40 gallon tank filled with plants and hides and such and there hasn't been any fluctuations in temperature/humidity besides the normal cooling trend of fall. That being said, he's been incredibly active the past few weeks or so, coming out at night and rubbing against the lid and sides of the enclosure. He's not hurting himself, and will mostly just roam around his tank and look around. My girlfriend says it might be because he's reaching sexual maturity but he does this every night for up to a few hours at a time. I'm worried it could be something wrong with his enclosure, or that he's unhappy.

Nothing has changed at all in the past few weeks and he doesn't seem stressed or breathing hard, just overly curious. Is this anything to be worried about? I was told ball pythons tend to sit and rarely come out, but he's out daily (nightly?) knocking over the plants in his house.

If he's active every night, it is because snakes are nocturnal hunters. If he is being fed properly and having the time of his life loafing around his enclosure, he is a happy snake. Don't worry about his sexual maturity, he already reached it when he turned 1, so instincts of breeding are normal for him right now. Since your girlfriend has a male ball python, why don't you get it a pair? Buy a female for her, there's a lot of morphs out there, and who knows how much your girl will be happy to see her little snoot have a new friend. Cheers :)

As long as it's nothing to worry about, that's fine! Maybe I will look into getting my own bp so we can have a pair, haha. Thanks!!

Just don't house them together. Never good.