Seriously, this is the time of year when female ball pythons seek out cooler temperatures, presumably to aid in ovarian follicle development. Oftentimes, keepers don't/can't provide much of a temp gradient in cages, so you sometimes see behaviors like you mentioned of the female being uncommonly active (because the cage is now too warm) or tightly pressing her body against the coolest side of the cage or wrapped around the (cooler) water bowl.
All my mature females are exhibiting this behavior to a greater or lesser extent right now. I just checked on one which ate a large rat yesterday, and despite feeding, and despite having access to temps in the high 80s F, she has chosen a hide box in the cage @73 degrees F. I have little doubt she'd choose even cooler if such were available. As long as they appear healthy, and there's a good temperature gradient with choice of hiding places, I figure they know what they're doing. :)
As noted above, having a non-contact infrared thermometer can really make it easy to check out the surface temperatures of your snake and various parts of the enclosure. Also, good record keeping lets you know in years to come when to expect this behavior for each animal. If you've definitely ruled out mites, maybe you should consider allowing access to cooler temps or maybe do a night time drop in temperature (I use both techniques).