Okay so all of this is normal, right? Sometimes this and sometimes that....

[wolfy-hound]

1) Yawning in snakes is not a sign of aggression. They have no social behaviors and yawning as a "warning" would be a social sign of 'you're making me nervous' in say.. dogs. In snakes, it means the snake needed to yawn.

2)If your snake remains calm and doesn't seem to notice when you touch it, it's relaxed.

3)Putting the nose RIGHT against a body part, especially if there's nudging or pushing CAN be a signal they're going to try to eat the part. It doesn't mean it's going to bite but it could be, so when it does so, you might just move your finger slowly away just so it's not pushing against it. If the nose is just happening to be next to, probably means nothing.

4)If her neck is "coiled" back but she's fairly relaxed, she's just moving around. If she tenses and pulls back in the S-curve, she could be startled and is just being certain she's ready for an unknown situation. She could be responding to anything, including a flash of light or smell that you can't even notice. Not hard-and-fast rule.. but if she's really tensed up, something probably startled her. Move slowly and not around her head and she'll probably relax again when nothing appears that's threatening.

5)Usually I like to say 'don't disturb the animal in it's hide' but honestly, ball pythons often spend most of their time in the hides, so I don't feel it's as big of a deal with them. If the snake is asleep, then when you touch it, you could be waking it out of a very sound sleep. Your "petting" is really no different than the light touch of a predetor. Remember, snakes don't have social behaviors, so grooming between individuals doesn't happen, and isn't an instinct. Dogs lick each other, etc.. snakes do not engage in that type of behavior. So a light touch to make sure it's awake is good, but remember that to the snake, it's a harmless touch, not a "petting".

6) Ball pythons do not need to swim, and personally I think a snake in a deep container of water is simply swimming because it's not drowning. I don't think I've ever seen a video of a snake in an enclosure with suffient hides to choose from, then go and choose to go into water to swim around. I've seen them put into water to soak which can be fine. I've seen them go into water while roaming to get out or find a hide. Never seen one choose to go swimming.

I especially would NOT put a snake into a spa, whirlpool or hot tub. Especially not with chlorinated water. If you choose to soak her for some reason, I would suggest only enough to come up to the snake's "width" so it can soak and doesn't need to 'swim'.

7) Her pooping after being held could be that she needed to poop and was moving around because of it. They don't 'hold it' in order to not poop on you. It could be that she didn't want to be held and was getting stressed and that made her need to poop. Like a puppy getting excited and worked up and then it pees? Or it could be that she needed to poop and was moving around "working the poop" down her intestinal track? It's hard to tell. Sometimes a snake has to just poop.

8) Analyzing every single twitch and movement is actually not uncommon when you have a new pet that you really want to take proper care of. Don't worry. All good owners will start out wondering about every nuance of the animal's behavior and food etc etc. It's all good.

All of the above is based only on my own experiances and opinions. Your opinions may vary.