Question about behavior

[jotay]

Had my bp 2 mos yesterday. He is young and about 2'.
I was not smart and didnt know about this forum so I bought my snake and cage at once and it took me about a month to get everything just so ie temps etc. During this time he did feed no problem but he always stayed in his cool side hide would only come out when hungry. I handle after about 2 weeks but not much.
So I got the temps and humditiy and everything just prefect and about 2 weeks later he has his first shed which went great , came off in one pc. which I now have hanging up on the wall sortof like a proud parent does with babies first shoes .he fed again great.
Well it seems after that first shed and feeding now which he is seeming to even have bowel movement regular because I feed again Mon and he poo'ed Thurs. ( only the 3rd time since I had him.)
Now he spends time in his warm hide and cool hide ( he never went in his warm hide until he shed now uses it all the time) and now he is starting to really come out more and play and hang out. He has started to swim in his water ( he puts his head and neck all way in the swims under water but the bulk of his body is out of water then he will climb up cage and run the rest of his body thru. seems he likes to dunk his head, go figure!
I have been handling alot more the last 10 day s also trying to get him use to it.
Do you guys think he is finally settleing in and feeling comfortable and this is why his behavior has changed so much??
Also I wrote under the bp bites topic about our adventure on Sunday night
Sorry for such a long post but I was looking to see if you guys think everything is alright or if there may be problems
Sorry just a worried newbie parent
Temps stay at hot side 90.5-93.0 w/UTH and cool side 80.5-83.0 with a overhead light with a red incad. bulb ambient runs about 80-82 Humditiy is about 60-65 on hot side and 52-57 on cool side and ambient stays around 55-60.

[Marla]

I think what you're seeing is urates, not poo. Poo is brown and urates are white to yellow and typically contain both solid and liquid matter. It sounds like your temps and humidity are good, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the change in behavior. I would check him thoroughly for mites, though, because they'll often soak when they have mites, and you just want to be sure.

[jotay]

No it's poo, long and brown plus I saw the pic's posted here on poo
Also he doesnt soak it's like he swims but just his head and neck. almost like he thinks he is a croc he will sit with head in water for a min. then dive under like he is looking for something. Kinda like my Garter snake use to do when I would put live fish in his water for him to eat.
I have only seen and cleaned up the pee twice.
I have looked for mites but I dont know what they look like but I dont see any thing on him. He just started this water thing like a few days ago as he seem to get more comfortable with his house.
I have no other snakes so how would he get mites now???? could he get them from crawling around the house? I feed him F/T mice so I know that couldn't be

[CROWLEY]

not sure on the mites from the house, but its sound like you have a happy little ball python!

[Mike]

i know what your talking about with the head under water. mine do it sometimes too. i guess its normal, i dnt see any harm in it.

[Marla]

No it's poo, long and brown plus I saw the pic's posted here on poo
Also he doesnt soak it's like he swims but just his head and neck. almost like he thinks he is a croc he will sit with head in water for a min. then dive under like he is looking for something. Kinda like my Garter snake use to do when I would put live fish in his water for him to eat.
I have only seen and cleaned up the pee twice.
I have looked for mites but I dont know what they look like but I dont see any thing on him. He just started this water thing like a few days ago as he seem to get more comfortable with his house.
I have no other snakes so how would he get mites now???? could he get them from crawling around the house? I feed him F/T mice so I know that couldn't be

No, he wouldn't get mites crawling around the house unless you have wild lizards under or around your house that may be carrying them, which is possible. A mite looks like a black chigger (if you've ever seen them, I don't know if you have them where you live), but a little smaller. They are the size of a period, give or take. Juveniles are grayish-tan in color and even smaller, but they move around too.

That's very surprising that your snake would be moving its bowels so often, because most bp's only do it every 4-8 weeks, depending on how much and how often they're eating. Urates typically come more like every week or so.

I wouldn't worry about the swimming behavior if you're sure there are no mites and the snake isn't behaving oddly otherwise (unable to right itself, etc.). Some snakes enjoy swimming and it sounds like you got one of them.