A little advice?

[redshepherd]

ETA: First of all, take out the heating rock asap! Those are dangerous to snakes. It can seriously burn or kill them.

Don't get advice from petsmart/petco employees- 99% of cases, they give bad advice... such as the heating rock.

Read up thoroughly on this link to get info on what temperatures and setups are appropriate for ball pythons. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...thon-CARESHEET

Yawning is normal. Poking around to check once in awhile and returning to the hide is also normal. But 90% of the time, they will be in their hide. If they are coming out TOO frequently, it usually means that either the temperatures are off, or they are hungry.

You can't tell a ball python's age from size, unfortunately. Some who are malnourished or underfed or on "maintenance feeding" will be much smaller at an older age. Some who are fed a lot and frequently will grow fast. Their size generally depends on their feeding schedule since a young age, but also genetics. If you see that she's chubby, and her spine is not a visible triangle shape on her back, then it sounds like she's fine.

By cobra thing, do you mean lifting their necks straight up? That's called periscoping, just them checking the environment, not defensive at all.

A ball python being particularly active/moving fast is actually nervousness, not friendliness. If they are content, then they sit still like a mushy blob (LOL) or move quite slowly.

An "S" shape neck with a pulled back head, and holding her head very still, is defensive- but it's not always going to be the "S" shape when they are defensive. Sometimes they will simply pull their heads back a bit and hold very still + stare at your hand/object of their fear.

If you weigh her on a scale in grams, we can tell you how frequently and how large size prey you can feed her!