# Other Pythons > Blood Pythons >  Rambo Progression

## Dxw425

I wanted a thread to dump photos as rambo grows, rather than continue to post to older unrelated threads. So heres one of rambo 104 days ago on the way home, vs tonight in the same deli cup. He was surprisingly okay with the whole ordeal.

April 29th


Aug 11th

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (08-12-2017),C.Marie (11-29-2017),Craiga 01453 (06-08-2018),_GiddyGoat_ (09-22-2017),_MissterDog_ (08-12-2017),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018)

----------


## EL-Ziggy

Very nice critter. He's growing well too!

----------

_Dxw425_ (08-12-2017)

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

Glad to see he's growing and doing well, Dxw! All of mine are growing like crazy, too. They are literally bigger every time I pick them up! How is his temperament?

----------

_Dxw425_ (08-14-2017)

----------


## Gio

That's a nice looking snake!

----------

_Dxw425_ (08-14-2017)

----------


## Zincubus

Yeah , beautiful colouration and one of the clea eat patterns I've come across .


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

----------

_Dxw425_ (08-14-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

> Glad to see he's growing and doing well, Dxw! All of mine are growing like crazy, too. They are literally bigger every time I pick them up! How is his temperament?


He's doing great! Now that he realizes i'm not going to harm him he's much calmer! Every once in a while he'll give me a little hiss as i pull him out but he went from being a nightmare to a handleable snake! I still don't quite trust him around my face though, haha.

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (08-14-2017),Craiga 01453 (06-08-2018)

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

Honestly, I don't trust any of my Bloods, Sumatrans or Borneos... They are definitely very moody and unpredictable and even my best behaved ones are sketchy acting. All of the males especially for some reason...

----------


## Gio

I think with continual handling and learning to read the individual animal the O/P will get things dialed in.

This is a beautiful snake and things will end up how they end up.

All the best, I like that snake!

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (08-14-2017),_Dxw425_ (08-27-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

Just did a weigh in, Rambo is now at 867 grams, up from 567 grams when i weighed him on 7/22. Insane growth on this guy. We've also succesfully transitioned to f/t (thank goodness). Pretty stoked! hes getting one small rat every 7-9 days, and hasnt missed a meal. Since the first couple of weeks. Im wondering how much of his body weight is poo though, he hasnt gone for me since ive had him.

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (08-25-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

Rambo got a housing upgrade! He now lives in the boaphile 221 i posted about in the caging forums.
Here he is checking out his new home




After 3 rounds of cleaning, bleach, soap, water, i finally got rambo set up in his new enclosure. And then sure enough i wake up to find he decided to take a huge dump- his first ever with me. He would wait until i was done with all that cleaning. Now i get to clean it again. And im going to take his weight here pretty soon to compare how much he weighs empty vs. full.

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (08-28-2017)

----------


## AbsoluteApril

He's looking great in his new digs!

----------

_Dxw425_ (08-28-2017)

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

He's spoiled! lol I'm definitely going to be needing lots of these enclosures in the future... What are you using for heat?

----------


## Dxw425

> He's spoiled! lol I'm definitely going to be needing lots of these enclosures in the future... What are you using for heat?


Currently just flexwatt that was installed on the original owners purchase, my snake room is the only one with sun on it so during the day it stays about 80 anyway. I plan to install a radiant heat panel before winter, but for now while its still hot as can be the heat tape will do just fine. The acurite in the pics is on the cold side at night with the ac on, and the ac vent blows right at my snake rack, which is why it had dipped down to 79.

----------


## Dxw425

> He's spoiled! lol I'm definitely going to be needing lots of these enclosures in the future... What are you using for heat?


And i had been debating whether or not i had wanted to go boaphile or AP, but this one definitely has me sold on boaphile.

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

> And i had been debating whether or not i had wanted to go boaphile or AP, but this one definitely has me sold on boaphile.


How do they go about installing the heat tape on those? Just underneath or do they have some way of putting it inside of the enclosure and covering it with something?

----------


## Dxw425

> How do they go about installing the heat tape on those? Just underneath or do they have some way of putting it inside of the enclosure and covering it with something?


it is placed underneath the tank, there are grooves (you probably cant see in the picture) for the plastic coverins so that the wiring doesnt affect the enclosure sitting flat.

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (08-28-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

Got Rambos weigh in! On empty he came in at 742 grams, compared to the 867 before he pood everywhere. Heres some quick photos before i gave him his rat.
Ignore the mess on the shelf below! I was doing some cleaning out of random boxes in the house





Im planning on getting out my light box again and having a buddy bring over his "real" camera, we'll get some good professional quality photos to hopefully show how bright his body is getting.

----------

C.Marie (11-29-2017),Craiga 01453 (06-08-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

PHOTO DUMP! The black background didnt come out nearly as nice as the white did, so it doesnt look as nice as id hoped. Next time!
Rambo is definitely my biggest snake now. The pictures with my hands make it seem like he's pretty small, but my hands are fairly large, 8 inches from the tip of my middle finger to the base of my palm, if that helps for size reference at all.
Also one picture at the end of each of my other reptiles.

----------

C.Marie (11-29-2017),Craiga 01453 (06-08-2018),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

954 grams as of today! Eating and growing like a champ.

----------

Zincubus (09-22-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

Comparison Photo from yesterday's weigh in!

----------

C.Marie (11-29-2017),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

So Rambo has steadily been eating small rats, and steadily growing. This past feeding (two days ago) i offered him a medium rat, as the smalls have been seeming quite a bit smaller than his girth. Now i understand that this is definitely not the approach to adults, as they get so thick, and he'll never get more than large rats, but he is still fairly small so i thought it may still be alright for this approach. Well the medium rat was a slight bit bigger than his girth, you can see a slight bulge still, nothing crazy but he's definitely full. I've looked into VPI's feeding recommendations and dabbling in the forums and it seems to be that most people feed their adults bi-weekly; when do i make the switch from weekly? He is still growing at a decent rate, but i dont want to shorten his life by bumping up his prey size too quickly. I was thinking i would skip his feeding next week since he had a large meal and then either go back to weekly small rats or stay on bi-weekly mediums. Any thoughts?
I had to pull him out to clean some really soggy substrate so i grabbed a few pictures and his weight; his last weigh in was 3 weeks ago so he has had 2 small rats and a medium since but he went from 954g to 1219g, i guess im just worried about overfeeding because it seems like his weight increases 30% every month or so. Does this sound about right to anyone with lots of experience? Thanks ahead of time and as always heres some pics

----------

C.Marie (11-29-2017)

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

He seems to be pretty much the same age and size as my male Matrix Het T+ - Dexter. He was born on 6/30/16... When was Rambo born? I just weighed Dexter on 10/11 and he weighed in at 872 grams after having not eaten for 12 days, because he had missed a meal. I still have him on a 1 small rat every 7 days feeding schedule. In my opinion, mediums seem like they would be a little too large for him. Dexter's girlfriend - Sophie is one year older than him. She was born between June and September, 2015. I just bumped her up from 1 small to 1 medium every 7 days maybe just 1 - 2 months ago and she isn't overweight. I haven't weighed her for awhile, so I weighed her just now and was very surprised to see that she only weighed in at 1,146 grams. She missed her last meal, so she hasn't eaten for 12 days and she just finally emptied out for me for the first time on 8/04...

I would also be interested in finding out at what point it is suggested to cut these guys back to bi-weekly feeding. I've been under the assumption that they get cut back to a maintenance diet once they've reached adult size...

----------

_Dxw425_ (10-22-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

Havent given an update for Rambo in awhile so heres some photos. He's eating, shedding, growing great. I havent weighed him yet, and he just ate yesterday so i will get his weight later on this week. He's about 3 feet long and my guess would be around 3lbs by picking him up and looking at how his growth has been going so far. He did skip a meal last week, but he was deep deep in blue and shed out for me two days ago. Heres some pictures ive grabbed over the last couple of weeks





Rambo, master of disguise:



I came home and he had filled his water dish with pee and decided to soak in it. He also decided to just stay in the tub when i pilled it out to change the water, so he got a nice rinse off while i cleaned/filled it again

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (11-14-2017),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018),o.r hill (11-05-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

K so my scale is broken so no weight update, but heres a comparison pic with an old pic when he was still tiny in July.

Rambo as of July 7th:


Rambo as of today November 13th:



Excuse the mess, i was in the middle of cleaning out cages/the spare room and got distracted. Probably should have finished before taking pictures but oh well.

----------

C.Marie (11-29-2017)

----------


## BallPythonWannaBe

Pretty snake in a pretty tank  :Very Happy:

----------

_Dxw425_ (11-14-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

> K so my scale is broken so no weight update, but heres a comparison pic with an old pic when he was still tiny in July.
> 
> Rambo as of July 7th:
> 
> 
> Rambo as of today November 13th:
> 
> 
> 
> Excuse the mess, i was in the middle of cleaning out cages/the spare room and got distracted. Probably should have finished before taking pictures but oh well.


my mistake, the first picture is from late april/early may

----------


## Dxw425

> Pretty snake in a pretty tank


Thanks!
and my favorite quote from Dean - "Stuff it with walnuts, ugly"

----------

_BallPythonWannaBe_ (11-14-2017)

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

He is looking great as always, Dxw! You might wanna consider getting him some nicotine patches, though!  :Razz:  My Matrix boy just shed last week and is lookin' all fly right now, so I think i'll take some updated pictures of him tonight to share with you guys and weigh him while i'm at it. When I picked him up a few days ago I could have swore he doubled in girth over-night!

----------

_Dxw425_ (11-14-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

> He is looking great as always, Dxw! You might wanna consider getting him some nicotine patches, though!  My Matrix boy just shed last week and is lookin' all fly right now, so I think i'll take some updated pictures of him tonight to share with you guys and weigh him while i'm at it. When I picked him up a few days ago I could have swore he doubled in girth over-night!


Haha, it was the only thing i could find at the time that showed his relative size well, we just use it to light candles haha. Looking forward to the seeing the pictures!

----------


## Dxw425

Rambo is still doing well! I love this snake.
And check out his turd! I was completely caught off guard by the size of the mess i found when i came home from work the other day. And to think he's not even full grown. So here are two pictures of Rambo, with a third of his poo featuring his reference lighter

----------


## Dxw425

Forgot one:

----------

C.Marie (11-29-2017)

----------


## C.Marie

Love your fabulous noodle thank you so much for sharing  :Embarassed:

----------


## Dxw425

So i got everyones weights tonight! Rambo is currently 1529 grams. My body is coming over with his nice camera tomorrow to help me get good pics of the gang, will upload tomorrow night.

----------


## Dxw425

Latest pictures, Rambo at 3 lbs

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

He's looking great, Dxw! Has he set off any poop bombs for you recently? lol My Matrix boy - Dexter had been looking like he was going to pop for about a month and he definitely popped last week! It looked like a big German Sheppard took a dump and pee'd in his tub! lol I checked in on him and he was laying on top of his hide looking at me like, "I'm ssstanded up here! How 'bout a little asssissstance?"... lol

----------

_Dxw425_ (12-16-2017)

----------


## Dxw425

> He's looking great, Dxw! Has he set off any poop bombs for you recently? lol My Matrix boy - Dexter had been looking like he was going to pop for about a month and he definitely popped last week! It looked like a big German Sheppard took a dump and pee'd in his tub! lol I checked in on him and he was laying on top of his hide looking at me like, "I'm ssstanded up here! How 'bout a little asssissstance?"... lol


Thanks! he hasnt gone since his last monster poo that i posted a picture of, that one was a solid 300g 9 inch long dump. He's definitely brewing another, but last time i want to say he went 3-4 months between so i have some time still. He has filled up his water bowl almost to the brim a few times though, pretty gross haha because he loves to soak in it after. Its disgusting actually. Gotta love them though. Have you put any new pictures of dexter recently? I've been so busy with work lately i poke around on the forums but cant keep up with every post im trying to follow

----------

_Aedryan Methyus_ (12-17-2017)

----------


## Aedryan Methyus

I haven't for awhile... I've been wanting to take new pictures of all my snakes, but i've been waiting until I get a designated place setup with good lighting and scenery for taking more professional photos of them. The last few quickie photos i've posted of my snakes were horrible...

----------


## Dxw425

Heres Rambo! Weighed him in at 6lb last night and he shed this morning, though my lights in the house dont make him look amazing for the pictures. Still love him though! He sure does love to huff and puff but I havent been struck at in god knows how long.

----------

_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018),_Prognathodon_ (04-27-2018),_Reinz_ (04-25-2018),_richardhind1972_ (04-26-2018)

----------


## Reinz

He is gorgeous, and coming along so well. I keep coming back for more looks.

----------

_Dxw425_ (04-25-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

> He is gorgeous, and coming along so well. I keep coming back for more looks.


Thanks! I love him, he tolerates me haha. Its been great watching him grow and and change color overtime, hes not getting deep red like I thought he would but his orange sides are getting pretty bright. Such a cool species.

----------


## Dxw425

Master of disguise lol

----------

C.Marie (06-07-2018),_jmcrook_ (05-03-2018),_Prognathodon_ (05-03-2018)

----------


## Kroberts10

Great looking blood! Rambo seems to be growing very well and at the same rate as my orange head Sumatran. 
I bet hes thinking hide the butt, hide my head, and no one can see me.

Kyle


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

----------

_Dxw425_ (05-03-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

Some quality time with Rambo. He was pissed i pulled him out to change his substrate, his head turns almost black when he's bothered. Gotta love him.

----------

C.Marie (06-07-2018),_jmcrook_ (06-06-2018),_richardhind1972_ (06-06-2018)

----------


## richardhind1972

What amazing markings, so cool how his head  changes colour with his mood


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

----------

_Dxw425_ (06-07-2018)

----------


## Skyrivers

So nice looking. 





> What amazing markings, so cool how his head  changes colour with his mood
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk


Bloods is not on my wish list but I never knew they changed color with their mood. Is interesting for sure.

----------

_Dxw425_ (06-07-2018),_richardhind1972_ (06-07-2018)

----------


## C.Marie

He really is a handsome fella,  very neat you can tell his mood by the color changes, wish people were like that  :ROFL:

----------

_Dxw425_ (06-07-2018)

----------


## RickyNY

> He really is a handsome fella,  very neat you can tell his mood by the color changes, wish people were like that


I turn red when I'm mad  :Mad:

----------

_Dxw425_ (06-07-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

I went to Michaels today and got Rambo a fake plant so he'll feel more secure, i think its safe to say he loves it.

----------

_richardhind1972_ (06-08-2018)

----------


## Craiga 01453

Ok, so I'm definitely late to the party, don't know how I missed this thread...

Anyway, Rambo is gorgeous!! I love seeing more bloods/STPs out there!! 
Awesome progression thread too, really cool to watch his growth. Thanks for sharing!!

----------

_Dxw425_ (06-08-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

Havent given updates on Rambo for a while. We hit a huge break through; He is officially taking his rats when i offer them off the tongs! And holy s*** he hits like a truck. His strike is the fastest of any of my snakes. He took his first off the tonges the feeding before last, and the last feed i got on video and got a cool edit of him striking and then swallowing. If i cn figure out how to upload a video i'll get it posted. Until then here's a few pictures!



Usually he is the most efficient at swallowing his meals, but for some reason this last one he derped out haha


And here is him in his first tub, now, compared to waaaay back when he was still new to me. I had him in there while i cleaned a massive turd. Every single one of my snakes decided to poop today and yesterday. They're putting me to work

----------

_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018),_richardhind1972_ (07-05-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

Photo Dump!
Got my big guy out for some quality time today. I don't post him as much as i do the tic but i love the shorties! Hes grown so well since i picked him up, and he's not a crazy deep red like some bloods but i think he looks great. It's been cool to see him grow and change. Also in these pictures his head is nice and light/grey, as compared to how jet black it gets when he's pissed. He was pretty chill when i got him out, hissy, but less so than usual.

----------

_dakski_ (09-07-2018),_Dianne_ (11-02-2018),_jmcrook_ (09-07-2018),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018),_richardhind1972_ (09-07-2018)

----------


## richardhind1972

Looks so cool,love how girthy the bloods get


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

----------

_Dxw425_ (09-07-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

Fresh shed on Rambo!

----------

_Dianne_ (11-02-2018),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018),_richardhind1972_ (11-19-2018)

----------


## Cforlizzo

Hello. Thank you for this thread and all of the photos. I recently got my first blood and I see things in your thread that make me more comfortable. This photo for instance. My blood, Malakai loves to bury himself. So looks like this is normal behavior.  I will surely follow this thread going forwward and will make one for Malakai once I figure out how to upload photos. lol

----------

_Dxw425_ (11-20-2018)

----------


## Justin83

Gorgeous, I miss my old blood. Very nearly had another recently.

----------

_Dxw425_ (11-20-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

> Hello. Thank you for this thread and all of the photos. I recently got my first blood and I see things in your thread that make me more comfortable. This photo for instance. My blood, Malakai loves to bury himself. So looks like this is normal behavior.  I will surely follow this thread going forwward and will make one for Malakai once I figure out how to upload photos. lol


Hey thats awesome thanks! And congrats on your new blood, they are a super cool species!!

- - - Updated - - -




> Gorgeous, I miss my old blood. Very nearly had another recently.


Thanks!! I love my guy, and to top it off hes the lowest maintenance of my snakes haha

----------


## Dxw425

Heres Rambo looking EXTRA fat after getting a 1lb rabbit that Sonny refused a few days ago. This snake went from my most difficult feeder to overtime slowly becoming my best most aggressive feeder. He slammed the rabbit so hard I thought he was going to fly out of his boaphile. I typically feed him large medium rats or small large rats about every two weeks. Over the last two months his feeders have all been on the smaller side and he was starting to look a bit thinner than I like so I made the exception and gave him the big meal. Needless to say he wont be getting/needing any food for quite some time.

With his good ol hippy lighter for size reference:


With an empty Pepsi bottle for better reference:

----------

_Dianne_ (03-16-2019),_MR Snakes_ (11-28-2018),_richardhind1972_ (11-26-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

Hanging out with Rambo, looking at Sonnys mess

----------

_Dianne_ (12-23-2018),_richardhind1972_ (12-23-2018)

----------


## Dxw425

Rambo was the most finicky eater I had to begin with, and now anytime I enter the spare room he is at the door to his boaphile waiting to pounce. Its actually pretty nerve wracking because of how fast he is and he's started shooting out of his enclosure for meals, and its right at eye level these days. I got him out for some sun which he wasn't thrilled about at all so i snagged some quick pictures and kept it pretty short. After him i brought sonny out and was wrestling him (see Sonnys thread) and when i stood up to leave the room Rambo nailed the front of his enclosure. I about sh*t myself because he's done it twice now and each time it rocks the whole tower and is seemingly out of nowhere.

----------

_Dianne_ (03-16-2019),_richardhind1972_ (03-16-2019)

----------

