How are they different from BPs?

[Willowy]

I waaannnttt a Borneo short-tailed python . Or a blood, depends on the morph. I love how they look. I'm no snake expert---I've only had BPs for a year now. But I think we're doing pretty well. So I'm fairly confident in my BP caretaking skills. How different is the care for a bstp? Can they live in a t-8 for their whole lives? Anything else I should know? I'm going to an expo on the 24th and I just know that if anyone is selling bstp I'm going to be very tempted. . .

[Lady mkrj58]

I love my Male, I do know the Females get larger than the Male's same thing with the Bloods my Male is a Granite Borneo Short tail and He lives up to his name which is Sargent, these guys are a lot different than the Balls, mine makes every move with a lot of power way more than a Ball Python, I love mine.

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[GoingPostal]

They can be touchier about temps, more prone to respiratory issues so main thing is keeping your humidity good but not soaking the cage and temps not too hot or cold, my temps range from 79-82 and sometimes with a hotspot of 85. With a pvc cage, the right bedding and quality heating control that is easy enough to accomplish though. They prefer to be fully supported, more of a lap snake and are pretty vocal, hissing and huffing quite a bit. Usually calm down with age, babies can be jumpy and snappy. Good feeding response, one of mine prefers live, the rest eat anything put in front of them. I have four foot boaphiles for mine and hoping that will hold them for life, seems like they get 4-6 feet, 15-30 pounds as adults.

I would probably recommend really watching who you buy from-many are selling misidentified or hybrid short tails and there's always a lot of farm bred bloods that seem to have a poor reputation for health and attitude. Borneo's are fairly inexpensive and you can find a pretty nice one for a couple hundred online from a good breeder. Bloods you get what you pay for and in all cases it's best to see the parents since coloration changes with age and can vary so much.

[Willowy]

I haven't found a lot of breeders online. . .any recommendations? Any good care sites you know of, with discussions on substrate and such?

Now, if it is misidentified or a hybrid, does this make a big difference? I'm just in it for the looks, lol. As long as it isn't a misidentified burm! I'd be OK with a bstp/blood hybrid if that's what you mean. I'd actually love a Super Ball but I assume they're more expensive and harder to find.

[GoingPostal]

If you are keeping it as a pet for life, no issue on hybrids, but most are against them for risk of diluting pure bloodlines as they change hands, especially those that are sold under the wrong label. People that breed them are not looked on with favor. They tend to be a muddy brownish in color from what I've seen in any case, not real attractive compared to a pure line. I haven't seen any superballs for sale so no idea what they go for.

VPI and The Blood Cell have good caresheets and high quality short tails/bloods. My bstp are from Nick @ Cold Blood Earth. Matt Jablonski, Rob Christian, Matt Minetola, Zack Green I've all seen selling some lately but at this point in the year you may be better off waiting for this year's babies.

[DennisM]

well, for starters, they get a lot bigger.


this borneo girl topped out at 30 lbs. are you ready for that? I got this snake as a hatchling about one year after I started keeping snakes. we got off to a bad start due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge about snake psychology. this may not be a popular opinion, but I suggest you get more snake experience before getting into bloods/borneos. they can be very defensive as youngsters. their care is not dramatically different than BPs. I keep bloods in the same room as BPs and use only ambient heating/humidity. They are enthusiastic feeders and there are no worries about extended hunger strikes. as others have noted, they are very vocal.

[Willowy]

I do want a bigger snake, not huge. I love the fatness of burms, but no way am I equipped to handle a snake that size. I would get a male so it wouldn't get as large. . .but I do want a large/thick snake.

When you say "more snake experience", do you mean waiting until I've had the BPs for longer, or do you mean getting other species? There are only so many snakes I can have!

[DennisM]

...When you say "more snake experience", do you mean waiting until I've had the BPs for longer, or do you mean getting other species? There are only so many snakes I can have!

both. I don't feel BPs are a good snake for learning to handle bigger/more temperamental snakes. they're just too chill. however, you can learn something about snake psychology keeping them. I don't know how many snakes you can keep, but if it's more than two, a couple of suggestions. #1) sumatran short tail would be a better choice than blood/borneo. they still get much larger than BPs and are more relaxed than bloods/borneos even as hatchlings. #2) a carpet python, maybe one of the "smaller" ssp, jungle/darwin/IJ. These snakes are far more active, curious and challenging than BPs. You'll learn a lot from these guys. They can also be quite nippy/defensive as babies, but they won't grow nearly as big nearly as fast as the snakes you're considering.

[DennisM]

Just to be clear, borneos and bloods are great snakes that do grow to be calm snakes. I'm not trying to support the myth that they are "aggressive" snakes. They're just not as forgiving of husbandry/handling errors as many other species. if you are limited to a small number of snakes, you need to choose your species wisely. try to find an opportunity to handle adults of the species your considering. there are countless species of great snakes in all sizes. often newcomers to our hobby want one of everything (I know I did), or the cool snake they saw today, or something bigger. too often this leads to a negative experience for both the keeper and the kept. there's no rush to get the next one, especially when you can keep only a small collection.

[Willowy]

Weren't all 3 short-tailed pythons considered the same species at first? Are the Sumatrans really that different? I don't like their dark coloring but if they have different morphs I'd be willing. I don't like carpet pythons though---too skinny . The only other snake I really want is a boa; I love red-tails, but they get too big for me so preferably I'd want a locality like Pearl Island or Hogg Island. I need a snake who can live in a T-8 or similarly-sized enclosure.

I already have 2 BPs and don't want more than 4 snakes total. . .so I have to be choosy!