Questions for "fellow" Blood Owners

[snakey68]

Hi folks I thought I would ask others that keep Blood Pythons a few questions to compare notes in relation to my own experience with them.

Q1. What would you say are the main difficulties you have encountered ?

Q2. How do you find their temperment and attitude in general both as hatchlings and adults ?

Q3. What do most keep theirs housed in and at what temp and humidity or do you follow the standard guides and caresheets widely available (eg) the Nerd one.
Q4. Whats the biggest Blood you have seen ? How big ?

just a couple to kick it off.

I will answer my own questions 1st. I cant say I have had any real difficulties other than having to wear gloves when getting the smaller younger female out as a hatchling and sub adult, the larger male has a bit of a hissy fit when you 1st get hold of him but he is all bark and no bite fortunately ..lol

Both have shed and fed well consistently and temperment and attitude is generally good.

I have a custom built 7ft long by 2 1/2 feet depth and height for the larger male made out of an old filtration unit from PTFE plastic under the stairs ( I did have a snake room but 2nd child ousted them out of there)

I keep mine in basking spot of between 88 and 90 and dropping to about 80 at the cool end. Humidity averages around 60% and I raise it to around 80% during sheds and have good success with this.

all in all I find them to be more of a challenge than my Balls but I love them they have more attitude than some snakes but this is where reading snake behaviour comes into its own and why it is not a beginner snake IMO.

The largest specimen I have seen was around 8ft and around the 45+Ibs mark.

[Smulkin]

Q1. What would you say are the main difficulties you have encountered ?

Messiness. No matter what kind of dish/bowl/platter i use all my bloods seem to relish emptying their water all over the place. I've seen them bump it violently when striking for feed, lazily trawl themselves through it, etc - they seem to dig the redistribution of moisture lol. All things told though that's not much of a problem - they shed well, eat steadily and remain healthy - it just means i have to swap out substrate more frequently than the other snakes.

Q2. How do you find their temperment and attitude in general both as hatchlings and adults ?

Both brongersmai were pretty nippy as young and though they talk a good game in terms of hissing now they've calmed considerably and I have no hesitation in handling them. The black blood was a puppy from the get-go - he'll give you a hiss every now and then when you start to pick him up but nothing too threatening.

Q3. What do most keep theirs housed in and at what temp and humidity or do you follow the standard guides and caresheets widely available (eg) the Nerd one.

Mine are currently in the plastic bins with wheels on them and snap on lids (the ones you're supposed to wheel under your bed). Low and wide they have worked quite well but the two larger bloods have outgrown them and I'm due to rehouse them. I have yet to settle on a good option - I really like the floorspace of the large reptile tubs though they definitely don't need the height it offers. THe temps in the current enclosures run from ~82 on the cool side to 91 on the warm end and the humidity ranges from the upper 50's to low 60's. I had to make extra holes to cope with oversaturation in the summertime here since we don't have central air.

Q4. Whats the biggest Blood you have seen ? How big ?

I haven't seen any over 5' in person - and the few adults I have seen were non-sale brongersmai on display at shows over the years.


Definitely agree for a number of reasons they're not well-suited for a beginner but they are definitely gorgeous and among my favorites.


(note: no clue why the caresheet sprouted :cens0r : all over it - not sure when that happened but I'll put that on my list of things to dig into)

[snakey68]

hey Smulkin appreciate the response thanks.

Yes they can be messy buggers cant they ? lol I now use a water container so large he cant shift it at all but he does have a good soak in it at times but its heavy to take out and change but I prefer that to water everywhere lol

They do seem to calm down alot (as alot of species do ) as they mature and fill out.

If it were not for there reputation I think they would be more popular than they currently are but I definately see them becoming more sought after in the UK.

they are great feeders though and I was pleasantly surprised with their feeding response to F/T as I dont feed live compared to my Royals ( Balls) which can be a bit more pinickity.

thanks again for your feedback

[Shelby]

Q1: also I'll have to say.. the mess! Especially my male likes to poop in three corners, crawl through it on his way to the water bowl, dump said water bowl, then squiggle around and make poop soup.

Q2: as babies mine were full of vinegar.. little nippers! Now, they're both fairly laid back. Neither has offered to bite in months, but they do wiggle around if you hold them sometimes. They like to 'talk' too.

Q3: 4' boaphiles for mine. Low 90s warm side, low 80s cool. Humidity 50-60%.

Q4: I saw one that was probably around 5' long. Mine are both around 4.5' right now.

[snakey68]

thanks Shelby for your comments I appreciate it, I had hoped for more feedback TBH from fellow Blood owners I guess there is fewer than I thought on here.

oh well if anyone else wanders in and feels like chipping in please do ................

[Schlyne]

I have a black blood and a Sarawak short tail.

Q1: I agree with the messiness. My sarawak is much younger and isn't quite the slob as the black (which is a 3 or 4 year old adult). I've had to clean out her enclosure many more times do to a dumped waterbowl. Sometimes, I think she just wanted a sauna for a bit. Also, out of all my snakes, she's used the water bowl as the toliet more often.

Early on, I had some difficults with the black's setup, and she picked up on an RI. I had to get somebody else to help me to give her the shots. She's just so strong. Only once did she not struggle when given the shot, which immediately concerned us, thinking something was wrong. My vet tech friend was acutally giving the shots, I was helping to restrain the black's body a bit. (And she made a giant pee/poo mess at the vet, both times while being given shots).

Q2:
As a baby the sarawak was a bit nippy, but sarawak's are supposed to be more laid back than the other two speices. I picked up the black as an adult.

Q3:

The black is in the largest tub sold by reptiletubs. I'd really like to get her into a boaphile, which would make cleaning quite a bit easier. I use a corrugated cardboard for her substrate, which is fairly absorbant. The sarawak is in a "sweaterbox" size plastic tub, I think. The temps and humdity are what the caresheet says.

Q4: I think the largest I've seen was probalbly 4.5'. It was hard to tell, she was sitting in a big plastic bin with another blood at the swap. (They were on their way home at the time).

I'd say my black is a little over 4 feet.

[snakey68]

Thanks for the feedback Schylne appreciate it.

so far they are getting a real bad rep for being messy ...lol

I cant say I share this view but maybe I have just been fortunate and I have tidy bloods ..lol .....yeah most likely lucky.