Temperament

[DragonBallz]

What is the temperament like on them?

They have a young pair at the local herp shop and I was speaking to the guy about doing a trade for some of my Bearded Dragon holdbacks.

[2kdime]

Just like ANY other Python to be honest.

Nippy as babies

Adults are variable but most end up pretty placid with handling and age.

My nippy ones are my younger ones, the older ones just hiss

[rodentslayer]

Within a month after hatching, all of my albinos calmed down to where they dont strike. They dont even hiss. The adults are all placid except for when its feeding time...then its game on.

You may be dealing with imports which are nippy in general. When buying bloods, you always want to look at the parents to get a good idea of how the hatchlings will turn out color wise.

later
Jordan

[Hapa_Haole]

My new young one is as calm as my ball python. But as you've read each snake is different than the next.

[zackw419]

My advice is pick the nippier one, when picking out a baby. Usually the nippyness is sign of a good feeding response. I've had a bad experience picking bloods by picking the calmer babys. Alot of times a really calm baby could potentially have a problem with their feeding response.

[accidental777]

Thanks to the OP, I was wondering about this exact topic this morning. Its all because of that eye candy thread.

[mrmertz]

We got our lil' boy from Kara. He's going on to be 5 months old now and he is "typical" blood - his attitude is just like most all bloods. Piss and vinegar. HOWEVER - he is handled for relatively shorts periods just about every day. He now perhaps strikes 50% of the time when being first handled but is quicker and quicker to calm down as time has passed. The wife even strokes his head some, which for a blood is REALLY pushig your luck, but he is tolerant of it even at only 5 months.

Confident handling with these guys is the key. If they sense you back off everytime they go for a strike they will quickly be ingrained that this is the way to be. They are achieving the desired response. It's up to you to show them otherwise. Just be confident with you handling and you'll get along fine. Short sessions to start, longer as time progresses. You don't want to be trying to deal with 20 or 30 pounds of attitude later as an adult.

[MikeyP]

Here is the story of my 2 bloods as far as temper and feeding response!

I have two bloods a sumatran blood and a sumatran short-tail. My blood which I purchased from kara last december has always been extremely docile. He had one stage of fussiness when it came to eating when he was around 4-5 months old, now he eats anything I put in there (pre-killed/FT)... the funny thing is that he has not striked at a pray item since his bout of fussiness. Although I haven't, I could literally hold the rat in my hand and he would start eating it with no worries. Basically I use hemostats to hold the rat above him, he opens up and I drop the rat right in. He doesn't even bother to constrict whatsoever.

On the other hand, my short tail was extremely mean when i got her. Every time I held her I got tagged! So I just got a pair of gloves and held her often, as she calmed down I would slip the gloves off and bare hand her. After about a month and a half I had no problem taking her out bare handed, and she has not struck since. You have to let them know what you are doing, and handle with care and confidence. The strange thing with her is she refuses to eat in front of anyone. I have to leave her with the dead rat in the dark and she eats it on her own. If I try to entice her she only strikes, and does not eat. She becomes more irritated than anything else.

Sorry about the novel, but to summarize it is going to depend on the particular blood you have. It helps to get it from someone where you can get a background on parents or basic info in general. It can be frustrating at certain times, but to me hands down the coolest snake around!!

[DragonBallz]

Thanks for all the advice.

I am still deciding. I was at an Expo this weekend and saw some very pretty and very large Bloods. I am not sure that I am up to handling that much snake

[Crazy4Herps]

Thanks for all the advice.

I am still deciding. I was at an Expo this weekend and saw some very pretty and very large Bloods. I am not sure that I am up to handling that much snake

It's definitely something to think over well before buying.

Breits are another option. Although they have potential to be huge, most are smaller than the average brongersmai, and calmer. But every snake is different. My breit is hissy, poos on people he doesn't like (a.k.a. me), is super squirmy, and has struck at me once, but no tags and he really isn't that bad. Personally, I think the attitude is kind of cute.

Really, if you start with a baby and handle it regularly, by the time it's older, you'll have it tamed and you'll be so used to it that handling becomes really easy. These guys don't grow as fast as burms or retics or anything, so you do have a little bit of time to get used to handling the young ones.