Hi April -



You didn’t say how much it weighed, or if it was wild caught or captive bred. But if I had to give you one handling tip, it would be to not worry about the end with the potential for spraying; worry about the end with the teeth. They do a short jump strike upwards without much warning. Learn to recognize the difference between the head held upward at a forty-five degree angle because it’s cocked and ready to fire, and the head held at a forty-five degree angle because that’s the one time that day the snake decided to move.



There’s just a big difference between dealing with a baby or juvenile blood python kept in a Rubbermaid tub and a twenty to forty pound adult backed into the rear of its cage. To generalize, they don’t like being picked up, but some tolerate it better than others. The standard technique of gently lifting them from behind and pointing them away from you is a good first start. Even the tamest ones can be mildly difficult to maneuver as they frequently go into reverse gear, backing up and not gripping on as most other boids do. So, yes, it’s important to support their bodies. In fact, when they’re over twenty five pounds, it can be difficult to carry them unless you put them around your neck and support them with your shoulders – not something you’d do unless you trust the particular animal not to bite. But by the time one gets to that size, you should have a pretty good idea of how tame it is.



One husbandry technique I’ve come to utilize with my adult blood pythons to make their day to day maintenance less exciting is to offer them true boxes for hides – containers with tops and bottoms, with the entrance holes cut in the lids. When I need to clean a cage or have contact with an animal, it’s easy to cover up the hole, pick up the entire box, and remove it from the cage. Then, no matter how shy the animal, I’m in control of the situation – at least until I have to lay hands on it!



Just anecdotally, my most docile blood pythons are females; my wildest are males. But I’m not convinced that this is anything other than coincidence.



Regarding rabbits for food, their heads are larger than rats and the price per pound is greater, too, so I’ve never bothered to use them. I think blood pythons would eagerly consume most any bird or mammal you can provide that they can get their jaws around.



Good luck, post pictures when you can, and feel free to ask more questions!



-Joan

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