How can you tell a Malayan specimen from a Sumatran specimen? Is there some diagnostic characters that will identify a blood as being from one side of the Malaccan Strait or the other.



The problem you are experiencing is due to the fact that Thailand ceased exporting live pythons now about 15 years ago. Thai animal export businesses in Bangkok were the primary source for all red bloods. Some of the animals they were shipping probably came from southwestern Thailand, as Thai territory goes part way down into the Malayan Peninsula and into the range of blood pythons.



Many of the Thai bloods probably came from Western Malaysia, and had been sent to Bangkok. Of course there was Anson Wong over in Pinang, Malaysia who did export many red bloods over the years.



So far as I know, the country of Malaysia itself has never really allowed the export of large numbers of live pythons, not in recent years anyway.



So there haven't been many blood pythons imported over to the US from their range on the Malayan Peninsula in the past 10-15 years and that's a good thing! I say that because over the last 30 years there hasn't been a handful of baby or juvenile Malayan blood that were exported. They never got it together and figured out how to do it--still haven't, so far as I know.



Essentially all of the Malayan bloods that came into this country from the 1950s until the late 1980s were full-grown adult blood pythons from Bangkok and they were some of the meanest nastiest snakes you ever saw. Their tempers were foul and in part it was because they were poorly-handled wild-caught adults and in part it is genetic. Malayan bloods are like Sulawesi retics while Sumatran bloods are like tiger retics. Most Malayan bloods just are predisposed to be not be good animals in captivity.



I've had nice ones and I've seen nice ones--but not many. We've bred several clutches of them and right out of the eggs most of them are not all that nice and that is definitely NOT our experience with Sumatran bloods.



And they were very (read "VERY" difficult to breed in captivity. It was primarily because big wild-caught nervous and irritable female pythons of all species are extrememly difficult to breed and Malayan blood pythons were all of those things.



So it all adds up to Malayan blood pythons being scarce in captivity today. And thank goodness, because it's taken 10 years for keepers to realize that the Sumatran bloods being bred today are excellent captive, real pet snakes.



Just like there are keepers willing to work with Sulawesi retics, even though most are very poor captives, I'm sure that there are keepers who want Malayan bloods. But unless you can tell them apart, if you keep asking around like you have been, I'm sure someone with a good story will have a "Malayan" or two to sell you. Are there diagnostic characters that can be used to distinguish blood pythons from the two areas, and if so, what are they?

[ Hide Replies ]

• malaysian blood pythons - arboreals, Thu Jul 17 22:28:59 2003
• RE: malaysian blood pythons - AmyG, Fri Jul 18 17:43:38 2003
• How can you tell a Malaysian specimen... (long) - dave barker, Fri Jul 18 18:04:41 2003
• great info, thanks dave! np - drummagirl, Fri Jul 18 21:07:19 2003
• RE: How can you tell a Malaysian specimen... (long) - AmyG, Sat Jul 19 10:41:06 2003