Posted by: herpersteve at Fri Aug 15 15:12:35 2003 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]
I've read a couple care sheets on Blood pythons and I just spent the past 2 hours reading this forum trying to get as much info as I could. I still have a few specific questions though...
1. About how big should I expect a Blood to be around 2 years old? around 4 years? How long until the Blood will be full grown? What is the smallest type of Blood (see question 2)?
A blood at two can easily be 5 feet or so. Mine is. At four, well, I am not sure because none of mine are that old, but they do most of their growing by 2. Max for a red is 10 feet, but you are talking MAX and probably rare too. Max for a Borneo is 5-6 feet and max for a black is 4-5 feet. The smallest is the Black blood, or Sumatran short tail, or Python Curtus... all are the same animal.
2. I'm having difficulty with sumatran short-tails (or Black bloods I guess they're called) vs. Black short-tail pythons, are they the same thing? different? Is a Borneo different from both?
Yes a Borneo is different than the "black blood". Borneos (python breitensteini) is the medium sized of the three species.
3. Is a cage 4.5' by 3' by 1.5' tall a good size for an adult?
This size will certainly be big enough for a black blood or a Borneo, but probably not for a red (python brongersmai).
4. Will I ever HAVE to feed an adult rabbits? Or could I get by on rats?
Once again, with a Borneo or a black you can, but probably not with a red.
5. How difficult overall is it to care for a blood? (I have two corns and a ball right now that I have little trouble caring for, and all three of them are quite healthy and happy snakes.)
To me, I personally do not find it difficult what-so-ever. But I have also kept them for a while. Make sure the humidity is correct, the temps are right, and that they will have some places to hide and you should not have a problem.
6. Anything specificly that I should look for when selecting a blood python? I get the impression they are rather inactive snakes, should I expect a blood to flick its toung as often as a ball when I pick it up?
Bloods are fat, lazy slobs (as I always like to describe them). The babies are much more active than the adults. Yes, there will be plenty of tongue flicking... if the animal is healthy. also, a healthy blood will be chunky. This means the animal has an appetite.
When you initially pick up your first blood, you may think the animal is sick because it won't wrap around you like a ball or a boa. They are just really limp snakes. They wont wrap or "flex their muscles". I thought my first one was sick for the longest time because he never moved and never showed any muscle control at all. I kept taking him to the vet but all the tests were negative for anything. Sooner or later i got used to it and found this was completely normal. When I got my first blood about 5 years ago there was virtually no info about them anywhere. Now, you have this forum and many fine websites to do research on.
I'm going to the IRBA show tomorrow and am still undecided as to whether or not I should get a blood... any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any answers.
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