Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently own a ball python and a western hognose. I'd like to get another snake and I'm considering a blood python or a red tail boa.

I think both are beautiful animals and very cool. I'd love to hear from those of you who have owned one or both of these species in order to learn pros and cons of both and which is a better overall pet.

Hopefully, I'll eventually be able to own both but I can only pick one for now. Please let me know your opinion on the matter!

Thanks!
Jennifer

Understand, that most bloods pythons are a bit nippy!

I've heard that but I've also heard that it's an undeserved reputation. Have you owned any? If so, what's been your experience as far as their temperment?

I've had my Red tail boa for about 4 years now, very sweet; never has bitten!
But every time I handle the bloods pythons at the pet store, they tag me with in a sec.
They are young, and young snakes do seem to strike more often,
however this was aggressive strikes.
Don't get me wrong, I think bloods are beautiful, but ( most )
That I have handled were a bit nippy.
I have been keeping & handling snakes for over 40 years.

Boneiface

Thanks so much for your response! It's very helpful.

To me these are as different as your Hog and the BP.
My boa are more outgoing and curious faster than my bloods. My blood will check out stuff more deliberatley and slowly.
As for biting....I gotta say I have owned 2 bloods (one for 5 yrs and one for a year) and have 6 boa, (1 for nearly 2yrs, 2 for a yr and 3 just got....all young (2-3yrs now) ) I have handled 4 or 5 other bloods at work and couple dozen boa of various ages. The baby boa are more likely to bite me. The bloods have all been very tentative and only strike when they know food is involved. I have also dealt with a couple older adult bloods that were just plain nasty. Like being hit by a sack of concrete with teeth, was the description a friend used. But these were older wild caughts.

As for pets. I love my bloods. They are solid, stable animals that interact nicely. I am newer to boa and do have my favorites but the don't 'do it' for me the same way as TealC

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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

Hi Sonya,

Thank you for your response. That gives me good insight into the differences which is exactly what I was looking for.

I find that with captive born bloods the reputation of being aggressive is undeserved. This is particularly true of Borneo Bloods - they are as docile as any ball python. However, like all bloods, if there is food smell in the air, all bets are off!!

I have kept and raised baby Red Bloods and Borneos, and I have never been bitten by them. You do have to check and make sure they aren't expecting food, and I always hooked them out of the cage (just in case!). I have been bitten by boa constrictors and by Ball Pythons however.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks Chris. It's really helpful to hear from people who truly know.

I don't own any blood pythons, and have only ever held one once at a pet shop...it was supposed to be "aggressive" but I got it out a few different times, and it stayed very calm. I have a few different boas (a young hogg island, adult columbian, and an adult argentine) and have not had any problems with them. My Columbian did bit me just a few weeks ago, with no sign or warning. Now, I guess the bit could of been worse, but it didn't hurt at all, and was the exact opposite of a paper cut! I think that with either one, your chances of being bit at least once in the snakes life is likely, but if you treat them with care and handle them gently, it shouldn't happen much at all! I will tell you that the boas have a reputation for being harder to "read" then some of the pythons, meaning that you might not know they are grumpy until its too late! Another thing to keep in mind is size...the blood pythons are very heavy bodied snakes, and can be difficult to handle when full size (just too thick to get a good hold of) opposed to your boas that can be easily handled alone, except for the largest of the largest specimens. They are both very beautiful snakes, but I'm partial to the boas...my argentine boa is just a big baby!
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa

Hey David,

That's great to know. The more I hear about both, the less I know what to get. Guess I can't go wrong. Your opinions were very helpful, thanks for your input!

I went to your MySpace page. I'm not familiar with MySpace and so was not able to find your snake pics. If you wouldn't mind sending a direct link, I'd enjoy seeing the pics.

I also admire that although you witnessed the carnage at VT, that you're still willing to stand up for gun rights and for preventing the limitation of gun ownership.

Are you on Facebook?

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,
I'm glad you found my post helpful, even though it didn't really help you any with making a decision lol. I checked the myspace thing out, and I didn't realize that you have to be a member and logged in to view pics...I do have a facebook account, but haven't spent much time on it. You should be able to find it by searching for David Kiser; I'm gonna try to do more with it this week, so I'll add a lot of my pics. If you have any trouble finding it, just let me know.

The VT thing was horrible; I had (and still do have) trouble believing that something like that happened at Tech. I've spent a lot of time in Norris Hall so I know that building well. I was in Norris when 9-11 happened. I knew several of the professors killed. It's just unreal that someone could do something like that. I know when it happened, one of the first things talked about was gun control (along with everything else that the media said to try and make Tech look bad). The only kind of gun control that could of helped this situation would of been LESS gun control. Banning guns doesn't work, anywheres on any continent. Criminals are always going to find weapons to use, and crime will always increase if you take away a persons ability to defend themselves. I can only imagine how scary it was in Norris hall...completely helpless to defend yourself or to help others. Had one person had a gun, maybe they could of taken him out without so many lives lost. By creating "gun free" zones, they are only creating oppitunities for more mass shootings. I guess I was naive, cause when I went to Tech, I didn't even know it WAS a gun free zone...often I would have a shotgun or rifle in the back of my truck cause I went hunting after class. I never even thought there might be some regulation banning me from having them on campus.
I will always defend my right and others rights to own guns. There is a very important reason the founding fathers made it the second amendment. They believed that people should have the ability to defend themselves, not only from criminals and psychos but also from their own government. They felt that if a government became too powerful, the people should rise to defend themselves. Since that time, we've seen this happen once..the Civil War. It was a defeat for the Confederacy, but in many ways it was also a victory. Can you imagine a day when ONLY the government had weapons? It would have complete control over our lives and there would be nothing we could do about it. We would be as helpless as the students were in Norris. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on about this for so long, I just wanted to express my full feelings on this.

David
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa