Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought a pair of Bloodreds. At what age do they turn solid red? I've searched and searched, but the only answer I can find is "when they reach adulthood". Can someone help me out with an age and/or size range?

Does anyone feed their females rats on occassion. I know there are a lot of varying opinions on rats vs mice nutritional values. I was thinking about feeding a weaned rat every third feeding. She isn't picky and has eaten one already. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated!

Also since they've started breeding my male isn't eating... is this normal with corns as with balls?

I'll tell ya. These things are a trip! They are ten times more aggressive than the ball pythons when it comes to eating... and breeding! Very interesting little critters aren't they?

Thanks in advance!!!
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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
0.1 Pastel
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but not all bloodred corns turn solid red. Some show evidence of the blotches and will retain that through out their lives. I would say by the time the are two to three years old, their adult coloration will be fully developed. The blood gene is a diffusion gene which is expressed better in some bloodred lines than others. It pays to shop for good bloodred corns. If I understand it correctly, its more than simple recessive genetics at work. Really crappy bloods almost look like normal corns with the blotches still easily visible and little diffusion going on when adult. However, they should still have the patternless bellies!! On the flip side, I have seen some normal corns with blood genes in them that were gorgeous!! Its almost like a dominant gene at times. The really solid bloods from the past were also extremely line/inbred and were sometimes difficult to get feeding. Most of todays lines have been outcrossed and redeveloped.

I think weanling rats shouldnt be a problem nutritionally and its a preference matter as what is most convenient for you. Since you keep balls, I assume you have mutiple rat sizes available. That should be fine for your corns. The hatchling corns/young juvies will need pinky mice. I would think even the smallest pink rat to be too big. By the time they can take fuzzy sized mice, you can probably start with similar sized rat pinks and work up from there. A big hefty corn can tackle small weaned rats, but thats a really big corn IMO!!

Good Luck!
KevinM

Well darn! I guess I should have asked prior. Oh well, we will still enjoy them just as much. Its just something we wanted to try. Their bellies aren't completely white. They have a lot of red on them. I THINK that is common. ???

And yes, the weanling I've feed her was one of the ones from rodent pro. Last time I weighed her she was a bit over 400 grams. We started breeding our own rats, and our weanlings are what suppliers sell as med rats. She won't be eating those lol...ever. We also just started breeding mice so I'll have the babies covered. I mainly was wondering if rats would be a better for gaining weight for breeding purposes.

Thanks for the reply and I'll post some pics this evening! Be brutally honest if you have a chance to take a look at them. Thanks again!
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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
0.1 Pastel
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

No problems. I have seen bloods that are thought of as good that still show some signs of the blotches, even if just faintly and here and there. So dont feel bad LOL!! My amel blood female is a nice one and she shows white in some areas around the blotches where the darker blotch borders would be on a normal. Just the way it is. The upside is the bloods around today appear hardier and the babies feed better than in the days past. And yes, its quite common and desirable for red to creep into the belly area!!

Enjoy them. Their babies may mature and look even better than the adults. There is also a line breeding aspect with them as well. Most breeders keep the better ones and introduce into their lines.

KevinM

Also forgot to add that I THINK baby rats have a higher fat content then say adult mice of similar size in general. Not really sure, but many feed their corns appropriate sized rats. Here is a pic of my fire (amel blood) female. You can see the white areas here and there, but she sure is pretty IMO!!

KevinM

She is nice! That's what my b/f actually wanted. I'm hoping we get a few hypo bloodreds from this pair. They tend to be brighter as well I believe. This pair is also PH Anery. Do you know what that would be considered (a Hypo Bloodred Anery)?

These aren't the best, but here are some pics. She's not too fat is she? Like I said these are our first corns. I want to make sure she is healthy and I'm not overfeeding. The guy I got her from said 2-3 mice a feeding twice a week. And again, the male has been off feed for about 2 weeks.

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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
0.1 Pastel
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

Your female looks like she just fed, or may actually be gravid/ovulating right now!! They look good. I would prefer to see more diffusion going on with the blotches, but they may have recently been outcrossed with hypo/anery corns in an effort to produce hypo anery, or ghost bloods. Not sure what a hypo anery blood is called, maybe Phantom?, ghost blood? The anery bloods are called pewter corns. Nice ones diffuse out into an almost patternless greyish silver color that is kind of speckled. Hypo bloods are similar to the amel bloods or fires, but still have the darker non-amel eyes. Hypo genes reduce the black coloration while amel negates it. Hypo bloods are very nice looking and there is one posted further down on this forum.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she is gravid. When I hold her up I see "lumps" from the side view. I wish my balls would ovulate with only two weeks breeding! The male is still very interested, but she will just not have it any longer.
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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
0.1 Pastel
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

Keep an eye on her!! My first breeding this year was March 1. I suspect eggs within the next two weeks (approx. 45 days after copulation). The female is in shed, and could lay within two weeks of her shed. When your female sheds, introduce a lay box in her cage and maybe reduce the size of the water bowl so she doesnt accidentally lay in that instead!! Check out the pic of Jeff's hypo blood above!!

Yeah, I think she is going into shed. She wouldn't eat last night and was soaking in her bowl. Exactly what she did last shed cycle. Bring on the eggs!
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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
0.1 Pastel
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

A hypo anery diffused is called a ghost blood or a hypo granite. Can't use phantom as that is the name of a hypo charcoal.

It doesn't matter if you feed it rats or mice. Geez man its a cornsnake.

Snakes like rosyboas that appear to be sensitive to high-fat diets - will do great on rats. Tells me that rats have less fat per gram of protein than mice, for prey of similar age.
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Mark

LOL I bet she'd eat my finger if I offered it.

Thanks for the info!
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Balls
1.3 Pastels
0.2 Cinnamons
1.0 Fire
1.0 Spider
1.0 100% Het Albino/100% Het Pied
0.3 100% Het Albino/50% Het Pied
1.1 100% Het Pied
0.2 PH Albino
1.5 Normals (1.0 unknown)
Boas
1.0 Salmon
0.1 Pastel
Corns
1.1 Bloodred Het Hypo 66% Het Anery

My males go off feed during breeding season whether they are actually breeding or not. As for rats, my 3 largest corns eat weaned rats (rodent pro size) with no problem at all (two females, one male). My largest corn is Romeo, a 2002 normal I bought as a hatchling from Kathy Love. He's about 4 1/2 feet, weighs 840 grams, and has no problem eating small adult rats (rodent pro size). The nice thing about het Bloodreds (or Diffused if you prefer) is that even if the snake it just het for it, it still affects the look of the snake. I wouldn't go so far as calling it a co-dom type trait, but it does make for a nice looking "normal". Here's a couple pics of Romeo I took today.

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Have you been hugged by your snake today?

Ball Pythons
1.1 het Caramel Albino (Edward & Bella)
0.1 poss het Caramel Albino (Rosalie)
0.1 Caramel Albino (Bellatrix)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Princess Buttercup)
0.1 Pastel Orange Ghost (Nagini)
1.0 Butterscotch Ghost (Nick)
0.1 Spider poss het Butterscotch Ghost(Nymphadora)
1.1 Mojave (Lucius & Renesme)
0.1 Pastel Lesser (Narcissa)
0.1 Pinstripe (Arwen)
1.0 Pewter (Salazar)
0.1 Bumble Bee (Alice)
0.1 Lemonblast (Luna)
0.1 Blond Pastel (Katie)
1.0 Bell Pastel (Jasper)
0.1 African Dinker (Esme)

Corns
1.1 het Amel, Anery, Charcoal, Bloodred (Romeo & Juliet)
1.0 Blizzard het Bloodred poss het Anery Lav (Tumnus)
0.1 Granite (Ravenclaw)
0.1 Fire het Anery (Ginny)
0.1 Anery Lav (Lucy)
0.1 Plasma (Victoria)
0.1 Opal (Jewel)

Hogs
1.0 Albino Western (Hogwarts)
0.1 het Albino Western (Hufflepuff)
0.1 Tri Color (Molly)