Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently acquired a really aggressive little male blood python.I haven't snapped a pick of him yet(let him settle in)Anyway,Here is my question.This snake is a pale yellow,not a lot of black(a little on the tip of his tail and below his eye)His pattern is pretty normal.THere are no dark areas on this little firecracker!He was purchased last year as a borneo and honestly ,besides an uneducated guess have no way of telling what he is.(breit or brong)
I read that the scales between the lip and eye of a borneo has multiple small scales and the lip scale of malaysian touches or comes close to thier eye.
Any good tips for trying to figure this out would be appreciated.HE resembles the blood on the vpi page that is a yellow phased blood,I believe from vietnam?Is that right.
I am sure you have had this question posted a bunch,but I really appreciate any insight.
Thanks

Hey,
Colors are not a baromiter that we can go on here, unless you post a picture of your snake and we can take a look at it for you. Other wise, the only thing you can do your self is check the scalation under the eyes and the surrounding area for signs or clues of the smallish granular scales that are present in Sumatran Short-Tails, and Borneo Short-Tails. The scalation is a good way of identifying an animal when there is nothing other than color to go on. Look at the eyes under good lighting with a magnifying glass or glasses if you wear some, or a photographers loupe. The latter is what I use when I receive new animals as I am a photographer and have one handy. You can purchase them pretty inexpensively from even the most mediocre camera store or film store. They will run you about 8 bucks for a 5 - 8x magnification capability loupe. In Borneo's, and Black bloods if you will, Look for small granular scales just under the eyes - that lie just above the labial scales. Conversely, with the Malaysians Reds or North eastern Sumatran reds, you can see that there are no existing granular scales under the eyes and that they have a large scale just under the eye, that runs down toward the mouth and makes complete contact with the mouth. This scale is both a subocular and labial scale in one.

- Angel

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Sometimes on your way to your dream, you get lost and find a better way!

Simple as that!thanks so much for the help.I am going to post pics of my "YELLOW"almost no black)red?? blood!I checked under and around his eye and could not see any granular scalation under his eye.He is a very high strung snake,but,he is young and basically,well...flighty.He is AWESOME though,eats well no health problems.However strange this seems,I like a snake with a little attitude(a little)Well once again thanks for you help and enjoy the pics(it will be a second until I load them into my account.
Thanks

Here is the male I was speaking of.I was first baffled by his color or lack of dark(black)except some on his face.Then,I just fed him and didn't question what he was.I am really surprised at how variable these gus are..It's pretty cool to see such variation.HE is an 02 import,and has always had an attitude,but,He is calming down a ton in the past few months(I can pick him up now)
Let me know your thoughts on this guy.The pics are a tad bit dark(seriously)he looks much lighter in person.
Thanks!

np

This is the darkest area)besides his face)on his body.he is just a beautiful snake.
Thanks

Looks like a red blood to me. I really like the pattern on the lower half of his body, hes got an interesting color too.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

Hey,
Yeah, no doubt about what it is, it is definately a Malaysian red, or more than probable North eastern Sumatran red blood. There aren't any Red bloods being imported from Malaysia these days. Anyhow, it is definately a great looking snake. All the best with it. Hope the pics helped.

-Angel
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Sometimes on your way to your dream, you get lost and find a better way!

Here are a few pics I took of him today in the Ca. sun.HE is awesome.I cant wait until he can breed my light phase female!!NExt season.Thanks again,and take a look at the closeup of his head.The lip scale connects without any scalation in between the eye and the lip.But behind the eye there is some scale disrution(I dont know if it is a bump in the scale or a few actuall scales.Maybe it's a cross???It is an import,so if it is a cross,it is a natural cross.
Thanks again

np

np

Hey,
Nah!! it's a red no doubt about it. There aren't many crosses that look like that. If it were a cross - it would probably be removed a few generations from the other type located on the island (Sumatra Short-Tail; AKA black blood), and that would account for it being so orange as apposed to an intermediate color of brown to muddy red or orange with flat colors. But I doubt it is and would err on the Northern Sumatran Red side. Good luck with it. Where did you get this guy from and how long have you had it and how old; etc. ( any Data on it? )
- Angel
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Sometimes on your way to your dream, you get lost and find a better way!

I bought him in a reptile store in San Diego a season and a half ago.There were a few in the same tank with him,but they all were a little darker and well,he stood out.The tank was labled as borneos(at that point I wasn't even thinking about breeding them,just learning how to keep one properly)So,here he is a red.I recently sw a really nice light colored four foot female listed in the classifieds(very bright,tame)so I inquired and that struck a chord as to taking a closer look at mine.Low and behold...He eats well on small rats,never a problem(except an attitude)I have attached a few pics to show the dramatic color change he goes through.You can really tell the difference in his head color.
Thanks again for all of your help.

light colors

Hey,
Nice colors and the photos are great too. What are you shooting with? I like the slight blur on the last photo and light grey head. I would call that a chrome head. Beautiful. I just picked up a nice little pair of Sumatran Reds from Kara of Nerd, from the White Plains show in N.Y., and they are absolutely gorgeous too. Can't wait to get some pix of them too. Alright thanks for the info, and all the best of luck with the blood. Does it have a name by the way? He he!
- Angel
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Sometimes on your way to your dream, you get lost and find a better way!