Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking into getting another snake and am torn between Hog Island Boas and Borneo Blood Pythons. To help in my discision I was wondering if you could answer a few questions.

1. How do Hog island Boas and Borneo blood pythons compare in temperment and ease/tolerence of handling?

2. How do they differ in size?

3. What size enclosures do they require as adults?

4. What is a good substrate for either (besides newspaper)?

5. What is the best "type" of enclosure for either?

6. How do their special requirements differ?

Thanks for the input.

Only this sunday see the rumble in the vivarium, see the heavy weight blood python go up against the scrapy hog island boa.

But seriously we've only got experience with the one red blood and one baby hog, but both of ours are tame. Size wise, the blood is going to be at least a little bit weightier than the hog will be, the blood is pretty lazy so I wouldn't know what a good adult cage would be but it would probably at least be as big as the hog's. On both of them we use cypress mulch, currently the hog is small enough to live in a ten gallon but the blood is 2 1/2 to 3 foot and requires more humidity and therefore lives in a tub. Like I said, we don't have a lot of experience with these guys, I mostly posted to show the picture, and it's a red blood and not a borneo. In my opinion it's all sorta personal perferance because there's a big shape/color difference and overall they're pretty dissimilar, so in the end it's what's best for your situation and the one you like the best too.

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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!

Thanks for replying. When you said that you keep your blood in a "tub" what did you mean by that? Also what I mainly wanted to know was how big in girth the hog gets in comparisson to the blood. I like to hold my snakes and some species like to go exporing after about five minutes of handling and don't want to be held anymore. What attracted me to the bloods (other than color and pattern) was the fact that they are big and lazy and, from what I've read, they like/tolorate being held and pet. I don't really want a long "slender" snake so much as a "fatter" snake that I can hold onto. So, is the hog island more of a slender snake or a fatter snake (like colombians), and do they like to sit and be held or do they like to constantly run off (like spotteds)?
Thanks for the imput.

a female blood can reach 40 pounds and be as big around as your thigh,,,,bloods get massive in girth hogs wont even come close to that size they will stay relatively slender. look down the page in posts and take a look at the massive blood pic posted!!! that will let you know.. otherwise keep asking there are some guys on here that are experts on bloods.. i am new to bloods having just get my first a bit over a month ago.

Jeff

n/p

There is NO snake that gets as fat as a blood. That's the fattest snake you can own. Hoggs get pretty thick compared to many other snakes though. Both are pretty calm, I'd actually call my Hogg 'tamer'. She'll sit pretty still when being held. The blood will sit very still if not startled, but if he gets scared he'll try to crawl backwards and end up falling off something if I'm not careful.

Our tub is a large clear plastic rubbermaid container with holes drilled in it. It's heated by a heatpad on a rheostat. You have to watch what sort of lid the tank has or you'll have a missing snake.
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!