Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to get into the bloods I have been looking at the Sumatran ones but I have seen them marked as P. brongersmai and P. curtis whats the difference? And which ones are the more sought after that would be best to breed. (Normal phases not albino)

Hi There!
There are three varieties in this group of pythons,the Blood Python (P.Curtus Brongersmai),the Borneo Short-Tailed Python (P.Curtus Breitenstenii)and the Black or Sumatran Short-Tailed Python (P.Curtus Curtus) ,all three are beautiful snakes and similiar in appearance but with several distinguishing traits.
The Malaysian Blood Python is a very heavy bodied snake with burgundy or oxblood red markings though the juveniles are brown,getting thier red coloration with age,this is usually where the confusion begins,often Borneo Short-Tailed Pythons and Black Short-tailed pythons are sold with misleading names such as "Borneo Blood Pythons" and "Black Blood Pythons",when actually the Malaysian Blood Python is the bonafide Blood Python,the two others do not turn red over time though they are equally beautiful and desirable snakes to keep and breed.
Anyways,one quick way to tell the difference that many people are not aware of but is more reliable than markings and coloration is to look at the scales underneath the eyes,the Blood Python will have a Supralabial scale that connects from the top of the lip to the bottom of the eye while the Short-Tailed Pythons will have granular scales beneath the eyes above the lip scales,this will help you distinguish the three from eachother,hope this helps!

Is that blood pythons (Python brongersmai) also come from Sumatra, and that Sumatran animals actually make up the majority of blood pythons that are seen as imports in the herp trade these days. It's a misconception that red bloods only come from Malaysia (and an even bigger one that all blood pythons are always red). To my understanding, Malaysian locality bloods have not been imported with any frequency for more than a decade.

Add to this the fact that Sumatran short-tailed pythons (Python curtus) are so often called "black bloods" (erroneously) that they are many times thought to be just black versions of Python brongersmai by folks who are unaware that these animals are in fact 2 different species from different areas of Sumatra.

HTH!

K

>>Hi There!
>>There are three varieties in this group of pythons,the Blood Python (P.Curtus Brongersmai),the Borneo Short-Tailed Python (P.Curtus Breitenstenii)and the Black or Sumatran Short-Tailed Python (P.Curtus Curtus) ,all three are beautiful snakes and similiar in appearance but with several distinguishing traits.
>>The Malaysian Blood Python is a very heavy bodied snake with burgundy or oxblood red markings though the juveniles are brown,getting thier red coloration with age,this is usually where the confusion begins,often Borneo Short-Tailed Pythons and Black Short-tailed pythons are sold with misleading names such as "Borneo Blood Pythons" and "Black Blood Pythons",when actually the Malaysian Blood Python is the bonafide Blood Python,the two others do not turn red over time though they are equally beautiful and desirable snakes to keep and breed.
>>Anyways,one quick way to tell the difference that many people are not aware of but is more reliable than markings and coloration is to look at the scales underneath the eyes,the Blood Python will have a Supralabial scale that connects from the top of the lip to the bottom of the eye while the Short-Tailed Pythons will have granular scales beneath the eyes above the lip scales,this will help you distinguish the three from eachother,hope this helps!
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Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean

You have people confusing things even further with the Sarawak (a breitensteini) and I saw the other day Banka Bloods (was a pic of a brongersmai)which as of right now are conciderd nothing more then a locals which have common distintions
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Kevin
I am lost w/o spell check
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."-unknown

I agree that locality distinctions do not always apply though this has been the commonly accepted "labeling" for some time now,the Blood and Short-Tailed Pythons have a wide geographic range and as such are widely variable in color and pattern,as someone pointed out,not all Blood Pythons are red,that's true,that's why I pointed out the difference in the lip scales because color and pattern are not always reliable indicators while the lip scales are a no fail way to tell for those who are unfamiliar with distinguising the three snakes.
Just a few weeks ago one of my feeder customers brought his new "Blood Python" to show me and I burst his bubble when I told him that it was actually a Borneo Short-Tailed Python and showed him how to tell the difference in the scales,the dealer had sold it to him as a "Borneo Blood".
I assured him that it was really just as good,I keep and breed all three snakes and don't put one on a pedestal above the others but he was hoping for "Big Red"!
I've been breeding Blood Pythons and Short-Tailed Pythons for about seven years now (keeping them longer) and I remember when all you could get were tick infested,sewer spewing,biting adult imports,it's good to see that there is more interest in this snake,if only we could lay to rest the confusion,at least it's not as bad as all the confusion surrounding the origins and taxonomy of some of the Boa Constrictors!

Prema