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i am not a beginner to larger snakes i keep and raise ball pythons (which arent lg) and have owned burmese pythons and african rocks but i have a 3 yr old child and a baby on the way, and i would like to get a managable medium bodied python does anyone have any ideas preferable in the 8-10 ft range based on mostly non aggressivness and relative ease of care and a snake with proper handling can become a trustworthy animal pet

Carpet python/diamond python, blood python, olive python, white lip python, tree python(more visual),Woma, those are all good choices that will be handable and don't get too large. You shouldn't be too concerned about having a child in the house with any type of snake as long as it's cage is locked and you have the key, and the child is never alone with the snake(I'm sure you know all of this).

Assuming that you don't want the 3 year old to get bitten, I wouldn't go with carpet,white lipped, blood, and certainly not green tree python. In my experience these snakes have a tendency to strike with little provocation (there are exceptions of course).
Of the carpets, the Irian Jaya's tend to have the best temperments. Oh, one great snake that is easy to handle and is of good size is the Dumeril's Boa. Awesome snake and like balls, you're very unlikely to get a nasty one. I've heard the dwarf retics are pretty pleasent as well.
Good luck
Jon

I agree with that post but when I read about him having children I didn't assume he wanted a snake so that his 3 yr old child could hold it.

A Dumeril's Boa is a good choice, but you must always supervise with any snake. My Dumeril's bit my 2 year old once due to my 2 year old running towards him, the snake was startled and bit him on his finger.

All snakes, no matter how tolerant they are of handling or how calm they are are always unpredictable animals. A snake 8-10 feet in length should always be handled and cared for with respect, especially around young children. If you're going to have children interacting with a snake this size, you would have to be always supervising them VERY closely at ALL times with the snake. Personally, I wouldn't go for a snake that size for your kids to be around, something like a ball python which you mentioned you have experience keeping would be a much better choice.

Personally, I wouldn't go for a snake that size for your kids to be around, something like a ball python which you mentioned you have experience keeping would be a much better choice.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. A snake that large could easily decide to constrict a child, even if you turned your head for a couple seconds it could have the chance to permanantly injure, if not kill the child. If you're strictly wanting pythons i'd go with one of the smaller ones, but you could always expand your horizions and maybe get a colubrid. I started in colubrids but I got a Chondro and soon i'll be looking at obtaining a boa of some sort.
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blood pythons are great

Blood pythons are great, this is true, however....

They are NOT the best choice for young kids.

They are NOT moderate, medium bodied pythons. - Brian

you should be more concerned about salmonella then aggresion.
if a stressed snake starts shedding this bacteria - even a small amount can not only give your kid diarea and such, a GI infection, but if the bacteria enters the blood stream, you could end up with an angry family, a hospitalized child who might end up with serious bone disorders and thats just a bit of what could happen. 6% is a low number for herp related hospitalizations from salmonella but once your kid has to go through it, you can't really related...

Deven | Terra5Designs

With small children why not just stick to what you have now and not get a bigger python. When they are teenagers than you look into bigger pythons if you still want.

I think for a medium sized snake a male BCI would be a good choice.Easy going personality they dont get all that big.Just a thought
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I think a female Columbian Redtail would be perfect. She would get around 8-10 feet. The males are smaller if you wanted something smaller. They have very mellow personalities, in fact they are alot like ball pythons but not so scaredycat..I love mine and I have a soon to be 4yo and she is perfect around him so far, Ive only had her a few months but she has never tried to strike at anyone and is not even headshy..Good eater, fairly easy care...
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children or spotted python are good because they get 3 to 4 feet and are very docile

Carpets Biting is a temporary phase for them. Look at them as baby's there so tiny of course there scared everything is 400 times there size. Carpets would be my Choice, I have 1.1 since they were baby's and have only been bitten by them a total of 4 times in 3 years. CBB bloods are tending to be calmer with each cbb breeding. Dwarf Burmese, Dwarf retic, a scrub could be a possible option depending on the scrubs personality.

Personally, Id get whatever (excluding Hots just because of the circumstances) I wanted, and just keep the kid away from it. A tame baby retic can interact with a child and be a good snake for the kid as long as the kid is supervised.
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Pat
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