Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I recently became fascinated by snakes. At first I wanted a Ball until I saw a blood. Even the most beautiful Ball can't compare to a bright red blood python. As soon as I saw them I instantly started reading everything I could find on them. Much to my dismay they did not recommend them for beginners and they said they are mean. Did anyone in here start out with a blood and have a good experience? I know that most of the people that write those snake information pages think of a beginner as some kid that buys a snake from a pet store after getting a wild hair one day and dosent know the first thing about caring for it, but I am definately not that kid. Thanks for all your advice.

Yes!!!Your on the right track.I first started liking snakes but was unsure what I liked,then WHAMMM !!! I saw my first blood in a petstore and fell in LOVE!!! I bought books,combed the net and even bought old Reptiles magazines to get as much info as possible,and of course got the blood !!!4 yrs latter and I still have A LOT TO LEARN !!!C.B. bloods can be as tame as any ball python.Infact all the bloods I own are captive born and puppy dogg tame.Good luck with your first blood and keep us posted.Here's my first snake....

4yrs latter,

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I think you'll be fine as long as you do a couple things first.

1. Do your research, but it sounds like you've got this well under way, giving me great confidence in your abilities.

2. Get a captive bred baby from a good breeder. Captive bred is the only way to go unless you're an experienced keeper.

3. Get the setup running and your temps to perfection before you get your baby. If the setup and temps are good, your baby will settle in quickly, and you shouldn't have a single problem. If you're unprepared, or cut corners, thats when problems happen, and your inexperience could hurt you here.

You've found a great place for advice, and if you've got your heart set on a baby blood, GO FOR IT!!!

I saw my first blood pictures soon after buying corn snake. Thought they were beautiful too. After talking to Kara from NERD, she recommended getting a ball python first, to experience owning a bigger snake. So I bought one from them, took care of Baxter for a few months to get the feel for it, then bought a blood from her. I love both of them...so, I guess my point is: if you want to get your feet wet first, try a ball. My blood is a nice one, but the ball is still a million times gentler.

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1.0.0 Ball Python (Baxter)
1.0.0 Blood Python (One Eyed Willy)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Mr. No Toes)
0.1.0 Sinaloan Milk Snake (Satan)
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Jillian)
1.1.0 Cats (Sammy and Charlie)
0.1.0 Chinchilla (Sara)
0.0.2 Emperor Scorpions (Nasty and Nastier, lol)
Too many fish to count (mostly African Cichlids)

np

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1.0.0 Ball Python (Baxter)
1.0.0 Blood Python (One Eyed Willy)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Mr. No Toes)
0.1.0 Sinaloan Milk Snake (Satan)
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Jillian)
1.1.0 Cats (Sammy and Charlie)
0.1.0 Chinchilla (Sara)
0.0.2 Emperor Scorpions (Nasty and Nastier, lol)
Too many fish to count (mostly African Cichlids)