Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear Blood Lovers of the world,

I am not sure if anyone has a definitive answer to these questions, it's open for discussion.

1) What warm-end temperature, cold-end temperature and humidity should be used for blood pythons?

2) What temperatures and humidity do YOU use (what works for you)?

3) How do YOU monitor and control them (again, what works for you?)

4) What species do you have and do you feel that different blood types need different temperatures?

If there are enough useable responses I will collate and post a summary.

Cheers,
Cooljosh and Buffy the Blood

I have a 2-year-old P. brongersmai.

I am led to believe that warm end temperatures should be 85-90 F, cold end temperatures 79-81 F and RH 65%-75% (normal) and 80%-85% (during shed). I got this info from web searches, one of the best sites I found was http://beta.communities.co.uk/herpetoculture.co.uk/herpetoculturechatgroup/borneobloodpythons.msnw

I have two Under Tank Heaters (UTH) of 11W power. One is at one end of the enclosure under an 'Astroturf' mat, one is in the middle under a LARGE water bowl (swimming pool) and the remaining third is unheated. Apart from the Astroturf and pool the remainder is covered in orchid bark.

My house is at 300 ft elevation and I used psychrometric tables to calculate appropriate temperatures to give required humidities. The humidity is controlled by wet-bulb temperature and dry bulb temperature. The dry-bulb temperature is controlled by a Pro-Exotics thermostat fixed to the Astroturf over one of the UTHs. The wet-bulb temperature is controlled by a second P-E thermostat immersed in the swimming pool. At 300 ft elevation, wet-bulb (swimming pool) and dry-bulb (Astroturf) temperatures of 80 F and 88 F combine to give a relative humidity of 71%. -Within all required ranges for normal running. During shed the wet bulb temperature (swimming pool thermostat) is increased to 85 F, which increases the relative humidity to 88.6%.
A useful psychrometric calculator can be found at http://www.gpengineeringsoft.com/pages/pdtpsychrocalc.html

This works well unless the pool temperature is not raised from 80 F to 85 F during shed. This has happened twice (don't ask...)and both times caused a stuck shed (the skin on her back). On both occasions the stuck skin was shucked naturally within 24 h of increasing the temperature of the pool to 85 F. I have had no other health problems with this snake to date, she eats well and is very friendly.

i have 1.1.1 Sumatran Bloods and one 1.0 Black Blood. At this time im using glass tanks for the 3 Reds and a small sterilite for the Black. Im going to have to move 2 of the Reds into large sterilites because they are getting a bit stuffy in the smaller glass tanks.

As far as temps go, high end i try to get between 88F and 90F. Cool end i TRY to keep at somewhere between 80F and 84F but sometimes they go a tiny bit higher or lower (which isnt really the end of the world in my opinion).

Heating for one of the bloods is an overhead lamp with a 60 watt bulb. i have a dual thermometer (therm with a probe in my Carpet's tank with the probe going into the Blood's tank. The temp in the Red's tank is 88.5F and humidity is at 54% for both tanks so thats perfect im my book. Heaters for the other 2 Reds are back heat pads which i normally dont use in the summertime due to it being so damn hot nowadays. i plug them back in in the fall/winter when the temps drop to below my satisfaction for the snakes. i carefully monitor them every few hours when im awake and at home to make sure none of the neaters have malfunctioned.

Not really sure what the city elevation is and to me thats irrelevant. Dont really see any difference in types of bloods other than their appearance and growth rates either.
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0.0.1 Colombian Redtail Boa
1.1.1 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python

City elevation effects the relative humidity you get for a given temperature. The higher the dryer.

that may be true, however if the gauge says 60% it is still 60%...no matter what the elevation is. just like if youre driving 75MPH into a wind blowing at 100MPH.....you are STILL driving at 75MPH.
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0.0.1 Colombian Redtail Boa
1.1.1 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python

1) What warm-end temperature, cold-end temperature and humidity should be used for blood pythons?

90 ( /- 2/3 degrees) hot side (surface temp) and 80 ( /- 2/3 degrees). Humidity should be 50%-60% and during shed a bit higher.

2) What temperatures and humidity do YOU use (what works for you)?
As of right now the temp is at 90.5 under the hot side hide and the temp is 79.2 under the cool side hide. Humidity stays a little higher than whatever the room humidity is. Its usually at around 50% and during shed i mist once a day.

3) How do YOU monitor and control them (again, what works for you?)
I monitor them with a digital therm with probe that i bought on clearance for $3. Control for temps is used by a rheostat. Humidity i control it by misting.

4) What species do you have and do you feel that different blood types need different temperatures?
I have a P. brongersmai.
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0.1 Leopard gecko's
0.0.1 Ball Python's
0.1 blood python's
0.1 Crested Geckos