Blood Python
Short, and thick through the body in a way few snakes are: a five foot blood python outweighs a seven foot rat snake. A lowland forest animal from Southeast Asia.
Photo by A. Jaszlics, CC BY 2.0
Overview
The blood python is a short, extremely heavy bodied python from southern Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo, four to six feet long and built like something twice that length. In its native range it does well in human modified country, including oil palm plantations, where it lives on the rats that live there too.
It has a reputation for being difficult, and keepers who work with them describe the same thing: an animal that is fine until it is not, and that changes mood without much warning.
Temperament
Deliberate, powerful and less predictable than a ball python. Blood pythons are not high strung so much as low tolerance, and an animal that has been handled regularly and is not in shed or coming up to a meal is generally calm.
Captive bred animals from established lines are noticeably steadier than imported ones, and the difference is large enough to be the main thing worth asking about when buying. This is a snake for someone who has kept a snake before, rather than a first one.
Care and grooming
Frozen thawed rodents, thawed under refrigeration and warmed before offering. They are heavy feeders that put on weight easily, so an adult on a ball python's schedule will get fat.
Humidity at 60 to 70 percent, and 80 to 88 F. Blood pythons come from lowland swampy habitat and they are more sensitive to a dry enclosure than most, which shows up first as a difficult shed and then as retained skin around the eyes.
Living and exercise
Four feet of enclosure for an adult, which is short for the animal's mass but right for its habits: this is a snake that sits rather than roams. Solid, heavy furniture and a hide big enough to hold the whole animal.
They are strong. An adult can shift a lid that a corn snake could not, so the enclosure is chosen for the weight of the animal rather than its length, and latches are checked rather than assumed.
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