Hi there! I've been doing some research on a few snake species, as I'd like to get a snake sometime next year, and I was wondering what you think about blood pythons for first time owners, and what advice you'd give? I really love mid-sized, solid body snakes like ball pythons, but I'm worried about their feeding tendencies and would prefer a more active snake. I'm also considering a corn or a king since they're known to be great beginner snakes. I love your blog, thanks for all you do!
First things first: I don’t believe in the concept of “beginner snakes” because of how long-lived snakes are. I support the concept of “advanced-level” snakes, because some species require very specific conditions to thrive, and/or very specific care procedures (such as multiple people being present for dealing with 8+ft snakes) – that not everyone, and especially not a beginner, will be able to provide. Examples on Quora. So we can rule those out for you as your first snake.
When acquiring a pet that will be with you for the next 20 or so years, you should consider two things:
1. What you like in a snake, and what kind of snake you’d find rewarding to keep. Don’t get a corn as your training snake if you don’t actually want a corn.
2. What level of care can you reliably provide to your new pet?
This second includes potential moves, illnesses, etc. - the easiest to care for snakes such as corns and black rat snakes can take a wide range of temperatures and even humidity swings, and are fairly easy to bag up and transport. Also fairly easy to have someone take care of while you can’t for any reason.
If the only reason you’re ruling out a ball python is their eating “problems” – there are two things you can do. One, adopt an adult. They tend to be established eaters and in general will tolerate some minor husbandry errors better than hatchlings. Two: whether or not you get an adult, take it to the vet right after the acclimation 10-14 days. Get any parasites and diseases treated, and discuss your setup with the veterinarian.
When I hear people say that BPs “just go off feed sometimes” I cringe. There is always a reason, or the species would have long gone extinct. Husbandry is often the cause. Noise and vibrations from household appliances and foot traffic may be too stressful for some shy individuals. Sickness – Leeloo was off feed for 9 months, because of how sick she was. But you wouldn’t know from just looking at her. After our vet figured out what she had and treated her with antibiotics, she’s become an extremely enthusiastic eater.
The moral of this story is: Ball pythons aren’t just arbitrarily going on hunger strikes. If you keep them healthy and in the right conditions, they will be begging for food, and your challenge will be to keep them from getting overweight. :)
As I said in my yesterday’s post, blood pythons require a fairly narrow temp/humidity range, so you should set up the enclosure such that your snake can be comfortable all year around. Buy some automation gadgets like a ZooMed Hygrotherm thermostat/humidity controller, to ensure that the values stay in-range at all times. Insulate the heck out of the enclosure to keep the temps steady. Make sure you have separate sensors for the hot spot and ambient, because bloods need that level of precision, and not much in a way of gradient.
And aside: I almost never see Porthos sleep anywhere but in his warm hide, even though he has plenty of other options. When the radiant heat panel used to be controlled with a rheostat, he used to spend maybe 10% of the time elsewhere, but after J built a controller for the radiant heat panel that now keeps his ambient temperature within 0.25 degree Fahrenheit of the target 80F, he’s pretty much ALWAYS in the warm hide.
So if you’re willing (and able) to build and maintain a setup that will keep your blood python happy, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get one. The key is to set up the enclosure about a month ahead of time and run it “dry” and take measurements. If it stays within the set ranges, you can get and insert the snake in there. :)
EDIT: Forgot the activity levels. Ball pythons will be active, usually after dusk, and if you provide them head room, they will climb too. Blood pythons are more of a “blob” kind of snake. I love Porthos, but he’s really not entertaining to look at, much more of a “pet rock” than a ball python.
Anyways, good luck picking out a snake! Happy to answer more questions if you have them.