Borneo Blood Pythons(Python curtus breitensteini)

Borneo Blood Pythons

(Python curtus breitensteini)

Written by Ritchie http://www.ritchiereptiles.com

LOCAL

The Island of Borneo

STATUS

Widespread but diminishing in numbers.
Killed in large numbers for their meat and their skin.
About 60,000 of these animals are harvested each year.

DESCRIPTION

This is a heavy bodied snake. Short and stout probably best describes them.
Females usually reach an average of 4 - 5 feet. Males are usually smaller, averaging 3 - 4 feet. There are of course some specimens that can reach up to 6 feet. These are usually older females whose weight usually exceeds 30 -35 pounds.
There is a natural color variation in this species. The head is usually pale yellowish - brown to pale brown.
The eyes are orange and they swivel. Yes swivel. It is so neat the way they follow you around.
The dark elements on the body are light brown to tan to a real dark brown. Sometimes these will have a black or just a very dark margin.
The pale patterns on the body are cream to yellow and the sides are usually pale brown.
Some specimens have cream to yellow markings on the side as well. To date there are no reports of albino or other hypomelanistic traits.
There have been however, reports of hypermelanistic conditions.

CAGING

A ten gallon aquarium is perfectly suitable for baby borneos.
But as this python gets larger and larger, a more suitably sized enclosure will be needed.
Even though this is not one of the larger Pythons like the burmese or a retic, people often fail to provide it with an adequately sized enclosure.
To avoid ilness and other complications these animals need to be able to stretch out as well as be able to turn in their enclosures.
Adults will need about 5 square feet of space to live comfortably. If you can provide an even bigger enclosure, then the animal will be that much happier.

SUBSTRATE

Newspaper is fine. It is easy to clean up.
The only thing is it is not very aesthetic. Another fine substrate with ease of maintenace would be paper towels. Other substrates also include carpet, cypress bark chips, potting soil, gravel and peat moss. I find the aformentioned substrates to be difficult to maintain.
What I am currently using are extra wee wee pads we had when we were training the dogs.
These wee wee pads are available in your local pet store. They are also easily attainable in the health care profession. These wee wee pads are the blue diaper things that have a plastic bottom and a cloth top. They are able to hold moisture and also keep your cage from getting dirt all over it. When you need more humidity, these are great because you can pour the water right over them. And when it is time to clean up, just pick up and throw away.
I also place a heating pad underneath the wee wee pads. This also helps to put even more humidity in the animals enclosure. When I used newspapers and other substrates I had problems keeping the humidity up.
My snakes were having problems shedding. But ever since I used this method it has been smooth sailing.

TEMPERATURE &HUMIDITY

Borneo Short tailed Pythons should be kept in the mid 80's.
In fact they would do better if kept with a temperature gradient.
On one side of the enclosure being warm and the otherside cooler. the warm side should be around 85 - 90 and the cool side around 79- 81. But these are just guidelines.
Your temperature settings can be different but they have to be close to these figures.
Also try not to expose your Bornoe to temperatures cooler than 75. As far as humidity is concerned, it should be kept at around 65% to 75%. Around shed time I increase my humidity to 80 - 85%.

FEEDING

Borneo babies readily feed on mice. Small mice that are just weaned would be prefered.
They can also feed on rat pups.
What I do is provide a humid hide box for them to lay around in. In the wild, Blood pythons are often found at night sitting in a pool of water waiting for animals to come and drink. they are a sit and wait type of hunter.
As they get older they need to move up to bigger prey such as rats. Bigger specimens can also take down rabbits. They should readily take down frozen thawed food as well. After the food item has thawed heat it up by running hot water over it. It is also not advisable to feed any snake in its enclosure. If this is done routinely the snake will strike at anything entering its enclosure.

REPRODUCTION

Sexual maturity is reached at around the age of three for males and around the age of four for females. Of course their size also has a lot to do withtheir reproductive state. blood pythons will usually not breed unless they have acquired enough weight.

For breeding there are a couple of ways to proceed. One would be to cool the snakes.
The other to reduce daylight hours.
Only one of the aforementioned is needed for a successful breeding.
Also to this one or two, you can add a little misting to your snakes.

As far as cooling I reduce mine to 75 - 79.
I also put a blanket over the enclosure to block out daylight. I only allow 8 hours of sunlight during the cooling period. Before I go to work in the morning I take the blanket off.
As soon as I come back from work,I put the blanket back on. I also spray them in the am as well as in the pm.

As far as sexing is concerned, probing is one of the best ways to tell the sexes of these animals.
The male should probe to 9 subcaudals and the female should probe at around 3 - 5 subcaudals.
This probing should also be done while the animals are still babies and easily handled.
Once they are big enough it is harder to handle them because they are very strong and fight with all their might.
Some males readily evert their hemipenis when restrained.

DIFFICULTY LEVEL

Not really a beginner snake. The keeper should have some experience with boids.
A large tame Blood python might not be the largest python but they are still impressive animals with great strength.

Photo Credit: http://northernreptiles.co.uk