For years dedicated Blood Python keepers have been saying these snakes are going to continue to gain in popularity and we are finally beginning to see it. But we feel these animals have not even hit their stride yet with keepers in the industry. Below we have highlighted some of the reasons these are the sleeping giants in the hobby.
1) Low Barrier to Entry-We feel these animals currently have the best bang for your buck in the hobby. You can get some really incredible snakes for great prices. There are many breeders out there that have been working hard developing consistent color and pattern traits over time, and it is just getting better.
2) Color and Pattern-Piggy backing on point 1, is the quality of animal you can get. Keep in mind a well bred hatchling Blood Python is about as ugly as they will get, and the transformation into an incredible adult is hard for any other species to beat. Instead of being born looking the best it ever will, you will get to watch your hatchling transform into a breathtaking adult python.
3) Size-Blood and Short-Tailed Pythons hit that sweet spot when it comes to overall size. Not too big but their babies also hatch at a size where they can take small mice or rat pups right way! They are an adult python that a person working solo can easily handle on their own. They also have a relatively slow metabolism so they will not eat you out of house and home. They are just right!
4) Carving Your Own Path-With the wide variety of color, pattern, and morphs available today, there are almost endless possibilities on the direction you as a breeder, if you want to dive into that, can go. This allows you to create your own space in the market and bring whatever unique traits you like to other keepers. You are not stuck chasing the person ahead of you!
5) Care- Once you dial in their specific parameters such as temperature and humidity, these pythons are easy keepers. There is lots of great information on all aspects of husbandry at Kara’s site, bloodpythons.com
6) The Future-There is no better time than now to get into this group of snakes if you have been wanting to do so. We have laid out just a few reasons why we believe this to be the case, and this is only scratching the surface. The next 10+ years are going to be a lot of fun and we cannot wait to see what the future has in store for these incredible pythons.
