Snakes

Blood Python Species and Differences

~ BackwaterReptiles

Are you familiar with the three types of Blood Python – the Red Blood, the Black Blood, and the Borneo Blood? What about short-tailed pythons? Did you know that in fact, these species of snakes are one and the same?

If you’re at all confused about the differences and similarities amongst these three species of pythons, read on to get some clarification.

Red Blood Python (Python brongersmai)

The Red Blood Python, also known as the Brongersmai short-tailed python and the red short-tailed python, is a species of python found in Malaysia and Sumatra. They get their common names from their reddish coloration. This main red can range from a rich, bold red to a dusky, orange-red, although they sometimes exhibit rusty brown colors too. They have yellow and/or tan blotches and stripes that run the length of their body with some tan and black spots towards their rear.

red blood python species
This red blood python is an orange/brown/red in color.

Red Bloods used to have a reputation for being ornery amongst reptile hobbyists, but this type of aggressive behavior is slowly disappearing due to captive breeding efforts. The breeding efforts have not only produced more colorful animals, but also more docile and mild-mannered snakes.

The Red Blood is the only species amongst the three types of short-tailed pythons that can have a red color phase. It’s also good info to know that some Red Bloods can start out very dull red as hatchlings and mature into a more brilliant and noticeable red.

Black Blood Python (Python curtus)

Nomenclature can be confusing and this is true in the case of the Black Blood Python. In fact, a more accurate common name for this snake is the Sumatran Short-Tailed Python because it can be found in the southern and western parts of Sumatra. We highly agree and so from here on out, we will refer to this snake as the Sumatran Short-Tailed Python and avoid the confusing “Black Blood” label altogether. But just be aware that amongst hobbyists, this misnomer is more common.

Sumatran short-tail python
Notice how dark this Sumatran short-tail’s colors are.

The Sumatran short-tail ranges in color from dusky brown to a deep, jet black. They commonly have black, grey, or silver heads, but some do have orange or yellow heads, which can sometimes cause them to be confused with the Borneo short-tailed python.

Borneo Blood Python (Python breitensteini)

A more accurate name for the Borneo Blood Python would simply be the Borneo Python or even the Borneo Short-Tailed Python. These short-tailed pythons are the only species to be found on the island of Borneo, hence their common name. We’re assuming that the nomenclature of “Blood” in the common name of this snake stems from the fact that they are so closely related to the Red Blood and Black Blood pythons.

borneo short-tail python
All of the short-tailed pythons have rather stout bodies with thin, short tails.

Borneo short-tails will vary in color from dark, coffee-colored brown to a pale, brown-beige with black, white, and brown markings. There are several commonly known morphs including a striped python and what is known as the “Ultra-breit,” a very pale snake with patterns that are hardly discernable.

Conclusion

When it comes to short-tailed or “blood” pythons, names can be confusing. Our solution is to refer to these snakes by a name that makes more sense, in this case a geographical name, rather than a name that implies similarities or differences to other species.

Overall, these three species of short-tailed pythons are gaining in popularity due to captive breeding projects that allow them to be available in more colors. A nice, coincidental side effect of captive breeding also happens to be that they have become more docile and accustomed to human handling. In other words, it’s not necessarily true that blood pythons are nippy, aggressive, and grouchy by nature.

Although the Red Blood is considered to be the largest of the short-tailed pythons and the Sumatran is considered the smallest, these three species of pythons will all start out life between ten to seventeen inches long and will grow to be approximately five feet long on average. They are all also very stocky snakes with thick, somewhat bulbous bodies and short tails (go figure).

We think that any of these three species of snake would make a great addition to any herp hobbyist’s collection. If you’re ready to commit to one of these stunning pythons, Backwater Reptiles has all three species of blood pythons for sale.

Is My Pet Snake Going to Shed Its Skin?

~ BackwaterReptiles

Maybe you’ve never owned a pet snake before but you’re considering it. Well, we’re all about education and potential owners making informed decisions about the animals we sell, so this blog article is dedicated to explaining the process of how snakes shed their skin.

In this article, we’ll answer four important questions regarding snake shedding:

-Why do snakes shed their skin?
-How can I tell if my snake is going to shed?
-What do I do when my snake sheds?
-How often will my snake shed?

Bullsnake Prior to Shed
This is a bullsnake (P. sayi) prior to shedding its skin.

Why do snakes shed their skin?

Snakes are reptiles and as such possess scales instead of elastic, stretchy skin like mammals. A mammal’s skin grows and expands as the mammal grows, but a snake’s skin doesn’t actually grow along with it, so the snake must shed the skin in order to comfortably grow. This process of shedding skin is also called ecdysis.

In truth, the snake doesn’t actually shed its entire skin. Once the top layer of cells has accommodated as much growth as it can, the snake will slough it off in one single, hollow, sheath leaving behind a shiny, iridescent, and much more vibrant outer layer.

In addition to allowing for growth, getting rid of the top layer of old skin allows the snake to shed any unwanted skin parasites that may have attached themselves. This is not a common reason for captive pet snakes to shed due to human interference and prevention of parasites, but in the wild, this is a huge advantage to the animal.

How can I tell if my snake is going to shed?

When your snake is preparing to shed its skin, both it behavior and its physical appearance will change.

Your snake’s scales will acquire a grey sort of tone to them and lose iridescence. The snake will also appear to get cloudy, milky, or grey eyes. You might think your pet snake has developed cataracts, but in truth, eye clouding is 100% normal and you only need to be concerned if your snake has shed its entire skin and its eyes still appear cloudy afterwards.

Bullsnake Pre-Shed
This bullsnake will shed its skin in a day or two. A great indicator of this is that its eyes are clouded over.

Don’t be surprised if your pet snake also becomes lethargic, more secretive, or even more aggressive. Snakes, like people, have different dispositions and some will go through the shedding process smoother than others.

Some pet snakes might strike out more if you attempt to remove them from their enclosure and others might hide and not come out until they are ready to actually slough off their skin.

It is also very common for snakes to refuse food a week or so prior to shedding. Do not be alarmed if your snake is just not hungry. This is normal.

What do I do when my snake sheds?

More often than not, snakes will shed their skin in secret. The entire process could occur in under an hour and you might not even realize it has happened until you discover the skin in the enclosure.

If you happen to come upon your snake in the physical process of shedding, do not disturb it. You could injure the snake and the snake could become stressed and injure you unintentionally too. 

Once you can see that the entire skin has been detached from the snake in one piece, remove it from the cage and dispose of it. 

Pay close attention to your snake’s eyes in this time as you want to be sure that the shedding process occurred without any issues. Sometimes, particularly in instances where the humidity level in the cage is not high enough, snakes can have trouble ridding themselves of the skin cap that protects their eyes.

How often will my snake shed?

Snakes will shed their skin as long as they are growing, even if they grow at a much slower rate as they advance in years.

Young snakes who are growing rapidly will shed as often as every two weeks. Adult snakes who are considered mature will shed far less frequently – usually around two to three times per year.

Cornsnake Prior to Shedding
This baby blood red corn snake (Elaphe guttata) hs dull skin and clouded eyes. It will shed its skin soon.

Conclusion

Snakes make great pets for people who are educated and aware of the care requirements for these slithering reptiles.

If you are prepared to deal with an animal that wears a new skin every few months, then feel free to check out Backwater Reptiles’ many species of snakes for sale.

 

How to Feed Your Pet Snake

~ BackwaterReptiles

At Backwater Reptiles, we sell snakes of all sizes ranging from tiny Ringneck Snakes to giant Green Anacondas, so we have lots of experience feeding and maintaining the health of these animals.

In this blog article, we’ll answer these three commonly asked questions regarding snake feeding habits:

-What do I feed my pet snake?
-How do I feed my pet snake?
-Should I feed my snake live rodents or use frozen/thawed ones?

What do I feed my pet snake?

First off, we should mention that nearly all snakes eat mice, rats, or other small vertebrates in captivity. The smaller the snake, the smaller the prey item.

Most hatchlings will start off with pinkie mice and eventually grow into being able to eat fuzzies. Only the larger species of snakes such as anacondas, pythons, and boas to name a few, will get large enough to the point that they require full-grown mice as meals. We recommend doing your research if you don’t want to have to handle full-grown feeder animals.

Snake Food
We feed our snakes using tongs because not all snakes have great aim. Using tongs is a great way to avoid an accidental biting.

Some smaller species of snakes will not need to eat rodents. For instance, the Ringneck Snake is so small that it eats night crawlers in captivity. Garter and Ribbon Snakes can eat mice, but will actually do quite well on a diet of minnows or other small feeder fish, and even nightcrawlers.

Feeder rodents of all sizes can be purchased at most pet stores. Backwater Reptiles also offers feeder mice that are conveniently delivered to your door step, as well as nightcrawlers.

How do I feed my pet snake?

If you feed your snake frozen mice, then the first step is to thaw the frozen rodent. After removing the feeder animal from your freezer, place the animal in warm water for a few minutes. Allow it to de-frost and thaw like you would a cut of meat. Because most feeder rodents are very small (especially the pinkie mice), it shouldn’t take more than five to ten minutes to thaw the food.

Thawing Feeder Pinkie Mice
These pinkie mice are floating in warm water to thaw out.

NOTE: Do not EVER put the frozen rodents in the microwave. Not only will you have a mess to clean up, but you will have wasted perfectly good snake food.

Once you are sure your feeder rodent is sufficiently warmed, remove your snake from its enclosure and feed it in a separate, temporary enclosure. This need not be a large or elaborate container – just something tall enough so that the snake won’t climb out during the feeding process.

The reason we advise moving your snake to a separate feeding tub is to prevent your snake from becoming aggressive. If you feed the snake inside its own cage, it will assume that every time the cage is opened, food is coming, which could lead it to “train” itself to strike whenever the cage is opened. In other words, it will associate the cage opening with food instead of bath time, cage cleaning time, or even play time. Moving the snake to a separate feeding area will help counteract this type of behavior.

Once your snake is in its feeding enclosure, simply hold the rodent out for the snake to strike at or drop the rodent into the enclosure in front of the snake. You can also use tongs to hold the prey item in front of the snake’s line of vision.

If you feed your snake live prey, we highly recommend stunning the animal before putting it in the snake’s enclosure. This is because feeder animals can actually scratch and bite the snake before the snake has time to consume it. This can lead to infections or even unsightly scars on the snake’s body.

Should I feed my snake live rodents or use frozen/thawed ones?

We highly recommend using frozen/thawed feeder rodents when it comes to snakes for two main reasons – safety and convenience.

It might not seem like a big deal, but as we previously mentioned, living feeder animals can actually harm snakes. Rodents are sneaky and will do everything they can to outsmart a snake. They will bite and claw the snake if it hesitates at all. This can be a problem is your pet snake is a slow eater or if it is not hungry when you feed it. Again, you don’t want your snake to be injured by its food.

We also think that it’s safer for you, the snake’s owner, to feed it frozen food. It has been said that snakes becomes more aggressive when fed live food and we agree. While there’s not really any definitive proof that this is true, it does seem to be the case in our experience.

Snakes that are given live food have to strike to kill and usually will have to strike more than once to catch the animal they’re eating. It just makes sense that the snake will be more likely to strike if it is practicing this behavior on a regular basis.

We also feel that feeding frozen animals to your snake is more convenient. If you opt for feeding frozen/thawed, you can simply keep the food in your freezer until your snake’s meal time. On the other hand, if you feed your snake live food, you either have to keep living feeder rodents at your home or go to the pet store once per week to obtain them.

Hungry Savu Python
This Savu Python is prepared to strike. It is his mealtime and he is aiming at a pinkie mouse.

Conclusion

Feeding your pet snake is a fairly simple process, whether you opt for frozen meals or live prey. It’s honestly as simple as thawing your feeder mice or stunning your live prey and offering it to your snake. Nature does the rest.

The Best Small Pet Snake

~ BackwaterReptiles

Are you considering a new snake, but would like to know what species would make the best small pet snake? Probably the smallest pet snake sold by Backwater Reptiles is the Ringneck Snake (Diadphis sp.), with the Worm snake another contender.

This snake is perfect for someone who definitely wants a small pet snake and doesn’t want to deal with having a large tank or enclosure in their home. They’re great compact little pets and can be kept in a home as small as a shoe box quite happily.

Maybe you’re someone who is attracted to the cuteness of small animals or baby animals. Although the Ringneck Snake won’t be a baby forever, it can certainly pass for a baby snake!

Ringnecks won’t get longer than 15 inches and usually won’t surpass the diameter of a pencil in thickness of body. This means that a full-grown Ringneck Snake is the size most “normal-sized” pet snakes start off as when they’re hatchlings. Now that’s a small snake!

Best small pet snake
This photo shows the scale of the Ringneck Snake. They’re definitely little animals and are considered the best “small” pet snakes.

Ringnecks are a dark brown, black, or grey base color with a bright orange or yellow ring around their neck, which explains the origin of their common name. It’s almost like these little snakes wear orange necklaces. The bellies of Ringnecks are yellow or orange to match their neck band. Depending on the specific region the snake is from, the belly might also have black speckles or bars.

The Ringneck Snake has a very widespread distribution in the wild. They can be found throughout most of the United States and even into Southern Canada. They can acclimate to many types of habitats but seem to prefer wooded areas with plenty of hiding places like rocks, logs, and leaf litter. Due to their small size, a good hiding place is an essential survival tool for these little snakes.

Believe it or not, Ringnecks actually have a small amount of venom in their saliva that they utilize when hunting prey. This venom is harmless to people however, so don’t let that frighten you off. Their teeth are also so small that even if you were bitten by your pet Ringneck snake, you probably wouldn’t even feel it! We’ve never even had one attempt to bite, though.

Ringneck Snake
This photo shows very clearly the orange “necklace” that the Ringneck Snake is known for.

In captivity, Ringnecks are pretty easy to maintain. They like to hide a lot, so they’re not the most entertaining or energetic pet, but they can still be rewarding to care for.

Although we always recommend replicating natural environments through substrate, hiding spaces, and other cage accessories and methods, Ringnecks can actually thrive with a very minimal cage set up. As previously mentioned, they need not have a large living space – a plastic shoe box will do just fine. This is great news for people who live in small spaces and have minimal room to store a tank or vivarium.

You can use paper towels as a substrate or go with something more traditional like peat moss and soil. Just be aware that no matter what you line the enclosure with, your pet Ringneck will more than likely burrow underneath it.

This is why we don’t advise that lots of heavy accessories be kept inside the enclosure with the snake. You don’t want the snake to accidentally dislodge a heavy fake plant or unnecessarily large water dish and injure itself.

Obviously these snakes are too small to consume the standard snake fare of frozen/thawed pinkies, fuzzies, and other rodents. This is good news for the squeamish who don’t want to have to feed their pet snake rodents! Well then, you might be wondering – what do you feed such a tiny carnivore?

At Backwater Reptiles, we have had success feeding our Ringneck Snakes nightcrawlers. In the wild, they eat lots of small invertebrates and sometimes even vertebrates that will fit in their mouth, so you can also try to feed your Ringneck crickets and other appropriately-sized insects, although earthworms are the tried and true food that we recommend.

Diadphis sp.
Even fully stretched out, Ringneck Snakes rarely get longer than 15 inches.

The best small pet snake – Conclusion

Ringnecks are fairly secretive snakes and can be a bit squirmy when held, but this behavior can be mitigated with frequent handling. Like any snake, your pet Ringneck will never be domesticated, but you can usually safely get it acclimated and used to being taken out of its cage.

While boas and pythons can make wonderful pet snakes, some people prefer a species much more manageable in size, which is why we endeavored to write an article about the best small pet snake, which in our opinion is the Ringneck.

If you think you’re ready to spring for a small pet snake of your own, Backwater Reptiles has Ringneck Snakes for sale.

Best Pet Snakes for Beginners

~ BackwaterReptiles

If you’re wondering what the best pet snakes are for beginners, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got decades of experience keeping and breeding reptiles of all sizes, and we’ve put together an easy-to-read list for you.

If you’re ready to add a snake to your family, or are buying one as a gift for someone else, but are unsure what species is most recommended, read on to find out which pet snakes we think are best for beginners.

Best Pet Snakes for Beginners

4. Ball Python (Python regius)

Ball Pythons are the most popular pet pythons in the reptile world. They are bred to be available in many morphs ranging from the “normal” coloration to pure white. They are also very docile snakes that take to human handling well.

pet Ball Python
A juvenile ball python. This is a regular morph animal, but ball pythons are bred to be many different colors.

They’ll start out around ten inches in length and the females will max out at around three to five feet long. Males, on the other hand, will be slightly smaller at approximately three feet long. And they grow quickly!

We’ve put them at number four on our list because beginners will have to upgrade their python’s enclosure as it grows…or alternatively, start out with a cage that’s very large for the hatchling.

3. Boa Constrictor (Boa c. constrictor or Boa c. imperator)

There are actually two species of boa constrictor that are common in the reptile pet world. They look very similar, behave very similarly, and have nearly identical care requirements. In fact, we wrote a whole separate blog article about the differences between Columbian red-tail boas and Central American boas.

Boa Constrictor Comparison
Here is a visual comparison of the two most common boa species in the pet trade. They are both extremely similar.

Both species of boa are great for beginners because of their easy-going temperaments and basic care requirements. Like all snakes, boas will eat mice – frozen/thawed being the preferred option. They will need a heat source and a light can be provided as well.

Pet Boa constrictor eating a mouse
This is a boa eating a fuzzie.

They will grow to be around five to seven feet in length, although sometimes they can be longer. This means that they can start out with a home as simple as a plastic shoebox when young, but will need to have a larger home with lots of horizontal space as they mature and grow.

2. King Snake (Lampropeltis g. californiae)

We recommend king snakes for beginners because they are so wide spread in the wild. This means that they are very hardy snakes with adaptable living requirements and will generally do very well in captivity. They can even thrive in areas that receive yearly snowfall.

King snakes can be purchased from reptile breeders in a multitude of colorful morphs. If you’re interested in exploring king snake morphs in more depth, we have written an entire article on the most popular kingsnake morphs. There is pretty much a morph for all aesthetic preferences.

Pet California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae)
This is a chocolate morph king snake. There are many morphs to choose from.

King snakes will grow to be an average of three to four feet in length, although they can actually get over six feet long when fed well and given the space to grow.

Keep in mind that king snakes are rather “thin” snakes, unlike their bulkier python and boa cousins. This means that even though they might be the same length or longer than a boa or python, they will weigh significantly less and be easier to handle.

And the best pet snake for beginners is…

1. Corn Snake

The corn snake is our top snake for beginners because it’s a very well-rounded pet reptile. They come in a seemingly endless variety of morphs and color schemes (read our in-depth article on popular corn snake morphs), they’re well mannered and docile, they have simple care requirements, and are a hardy animal that will live a long life when provided with proper care.

Corn snake hatchlings begin life at approximately eight to twelve inches long and will be around the diameter of a pencil. They are fast little snakes, but have really calm demeanors and are generally not nippy towards their handlers/owners. Hatchlings don’t need fancy enclosures – a plastic shoe box with a heat source, water dish, and a hide space will suffice.

best pet corn snake
This is a normal morph corn snake, but these fun snakes are available in many different morphs.

As corn snakes grow, they do become escape artists (this is actually true of almost any species of snake) and so you will need to get a bigger enclosure with a secure lid. Adults around four to five feet long should have at least a twenty gallon tank to slither around in.

Conclusion

We hope you learned something from our list of the best pet snakes for beginners. Backwater Reptiles would absolutely recommend any of these species to a first-time snake owner.

Backwater Reptiles offers all of these species of snakes for sale on our website, so check us out today!