JUST---BALLS

Common name(s): Borneo Short-Tailed Python

Latin name: Python curtus breitensteini.

Native to: Peninsular (Western) Malaysia, Sumatra east of the central dividing range of mountains, Bangka Island and other islands in the Strait of Malacca, including the Lingga islands, Riau islands, and Pinang. Most blood pythons in US collection are from central Sumatra.

Adult size: 4/6 feet

Life Span: Over 20 Years But Much More In Captivity

Eggs or young: average clutch 18-30 eggs.

Appearance: 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.

What does it eat? 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.

Ease of care: 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.

Temperament:Borneo's do have variable temperaments however; most can be quite calm and docile, while others can be a bit high-strung.

Cage set up: 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.

The important thing to remember when providing caging for a blood python , or indeed any short-tailed python , is to be guided by the animal's weight , not its comparatively small size . The cage needs to be as big as it would be for a thinner-bodied python of an equal weight . Make sure that the cage is long enough for your short-tailed python to stretch out almost its full lenght , and broad enough so it can turn around . Being able to strech out seems to help avoid the respiratory infections that are chronic problems with blood pythons.

Temperature: 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%.

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 cypress bark chips . When you need more humidity, this substrate is great because you can pour the water right over it  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.