How Can You Tell What Kind of Blood Python You Have?

Blood pythons (Python brongersmai) and their close relatives Borneo pythons (Python breitensteini) and short-tailed pythons (Python curtus) are large-bodied snakes, native to southeast Asia. Distinguishing among the species, with their various colors and patterns, isn't always easy because conflicting information abounds. Positive identification can be obtained by examining your snake's scales, but other clues can be found in its size, color or temperament.

  1. Source of the Confusion

    • Sloppy usage of common names has led to much confusion about these polymorphic snakes. Various combinations of colors, geographic locations and the words "blood" or "short-tailed" have been applied haphazardly to all of these snakes. Initially classified as three subspecies of a single species, each is now treated as its own species. According to a 2008 study by J. Scott Keogh, et al, published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, the three share a common ancestor yet form two distinct clades. As is visible in their morphology and verified by genetic analysis, Borneo and short-tailed pythons form one sub-lineage, and blood pythons form another.

    Color and Pattern Differences

    • This group of pythons exhibits a variety of colors across the species. Blood pythons are the only members of the group to display red or orange coloration. Thus, Borneo pythons and short-tailed pythons are easily distinguished from blood pythons, but not always from each other. Short-tailed pythons are usually the darker of the two and can be nearly black in some cases. Borneo pythons are variations of brown, yellow, tan and grey.

    Differences in Scalation

    • The blood python is the only one of the three varieties to have more than 166 ventral scales. Another difference between blood pythons and the other two species involves the scales of the upper lip, termed supralabials. In blood pythons the supralabial scales are in direct contact with the eye, whereas with the other two species, an additional row of scales, termed subocular scales, are situated between the supralabials and the eye. Distinguishing between the Borneo and short-tailed python can be accomplished by noting the anterior parietal scales, which are large, plate-like scales found between the eyes, on top of the snake's head. In Borneo pythons, the left and right anterior parietal scales are in broad contact, whereas in short-tails the scales are separated by other scales.

    Mutations

    • There are a variety of pattern and color mutations in the marketplace. More than 100,000 of these pythons are collected annually for the leather trade, and some unusual specimens have been seen. These snakes often make their way into the pet trade, where they are established by breeders. Pattern variations exist in many forms that can make animals appear striped or with speckled sides, while color mutations can produce bright red, orange or nearly white animals. These mutations prevent color and pattern from being used to distinguish among the three species, but the scale counts will remain different for all three.

    Ramifications for the Keeper

    • To a large extent, determining the specific species of blood or short-tailed python you have is academic. The three species are similar in terms of biology, natural history and captive care. The sizes of the three species do show some variation, with blood pythons growing up to eight feet in length while both other species only reach about six feet. Accordingly, large adult blood pythons will require larger caging than the other two species. While there are wide differences in temperaments among individual populations within each species, Borneo pythons are generally regarded as the most tame variety.