Blood python, Python curtus brongersmai

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Scientific name: Python curtus brongersmai

Other common names

Red blood python, Malaysian blood python, Malaysian red blood python, Sumatran red blood python.

Size

This is a very heavy-bodied snake. Large adults may have a massive girth. The head is long and broad, wider than the neck; the tail is short and tapers sharply. Most adult females measure 50"-72" in total length, most adult males measure 40"-60" in total length. It’s not unusual for older females to attain 96" in total length and the maximum size for the taxon reportedly exceeds 10 feet in total length. We’ve seen females measuring between 8’-9’ that were 40-45 pounds in weight.

Probably the most beautiful red specimen of blood python from Malaysia that we have seen, this wild-caught adult male was collected in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur. As is typical of Malaysian specimens of blood pythons, this fire-engine red male has a fierce disposition, and even after years of captivity he is more than willing to bite his keepers if given the chance.

Distribution

The blood python is found throughout most of the lower elevations of Peninsular (Western) Malaysia, Sumatra east of the central dividing range of mountains, Bangka Island and other islands in the Straits of Malacca, including the Lingga islands, Riau, and Pinang.

This taxon is commonly encountered in low forested hills and the various types of plantations that are located in the upland areas surrounding lower and wetter habitats. Blood pythons are occasionally encountered in irrigated farming areas and poorly drained flood plains, but it appears that they are more closely associated with the upland areas than most published accounts have reported.

Availability

Most of the wild-caught blood pythons currently exported to the U.S. are collected by and purchased from skinning businesses in Sumatra. In recent years most of the animals have originated from businesses in the vicinity of Medan, Sumatra. In the early 1990s, most animals came from skinning businesses to the south in the vicinity of Palembang in southeastern Sumatra. Blood pythons from Bangka Island were often included with the Palembang animals. Most of the animals that are today breeding in the States probably came from the Palembang businesses.

Many "wild-bred, captive-hatched" blood pythons are exported to the U.S. from Indonesia each year. These are often encountered at the weekend reptile shows that take place around the country.

Excellent captive-bred specimens are available from professional breeders and serious hobbyists. The species is offered for sale on many price lists, web sites, and classified advertising. Captive-bred animals are often encountered at weekend reptile shows.

Pattern variation

This is a python taxa with relatively variable pattern. Most typically then, the top of the head is unmarked or with a faint thin stripe from the internasals to the nape of the neck. There is a dark mark with a pale margin in front of the eye on the preoculars and a thin pale postocular stripe from behind the eye to the angle of the jaw. There is a dark triangular postocular blotch on the side of the head, the point contacting the posterior margin of the eye and widening onto the side of the neck. The upper surface of the neck and back is dark. Centered along the vertebral line and interspersed along the length of the body are small pale vertebral spots. On some specimens the vertebral spots are widely spaced, while in others they are numerous and in places coalesce to become elongated blotches or short stripes. On the sides are a series of dark lateral blotches. On the anterior half of the body, the sides appear as pale with a longitudinal series of lateral blotches on the lower sides—each blotch originating at the ventral surface and rising to about halfway up the sides. On the posterior half of the body these dark lateral blotches become taller and some or all contact and coalesce with the dark dorsal surface. In the pale areas of pattern, high on the side, are a longitudinal series of rounded black blotches, spaced at random intervals along the length of the body.

The brown color phase is often referred to but seldom illustrated. Pictured here is an adult brown blood python from Malaysia. The brown color appears to be common in most blood python populations.

There are two observed variations of pattern that are suspected to be inherited in the manner of simple recessive mutations. One is exhibited by a few beautifully striped specimens that have been imported; their condition of striping likely the result of a mutation, but to date this has not been demonstrated.

The second and most dramatic is a condition of pattern and color know as "ivory." They only known python with this appearance is a wild-caught female blood python in the VPI collection. This is a partially leucistic condition in which about 90% of the surface of the body, including the chin, throat, sides and belly, is pure white. The head and tail are pale silver gray with small black flecks, the upper surface of the neck and back are pale yellow with gray flecks and small blotches.

Color variation

There naturally exists quite a variation of colors in this taxon. The head is usually dark charcoal gray, but in some specimens the head is medium gray to a pale chrome gray. It’s our observation that blood pythons have the ability to change the intensity or darkness of their head color. The eyes of blood pythons are pale at the top and shaded to dark gray or black at the bottom. The pale postocular stripe is pale gray, the dark postocular blotch is black.

The dark pattern elements on most of the body range from rich yellow to medium brown to orange-red to bright red to dark oxblood and, rarely, to very dark gray. In most blood pythons, the dark pattern elements are some shade of red and are not bounded by discrete black margins The pale pattern elements on the back are typically yellow or yellowish. The pale pattern on the sides is usually a pale gray with tiny black flecks.

There are wild-caught albino specimens currently in captivity, and they have been bred to produce captive-bred albino specimens. The condition is described as tyrosinase-positive albinism, and it is demonstrated to be inherited in the manner of a single recessive mutation. These t+ albinos are without black pigment, but do have some dark gray and purple pigments which serve to enrichen the red and yellow pigments—they are extraordinarily beautiful animals.

We know of one other record of another condition of hypomelanism, exhibited by a wild-caught Sumatran blood python. This is likely an inheritable condition but, to date, animal has not been bred. It is characterized by a lack of the fine stipples of melanin normally dispersed throughout the skin, a pink tongue, and a pale stomach.

Probably the least encountered color phase of blood pythons is the true yellow phase. Good specimens, like the captive-bred animal pictured here, rival the beauty of the best red specimens. Both parents of this animal were yellow bloods, the female parent was from Pinang, and the male was from the province of Johore Baru in southern Peninsular Malaysia.

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