If you are looking for a large but calm snake for your home terrarium, consider a short-tailed python. This snake, native to Southeast Asia, is famous for its massive, muscular body and truly short, seemingly chopped-off tail. Its appearance often brings a smile to people's faces and is associated with plumpness and solidity.
Despite their impressive size, these pythons are usually very docile. They lead a predominantly terrestrial lifestyle, are not very active, and spend most of their time resting. This makes them quite convenient pets even for those who are just starting to learn about keeping large snakes.
Caring for a short-tailed python has its own important features. These reptiles need a spacious horizontal terrarium with a secure lock, proper heating, and comfortable humidity. But if you create the right conditions for them, you will get an amazing, unhurried friend whose life is very interesting to observe.
Range, habitat, and living conditions
The short-tailed python lives on the island of Sumatra. It is sometimes found in southern Vietnam, Malaysia, and the island of Malacca.
It inhabits regions with an average annual temperature of 26 °C and abundant rainfall (more than 2000 mm per year). It prefers impenetrable jungles, swampy areas, and floodplains.
Due to deforestation and drainage of swamps, Python curtus is increasingly found on palm plantations. Here it hides in leaf litter and feeds on rats. The expansion of plantations and the availability of abundant food sources (up to 500 rats per 1 hectare) are leading to a steady increase in the population of this species.
Short-tailed python
Please note! Python curtus are hunted for their beautiful skin, which is used to make bags and other accessories.
Character and lifestyle
The short-tailed python is nocturnal and terrestrial. During the day, it hides in the shade, crawls into piles of fallen leaves, thick vegetation, or soaks motionless in warm shallow puddles.
Active at night. Hunts from ambush: digs a hole in moist soil, lies in it or hides in thick grass, waiting for prey to appear.
Python curtus
Individuals caught in the wild show restlessness and aggression in the terrarium. Their counterparts born in captivity behave more calmly, characterized by immobility and slowness. Reptiles gradually get used to their owner, and each of them shows its own character. Some individuals hiss, puff, and “communicate” eloquently with their owner, while others tirelessly try to find a way out of the terrarium to freedom.
Python curtus freezes in your hands and feels uncomfortable. Like any large, heavy snake, it desperately needs several points of support to distribute the load evenly. If it has to crawl, it becomes nervous.
Representatives of the species caught in Sumatra adapt more quickly to captivity than those from Malaysia.
The short-tailed python is a calm and well-fed snake that is ideal for keeping in a terrarium, even for beginners. The main thing is to provide it with a warm, humid habitat with shelters where it can feel safe. It should be fed once every 1–2 weeks with mice or rats of a suitable size, and the terrarium itself should be cleaned regularly. With proper care, this snake lives a long time, rarely gets sick, and does not cause any trouble.
Appearance
Python curtus is characterized by clear sexual dimorphism. Males weigh about 3-5 kg and are up to 1.2 m long.
Females are larger than males, weighing up to 5-8 kg and growing up to 1.3 m. In captivity, under good conditions, these animals reach larger sizes.
Python curtus curtus
Characteristic features of representatives of the species are a powerful, thick body and short, thin tail. The head is flat, triangular, with large thermolocation pits. Young animals have dark stripes on the top of their heads.
Please note! The color of the iris varies from light yellow to orange-red.
The coloration is complex and variable. The scales are reddish-brown, with light sand-colored patterns and dark spots. In some morphs, the reddish-brown scales have a darker or reddish tint. There are also almost black individuals. The sand-colored patterns are asymmetrical. The dark spots on the body vary from blurred grayish to clear and black.
Housing conditions, care
Domestic pythons need comfortable living conditions. With regular care, they will remain beautiful and healthy for many years.
Terrarium
It is best to keep representatives of this species individually in a spacious horizontal terrarium. When keeping them together, the addition of each subsequent individual should be accompanied by a 25% increase in the size of the tank. Its specific dimensions depend on the age of your pet.
Python curtus care
Table. Terrarium sizes for short-tailed pythons.
| Pet age | Tank size |
| Youngsters | 10-12×25 cm |
| 1 year | 25×45 cm |
| 1.5 years | 25×76 cm |
| 2-3 years | 60×120 cm |
Note! In large serpentariums, babies feel vulnerable and become susceptible to various infections. If the snake is forced to live in a spacious tank, provide it with comfortable shelters.
Substrate
It is better to choose a hygroscopic substrate that absorbs and retains moisture well. You can cover the bottom with fir or pine bark with pieces of sphagnum moss, use dust-free mulch from deciduous trees, pour a mixture of sand, leafy turf, wood bark chips into the terrarium, or simply cover it with a thick layer of old newspapers.
The substrate should be replaced regularly, as it becomes dirty faster than it seems.
Temperature
In its native habitat, Python curtus, the air warms up to 26-33 °C. A similar temperature gradient should be provided in the serpentarium. At the warmest point, the thermometer should read 29-33 °C, in a cool place — 26-28 °C. The heating should be turned off at night.
Super Druid or Lucy/BEL
It is better to heat the tank from below. A heating pad placed under the bottom is suitable for this purpose.
Lighting
The short-tailed python is a nocturnal predator. Nevertheless, it is necessary to organize low daytime lighting. The duration of daylight hours should be 10-12 hours.
A Sumatran short-tailed python
Humidity
The current humidity level is 65-70%, during molting – 85-90%.. To maintain a humid environment, the tank should be regularly sprayed with clean water or humidified using a sprinkler system. A humidity chamber should be provided inside, in which the snake will shed its skin faster and more easily. If the humidity is insufficient, pieces of old skin may remain on the animal and be difficult to remove.
Sumatran blood python (Python curtus)
Ventilation
For ventilation, the serpentarium should have special openings in its lower part and a mesh roof in its upper part. Air entering through the lower openings will heat up, rise, and exit through the mesh. It is permissible to install a low-power fan in the container.
Water
Pythons drink water frequently and in large quantities and enjoy bathing. Therefore, the water reservoir should be spacious but not deep (no more than ½ the height of the animal's body).
Table. Water depth in a bathing area for short-tailed pythons.
| Pet age | Water layer thickness, cm |
| Young animals | 1-1.5 cm |
| Adolescents | 2.5-5 cm |
| Adults | 5-7.5 cm |
The water reservoir should be securely fixed in place so that the pet cannot tip it over. Every few days, the bathing area should be thoroughly washed and the water refreshed.
An important element of the serpentarium is humid chamber. It is made from a flower pot of a suitable size or a plastic container and filled with damp moss, sphagnum, or cypress mulch.
In the terrarium
The substrate in the humid chamber should be moist, not wet.
Diet
Short-tailed pythons feed on small rodents. In their native habitat, they most often hunt silver-bellied rats (Rattus argentiventer) and gray rats (Rattus norvegicus).
Sometimes they catch larger prey for lunch, such as the three-striped civet (Arcogalidia trivirgata). In captivity, the animals are fed mice, gerbils, and live or frozen rats.
Photo of a python
Not all members of the Python genus eat dead rodents that do not emit heat. To attract the snake's attention, the food must be preheated to 40 °C. If the snake is not interested in the warmed food, remove it from the terrarium and repeat feeding in a few days. The frequency of feeding Python curtus depends on the age of the animal.
Table. Feeding frequency for short-tailed pythons in terrariums.
| Age of the animal | Feeding frequency |
| Young | once every 7 days |
| Adolescents | once every 14 days |
| Adults | once every 28 days |
Life hack! In nature, short-tailed pythons hunt from ambush. They sit in a secluded place and wait for prey to come into view. Therefore, if your pet does not eat slow-moving rat pups, move them with tongs in front of the python's snout.
Color morphs
There are many color morphs of short-tailed pythons. Some of them are rare and completely different from individuals with standard coloring (normal).
Some color morphs of short-tailed pythons:
A significant part of the morphs are variable and relative. Each of them can be divided into several subtypes. The genetics of most of them are a mystery shrouded in darkness.
Pied
Reproduction
Males and females reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years of age. Their mating season lasts from November to March.
The signal for mating is a reduction in daylight hours to 8-10 hours and a decrease in nighttime air temperature to 23-24 °C.
Reproduction of pythons
Animals ready for breeding are fed for 2-3 weeks, and then the male is placed in the terrarium with the female. To stimulate mating behavior, the pair is sprayed with clean water.
Two to four months after fertilization, the female lays eggs. 8 to 17 eggs. Throughout the incubation period, she lies on the clutch, curled up in rings. To maintain the temperature necessary for the development of the embryos, she periodically shivers with her whole body.
Birth
Note! At a temperature of 27-29 °C, incubation lasts about 60 days. Then small pythons 30-48 cm long hatch from the eggs. The mother, having waited for the babies to be born, loses all interest in them and immediately crawls away to fatten up. Immediately after the first molt, the babies begin to feed actively.
Diseases
Animals brought from their natural habitat have weakened immune systems, do not live long in serpentariums, and have a high mortality rate. Their counterparts born in captivity are less susceptible to various diseases.
Table. Possible diseases of short-tailed pythons.
| Groups of diseases | Possible diseases |
| Ectoparasites | Ticks, ixodid ticks |
| Endoparasites | Amoebiasis, coccidiosis, lungworm infestation, salmonellosis, mycosis, geotrichosis |
| Skin diseases | Molting disorders, dermatitis, burns, helminthiasis |
| Avitaminosis | Hypovitaminosis A, B, D, E, decalcification, ultraviolet irradiation |
| Gastrointestinal diseases | Cloacal prolapse, non-infectious, acute and chronic gastroenteritis |
| Colds | Pneumonia, rhinitis |
In their natural habitat, Python curtus live up to 25-30 years, and in captivity up to 40 years.
Interesting facts about the animal
Buying a short-tailed python is not cheap. On the Internet, an adult specimen can be purchased for 17,000-20,000 rubles.
Red Head
If you want a spectacular but calm and unhurried snake, the short-tailed python is an excellent candidate. Keeping it requires some preparation and knowledge, but many consider it one of the most interesting pythons for a home terrarium.
Remember that the main conditions for success are the right terrarium with reliable heating and humidity, as well as a responsible approach to feeding. These snakes are prone to obesity, so moderation in eating is vital for them. Don't be fooled by their “hungry” appearance and feed them more often than necessary.
In return for your care, you will receive not just a pet, but a truly fascinating creature with a personality and habits that are endlessly interesting to observe. With careful and regular interaction, a short-tailed python can become a surprisingly sociable and trusting companion for many years.
