Hi! We're Ryan & Kara Norris, owners of The Blood Cell.
You could call our obsession with blood & short-tailed pythons a fairy tale come to life - we met through our mutual interest in these snakes, and have now enjoyed several years of wedded bliss while working with some of our very favorite animals. We've been avid animal enthusiasts all our lives, and over the past decade have dedicated our collective snake focus to the three species featured throughout this site. When we're not working with the pythons, you can find us in the AKC conformation ring with our beloved Great Danes, or outside enjoying nature with our family. We enjoy spending time fishing for fun and competition, gardening, camping, and reveling in God's creation where and whenever possible.
We love working with blood & short-tailed pythons immensely, and we're excited to see the expanding interest in these snakes as more and more herpetoculturists experience first hand just how great they are to work with and keep. To that end, we are always happy to talk shop, share our experiences and help other keepers enjoy these snakes as much as we do. Please feel free to get in touch with us if we can be of any assistance, or if you just want to talk pythons! Read on for more info on our herpkeeping experience...
Ryan Norris...
I've kept all sorts of critters for many years. My background is in aquatics, and evolved to reptiles as my interests changed. I kept various monitor species for many years, and eventually was bitten by the snake bug. Blood pythons became a primary interest nearly 20 years ago, and they have been a huge focus of my herp collection since that time. I've also branched out to work with other reptiles over the past few years, including scrub pythons and more recently, prehensile-tailed skinks, a fascinating and quirky species. It's still an exciting time to be working with blood pythons, and here at The Blood Cell we hope to represent the very best in captive breeding efforts with these snakes.
Kara. L. Norris...
I'm an animal addict, plain & simple, and have been since early childhood. While my herp experience as a kid mostly consisted of collecting the local frogs, toads and lizards around my Texas home, I was bound to a strict "no snakes in the house" rule by my parents. After leaving for college, I quickly amassed a collection of boas, native colubrids, Australian pythons and various lizards. After several years of locality red-tailed boa snobbery, I saw the light with bloods in the fall of 2000, at which point they quickly became my primary focus and have been ever since.
All reptiles and amphibians are fascinating to me, and I spent several years working for NERD, gaining a wealth of husbandry experience with an extensive range of herp species during that time, but keeping bloods and short-tails as the focus of my efforts. These days I really enjoy my snakes as a hobby and am fortunate to spend time not only working with these beautiful creatures, but helping other herpers to have a great experience with them as well. Who says nice girls can't like snakes, too?