Bloods are great snakes...you can get that "big snake feel" in a manageable size.
The simple answer to your question is that, no, they really aren't that evil. Much of the blood's reputation comes from imported adults...and I'll give you a hint, freshly WC & imported snakes don't like us. They aren't much for climbing (they aren't built for it); so being up in the air, suspended by two relatively small contact points (our hands) is a new experience for them. Couple that with the more important factor that, in the wild, when something tries to pick them up, it is going to kill and eat them, and you get some pretty intense reactions. Biting, flailing, spraying ensured that it wasn't a fun experience for anybody involved...BUT that was some time ago.
Now, we know a lot more about blood pythons. Captive breeding is fairly common, and each year a bunch of captive hatched babies come into the market, too. Either of these can grow into wonderful captives that can easily be handled. Sure, the babies will strike...sometimes, it may even be at you. An occasional bite is nothing to be surprised about, but it certainly isn't a requirement. A couple of years ago, I purchased a group of 6 newly imported young adult Bangka bloods. Any of them would have bitten at the slightest provocation. I worked them with hooks for the first few months, then started getting them used to my touch, eventually progressing to doing everything by hand. I never subjected them to prolonged handling, but I could manipulate them and do cage maintenance without worrying about being bitten. I also puchased a few CH bloods right after they came in...I still have two of them, in fact. In the beginning, they would lash out at any movement - interestingly, they never bit or struck when I was picking them up...but once on my hand, would strike out randomly (never AT me, and I was never bitten by any of that group either). There is definitely a bit of a learning curve with bloods, in that they are unlike many other snakes in the pet trade. They respond differently to stimuli, so one has to learn to deal with them vs expecting them to get used to what we do. A person familiar with bloods can have a totally different experience with a given snake than somebody that isn't - just ask a couple of the people that I sold CH babies to, lol. Or any number of people on this forum (right Steve?
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I'm sure that if you ask around, you will get mixed answers - most of the people that have never worked with bloods will say how mean and aggressive they are...and most of the people that like & keep them will tell you a much different story (some will offer pictures to prove their point). This topic has been addressed at some length in a couple of threads here - do a search, and check things out.
Just keep in mind, try going for a captive bred specimen, most of that reputation they obtained came from numerous specimens imported from Indonesia. Some snakes arrive friendly, most don't and need dedication to soften up. Captive bred animals in this species is a real positive.
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