They became unpopular because of animals coming from Fogg Dam biting the **** out of people and generally destroying the reputation of an otherwise fairly placid animal.
I've had several waters in my past, and every single one of them would bite the living daylights out of me if they had half a chance.
I think I was just playing the victim of losers trying to offload their aggressive animals on me. But eh, that was long ago.
I've had the pleasure of handling some subadults that a friend of mine bought from John Montgomery back in 2002 and I can just say his water pythons were absolutely FANTASTIC! Never ONCE did they even LOOK like biting. EXTREMELY docile specimens.
It depends on WHO you get the water pythons from. But, like any python, they can be snappy especially as youngsters, but some of it comes down to luck. If you want a placid water, make sure you see the parents and how they behave when they're handled. It's often a case of like father like son, etc. Same for any python really.
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And I must say to Brad, I'm glad those waters have been bred and that you are planning on crossing them back. This could turn out to be a potential albino project or, could turn out to be just a random one-off thing. I hope it turns out really well for you. And, if I should ever get into waters at some point in the future I will definitely consider getting at least one from your line.