Hi April,

I bought a probe set at EBV and they were more than happy to show me some techniques there. The hardest part for me was figuring out the proper size. If the probe is too small, you will get up to 6-8 scales on females which may confuse you. Plus you want to make sure you don't puncture anything.

For babies I prefer to palpate them to check for the hemipenes. The way you do it is you start at the tail side of the cloaca with your thumb on the underside of the tail and your index finger on the other side. You then put slight pressure and then slide your thumb towards the end of the tail. About halfway down the tail you'll feel two "pops". These are the hemipenes. For females you will feel nothing.

What your doing essentially by palpating is pushing the blood toward the end of the hemipenes(if there are any). The "pops" are the ends of the hemipene slipping under your thumb.

Once you palpate a male, you will know what I'm talking about. I find this method less invasive than probing or popping. This method doesn't work with bigger boas.

Hope this helps.
eddie

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