Posted by:
j3nnay
at Wed Jan 2 00:12:56 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by j3nnay ]
There was an article in Reptiles Magazine about switching sex of bearded dragons - apparently, temperature AND genetic makeup determines sex in those, and some other lizards. The gist of the article was that genes determine sex unless a temperature extreme is reached, and so genetic males would develop into physical females. Their theory was that the higher temperatures made the hormones responsible for male physical characteristics become ineffective.... So maybe with snakes the hormones that result in physical sex aren't affected by temperature extremes.
I personally haven't read or heard about any research done on snake sex determination, so I could be wrong. 
Too many people have clutches that matter too much to them to fiddle with the temperatures (and possibly lose babies if things are just a little too extreme)...at least in ball pythons. Maybe a clutch of cornsnakes? Hehe.
~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)
"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire
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RE: "Creating" the sex of a hatchling? - j3nnay, Wed Jan 2 00:12:56 2008