Someone just brought in a (supposedly) 5 year old (supposedly) female ball (although it looked much older and more ragged than 5 years) into my store for me to look at. I attempted to confirm gender for him, and was going to probe her, but noticed a swelling that appeared like hemipenal bulges in lizards. the scent gland/hemipene opening was visibly distended with what appeared to be old sperm plugs, so instead of probing I started popping it to confirm gender that way (yes I am very experienced both at popping and probing, and understand that some argue against popping mature balls). Instead of a sperm plug or hemipene (or even scent gland), I got a mass from each side (where the hemipenes would be) that came all the way out. The masses themselves are about 1.5 inches long and look almost like a penis, with a larger "head", but tapers to a bifurcated tip on the other side. They are hard to the touch and smell fairly fowl. I ripped one in half to judge consistency, and it was difficult to do so, but not fibrous.

I assumed a sperm plug went old and began packing up and getting "cheesy", or (I've seen similar things in boas before) that if she is a female her scent glands got plugged and infected. However, I could in no way accurately sex the snake after the removal of these masses as the post-cloacal area was so distended and raw. Even if she was a female she would probe male due to the stretching involved and I didn't want to pop her with such an irritated area. Either way, I instructed the owner to have the snake looked at, but decided that this was something that I needed to know the cause of as I breed several balls myself.

Here are some pics of one of the masses.

Nate.

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