I'm a high school Biology teacher and brought my ~500 gram 07 male albino ball python to class to show it off, and to introduce genetics to my students. While one of my students was holding it, I gently lifted the ball's tail to show the spurs to the group of students that had gathered around. Its hemipenes popped out and left a "gift" on the student's hand. I explained sperm plugs to the students and they all laughed at how Ricky made the snake horny, and he got "skeeted" on.

This brings me to my questions... Are male ball pythons prone to drop sperm plugs when being handled? I also have an unsexed normal ball python that I have had for 7 years in my classroom. It's extremely calm, eats on demand, and makes a wonderful classroom pet. I've never had it sexed but it gets handled on a constant basis and has never displayed hemipenes or sperm plugs. Is it safe to assume that it's a female?

I've also noticed strange behavior from the normal recently. Just the other day it had firmly pressed itself against my arm, and started slowly undulating. The only description I could come up with was that it was trying to have sex with my arm. Any one else notice these odd behaviors from your ball pythons?

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• Funny story, and some questions... - 4runner, Sat Aug 30 16:56:23 2008
• RE: Funny story, and some questions... - BuzzardBall, Sun Aug 31 08:28:26 2008
• RE: Funny story, and some questions... - exoticball, Sun Aug 31 15:22:07 2008
• RE: Funny story, and some questions... - toshamc, Sun Aug 31 23:40:26 2008
• DUDE, TOTALLY O/T BUT... - illbeyoursoldier, Wed Sep 3 20:12:32 2008