A while ago when I was first getting into boas, I bought a salmon which was sold to me as a female. At that time I didn't even think to double check the sex (and wouldn't have known how).

A couple years go by and I noticed this 'girl' has a bulge past her vent and some rather prominant pointy spurs. hmm, perhaps my 'she' is a 'he'. Still not sure but it's not looking like a female. (I had a pick showing this but can't seem to find it)

A couple more years go by. I realize I need to know if this snake is a male or female as I'd like to breed 'it'. I am now assuming it's a male based on tail spurs and bulge but then I see 'it' doing what appears to be a pre-ov twist about a week ago. Ok, let's get to the bottom of this once and for all! Break out the probes.

Last night as my guy held the front half, I take the tail in my left hand to probe, this snake is not happy and is trying to twist away with all it's force. Finally get the probe started and it goes in 2-3 subcaudal scales on the left side of the vent. I cannot get the probe in on the right side. The snake is just flexing it's muscles and twisting like crazy. So it would appear 'she' really is a she based on the probe.

MY QUESTION (did you read this far? wow!) - Should I trust the results I got from probing? Is it possible the snake was contracting the muscles so tight that it prevented the probe from going into the hemipenis? I guess I could just put the male in with 'her' and see what happens.

What do you think?
-April

old pic of the snake in question, product of a big dark normal female and a very nice F1 salmon male



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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

[ Hide Replies ]

• She... He.., who knows! - AbsoluteApril, Tue Jan 20 11:45:52 2009
• April, if the probe is too large it can - skyslinger, Tue Jan 20 12:03:01 2009
• It's definitely a...... - rainbowsrus, Tue Jan 20 12:07:19 2009
• RE: She... He.., who knows! - FRoberts, Tue Jan 20 12:07:35 2009
• RE: She... He.., who knows! - rainbowsrus, Tue Jan 20 12:11:23 2009
• thanks for clarifing dave n/p - FRoberts, Tue Jan 20 12:14:28 2009
• Thank you all! - AbsoluteApril, Tue Jan 20 12:39:58 2009
• RE: She... He.., who knows! - Randall_Turner, Tue Jan 20 13:41:49 2009
• RE: She... He.., who knows! - LarM, Tue Jan 20 13:36:42 2009
• Here are better pics - AbsoluteApril, Tue Jan 20 19:00:17 2009
• Just went through that same thing!!! - John_Kielbasa, Tue Jan 20 14:14:02 2009
• April, do you have any way to..... - Kelly_Haller, Wed Jan 21 00:36:16 2009
• RE: April, do you have any way to..... - AbsoluteApril, Wed Jan 21 15:10:20 2009
• RE: April, do you have any way to..... - VFR, Thu Jan 22 08:41:26 2009