What kind of snake? How old is it? Baby? sub-adult? adult? All these factors play into how you would best determine the sex. Also, this information is needed to answer your questions about breeding, egg laying, etc. because it varies from species to species.



There are basically 4 ways to sex snakes:



1. Visually. Look at the taper and length of the tail. A female will normally taper sharply from the cloaca and have a shorter tail than a male. However, you need some sort of reference. You need a male and female to compare until you get used to looking at them. Some are not as easy to determine visually as others. with Boids (Boas and Pythons) there is a small spur (vestigal limb) that is present on both sides of the cloaca which is much larger in males than females. Some snakes have some small degree of sexual dimorphism (males visually appear different from females), but most don't.



2. Probing. In this method, you insert a steel sexing probe into the cloaca and determine the sex by how far the probe goes into the cloacal pockets which are located posterior of the cloaca (towards the tail). In a male the probe will go deeper because it is going into the inverted hemipene. This method is best left to experienced people because improper probing can easily injure a snake.



3. By everting hemipenes ("popping". This is normally done only on juvenile snakes. This is another technique best left to more experienced herpers.



4. By X-ray. A veterinarian that treats reptiles should be able to perform this method for you.

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