The best thing to use for a probe is a probe. Probe sets with ball tips can be had for less that $30.00. Probes that were made for that purpose are manufactured so that there are no burrs or rough or sharp edges, and they are manufactured to the correct sizes. That's not to say you can't make your own, my first probe set was given to me by Thomas Yarbrough about 25 years ago and were made from old surgical stainless dental tools. They didn't have ball-tips, but were finely machined so as not to cause injury to the snake.



Technique is al-important in probing snakes. Judjing from your screen name, I would think that you have an interest in Crotalid snakes. Some of them, particularly some Rattlesnakes, require a slightly different probing technique because of their physiology. I would suggest getting someone that is proficient with probing to show the the "ropes". It's relatively easy, especially with taper-end probes to inadvertently turn a female into a male....

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