Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there a way to determine the sex of a gopher snake without probing it? Years ago, my ball python had a respiratory infection and I took her to the vet, the vet just turned her over a popped out that area to see that it was a female. I never tried it myself and I don't know what to look for. Is that easy to do? Or is there another way to tell the gender? Maybe in differences in colors or scale count on the tail ?

You can pop it, but it is better to witness an experience person do it and go from there. Cathy Love has a demonstration on her Cornutopia web site. The only physical way to tell is look at the tail size and structure. A females tale will narrow evenly right from the vent. Males will look bigger and their tales usually look longer. Males have 2 hemi's that are stored in the scales right behind the vent towards the scale. That's my best explantion....it's kind of difficult to explain on here.

Sam

I meant pockets instead of scales. You know what I mean...

Thanks. I'll have to take a close look at their tails. I'm really hoping that I have a male and a female.

Sam's right about the tail. Maybe you could post pics. I have all females right now. How big is the snake in question. From what I understand, once they reach a certain age & size they're too big to pop. My smaller ones I popped.

reako45