Hi all,
I have a question regarding the gender of ball pythons which probe to in-between depths. I have a young albino that I hatched in October of 2001. At hatching, this animal did not pop hemipenes but probed to a depth of 5-6 sub-caudals. 3 siblings to this snake probed to 3-4 scales, and were confirmed to be females. Recently, during a handling session, I realized that the spurs on the snake which originally probed to 5-6 scales were very long and deeply hooked, so I re-probed that ball and "it" probed to 6-7 sub-caudals. I put the animal in question with a known large female and while the snakes were not observed breeding, they sat very comfortably together under the shelter all evening. Still inconclusive.
While I know I can find out for sure this coming season with breeding interactions, I am curious, have any of you experienced a male that has only probed to 6-7 sub-caudals? Or conversly, have any of you kept females that probed slightly deep, 6-7 scales, but who were not punched through or otherwise perforated by forceful probing? Very interested to hear your replies. Thanks for your time.
Will Still
