Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thanks so much for everyone's wonderful advice! I got the little guy to eat two fuzzy mice this feeding, and my manager got him to eat two pinkies about five days ago. If we can keep up this schedule of every 3-5 days getting him to eat something he should be okay. Right? Also, since it was a common question, the day after eating two pinkies (I didn't work between asking my questions and that feeding) he weighed 57 g. I'm going to weigh him tomorrow and see how he's doing. I'll also weigh the good robust eaters to give you a sense of where he should be, as I am quite unclear as to their age. They all came in the same shipment, so they're approx the same age, and the really good eater has gotten quite big!

Oh, I somewhat off-topic question. How can you tell a male from a female? I get this question all the time, but since my store caters mostly to casual hobbyists and not breeders, and since they're all babies I never felt a pressing need to learn. But I do need to know eventually, and this is a good place to find out.

Thanks so much!

snakes as u already have noticed, are not sexually dimorphic although females tend to grow larger than males, and males tend to have large spurs than females; they also might have a longer tail than females. however, we are talking about babies here and about determining the sex "for sure".

there are two methods of sexing a snake, but (and this is important) BOTH SHOULD BE DONE BY AN EXPERIENCED PERSON...

1. PROBING: this i don't think would work with babies (or should not be done with babies), but just in case this is what it is: male snakes have two hemipenes (male copulatory organs)that in their non-aroused state extend from the cloaca down towards the snake's tail. probing involves inserting a steel "probe" (they come in different sizes) inside the cloaca towards the tail into one of the hemipenes (if present) until it encounters a light resistance. then you stop and count the caudal scales to the point of resistance. males average 5 scales while females average 2-3 scales.

2. POPPING: this is the method you should be using with babies...it involves manually making the hemipenes to pop out of the cloaca. you have to use your two hands and in the case of larger snakes might need a second person to help holding the snake. place a thumb on the anal plate (the big scale covering the vent) and pull it up and back. use the other thumb to press over the tail pushing upwards. that should make the hemipenes to pop out.

as snakes grow, males get more control over their muscles and popping might become more difficult. as you can see, it is easier understood when you see it done and when somebody shows to you how to do it correctly.

hope this helps. (the descriptions on probing and popping were based on the descriptions from the book "The Complete Ball Python" by Kevin McCurley).

I've watched the popping process with corn snakes before. I'm definately not comfortable in performing either procedure, so if someone wishes to breed their snakes they can either sex themselves or go to the vet. Thanks for the info!