Reptile & Amphibian Forums

popping or probing?
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0.1 Rubber Boa
1.1 Eastern Hognose Snakes
2.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata
2.1 Leopard (Babcocki) 1.0 borrowed (thanks Bobby)
2 Plecos
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 African Dwarf Frog
1 Khuli Loach
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

...Popping is fine, especially if you don't have probes. If you don't pop out hemipenes THEN you HAVE to probe, to make sure you have the proper sex sold to you. Best to have someone experienced in probing do this for you. CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware)- don't rely on the seller's word, confirm the sexes yourself. Scott J. Michaels DVM

I recieved the pair in the mail from a well known petstore. Since I was a kid I've always checked tail lenghts (even though it seems worthless).Anyway I thought I put the one marked "male" in one cage and the one marked "female" in another. The tail lenghts on these snakes are identical which got me worried since I'd hate to have paid a huge sum, and raise them only to find out that I had 2 males! Truthfully if they were 2 females I would be fine with that. LOL. So I bought some probes and I have used them in the past but it has been awhile but I still work in the medical field where I work on living things and do procedures that require accuracy so this gives me some comfort. Needless to say I am only 98% confident in my skill and was hesitant since these are an expensive investment. So I took the "male" out of the "male" cage and it the probe went back maybe 1-2 scale lenghts. Then I took out the "female" and the probe went back 6-7 scales. This to me is just marginal, which gives me some doubt. Also my "female" which is now kind of probing out to be a male has larger spurs than the "male" that is now probing out to be a female. So now I wonder where the error occured. Did I mix the snakes and never know it? I thought I was sure. Or do I have 2 males or 2 females.
My mind is spinning.

Rudy
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0.1 Rubber Boa
1.1 Eastern Hognose Snakes
2.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata
2.1 Leopard (Babcocki) 1.0 borrowed (thanks Bobby)
2 Plecos
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 African Dwarf Frog
1 Khuli Loach
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

Hi Rudy –

Since I have zero experience with womas, I hope someone will correct me if there’s something very unusual about their anatomy which I don’t know.

Since I don’t know how experienced you are with probing, forgive me if I my advice sounds very elementary. It certainly sounds like the probing of 1-2 subcaudals is a female, and the 6-7 subcaudals is a male. The difference in spur size would seem to confirm this. The fact that the probe didn’t go in quite as far as I would expect in either case indicates to me that you were being very cautious (that’s a GOOD thing!). If you do try to re-probe them, make sure you use LOTS of lube and after you insert the probe, try rotating it as you direct it instead of just pushing it straight in. I would think it might register a scale or two more in the female and at least three or four scales more on the male. But be careful with those young snakes!

-Joan

I do have some experience but I guess I'm just overly cautious since this is such high end stuff
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0.1 Rubber Boa
1.1 Eastern Hognose Snakes
2.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata
2.1 Leopard (Babcocki) 1.0 borrowed (thanks Bobby)
2 Plecos
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 African Dwarf Frog
1 Khuli Loach
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.