Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im trying to sex my burm without a probe, if i were to pop out a hemipenis, would it hurt? Could he get it back in without my help? Also, any one experienced with this popping, could you please tell me how exactly to do it?

That's a tough one too. The snake will easily get them back in, as they can push them out at will too. The two problems are that if you don't see any, you won't know if it's a girl or if you did it wrong, and if you push too too hard, you might get a cloacal prolapse. I did it on my blood python by kind of a gentle pressure on both sides of the vent.
Wish I could help you out more, I'm having trouble sexing a few of my snakes myself. This is a subject that everyone seems to disagree on!
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Once again "popping" a snake is also a stressfull event for any snake. As I mentioned below read the article about sexing a snake on VPI's website. It goes into great detail about how to do it. Also be aware that only young snakes can be manually "popped." Once the snake has grown they have gained enough muscular control that they will not allow themselves to be "popped." Your snake at 2.5 feet should still be able to be popped but it also should be done only under the supervision of someone that knows how. If to much pressure is applied you can rupture the blood vessal that is inside each hemipenes. Also females have an oversized scent gland in their cloaca that can sometimes be mis-identified as a hemipenes. If to much pressure is applied then you can cause damage to the snakes spine and if done improperly you will identify it as a female rather than a male. Try to find someone that can help you. Why don't you post where you live and maybe someone on this forum lives near you and will be willing to assist you. Todd