Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm ready to sell a few of my babies, and so far no one has cared about the sex of the babies. This being the case, I'd like to hold back mostly females.

I know probing is the most positive way to sex snakes, but how old, or how young can you "pop" them? I'd much rather try popping than probes. I have a set, but they look dangerous, and my hands shake badly due to a health condition, so I think probing would be extremely unsafe to say the least.

For "popping" I read the description in "Love's" book, and it looks and sounds easy enough, but how much pressure does it take and how traumatic is it on a three week old hatchling? Is it easy enough to do as they are climbing around on you, or do they need to be held "tightly" as not to squirm?

Is tail sexing reliable? Do males "always" have longer tails? Or is it more in the way they taper? With tail sexing on the board here I've been able to guess correctly about 75% of the time with the pics people post in here. Can I ass-u-me that I'm more acurate with a real live specimen than a photo on the web?
-----
Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

: Is tail sexing reliable?

Yes, but it is least reliable for hatchlings because they are small and not fully developed. Tail sexing hatchlings is possible, but use a magnifier if you try it.

: Do males "always" have longer tails?

No, some long-tailed females have longer tails than the shortest-tailed males.

: Or is it more in the way they taper?

The way they taper. Males have the two hemipenes housed in the base of the tail, and females do not. That's why males generally have longer and thicker tails than females.

: With tail sexing on the board here I've been able to guess correctly about 75% of the time with the pics people post in here. Can I ass-u-me that I'm more acurate with a real live specimen than a photo on the web?

Yes.

Paul Hollander

Thanks Paul

Since I have 12 of relatively the same size, I think I should be able to compare and at least guestimate about 85% acuracy.

And if I'm wrong, no big deal to, since so far no-one has cared which sex they get besides me. And if I'm wrong on my own snakes, well, I guess next year I'll learn to probe LOL

Or maybe next clutch, who knows, she's about to shed again, and looks sort of square bodied, I'm thinking last time she fooled me she may have been ovulating, she bred twice after that and now seems square. Man I hope she can wait till I move to lay! (if she's going to that is )
-----
Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

after breeding my 1st corns many years ago...i tried POPPING and found it is easier and it works best (for me anyway). I too had friends that did not care about what sex corn they had gotten from me, EXCEPT for when they wanted to give it an appropriate name. POPPING does not require you to apply that much pressure and its easy if you have a lot of babies...once I sexed them i seperated them so i didn't have to pop them again. I personally have NEVER heard of any of corns having any problems from popping (ie kinked tails) but i am sure anything is possible. After you try it and it works...it is smooth sailing from there on out! GOOD LUCK!