Hello forum!
I've been having some trouble popping.. and am looking for
some tips. I've read and read and think I understand the
technique, but so far I haven't had any luck. All my
babies must be females! 
I don't know anyone locally who can show me, I'm hoping to
ask at the local reptile store but every time I've gone in
there to get feeders I sense an attitude and am not holding
out much hope that they'd be willing to show me.
I was told there's a trick using a pencil but wasn't told
how..
does anyone have any tricks or tips? Maybe I'm not rolling
my thumb correctly or not pushing hard enough... and I'm
wary of using probes. I have a general idea of the sex of
some of them by visual clues but at this point I'm not
willing to put my faith in it and some of the babies
tails/spurs are on the fence so to speak!
Thanks for any advice and happy valentines all!
-April
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Tips for popping? Any help is great!
Replies (2)
when I was trying to manually pop the babies a small drop
of fluid would come out of the vent (clear fluid) is
this normal? Or was I doing something wrong? Or was
it just about to pop and I should apply more presure?
help help help
pretty please?
Hi April,
Your babies look great, but I wouldn't pop them because you can easily do damage to them. Here's a little trick that I have had a 100% success rate with so far. This is a rolling technique using your thumb and index finger. Place your thumb on the underside of the snake up near the vent. Place the index finger on the dorsal side directly above your thumb. Then with firm pressure, slide both fingers down towards the tip of the tail. If it is a male, you should feel two little BB type balls slip out from under your thumb. If you feel nothing, it is a female. Try this with a couple of snakes with known sexes to get a feeling for it and to get an idea of how much pressure to use.
With this method, you are just feeling for the hemipenises through the skin, rather than popping them out and there is much less risk of injuring the snake.
Hope this helps, and please post again if you don't understand my rambling.
Matt Crabe
P.S. Here's a pic of my favorite albino baby.
