Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HI can any one tell me how i can find out if my snake is male or female... any please any one has some infor on their reproduction or breeding ages.

What kind of snake? How old is it? Baby? sub-adult? adult? All these factors play into how you would best determine the sex. Also, this information is needed to answer your questions about breeding, egg laying, etc. because it varies from species to species.

There are basically 4 ways to sex snakes:

1. Visually. Look at the taper and length of the tail. A female will normally taper sharply from the cloaca and have a shorter tail than a male. However, you need some sort of reference. You need a male and female to compare until you get used to looking at them. Some are not as easy to determine visually as others. with Boids (Boas and Pythons) there is a small spur (vestigal limb) that is present on both sides of the cloaca which is much larger in males than females. Some snakes have some small degree of sexual dimorphism (males visually appear different from females), but most don't.

2. Probing. In this method, you insert a steel sexing probe into the cloaca and determine the sex by how far the probe goes into the cloacal pockets which are located posterior of the cloaca (towards the tail). In a male the probe will go deeper because it is going into the inverted hemipene. This method is best left to experienced people because improper probing can easily injure a snake.

3. By everting hemipenes ("popping". This is normally done only on juvenile snakes. This is another technique best left to more experienced herpers.

4. By X-ray. A veterinarian that treats reptiles should be able to perform this method for you.

10x for replying ..!!!

i just bought a snake and i was told that its 4 months old .... ps when is a snake considered to be an adult and able to produce eggs .. . . .i woud like to start breading snakes but dont know anythink about the subject....

can you recommend a good website or something pls!!

OK, if it's really 4 months old, you have a long time to get ready for breeding. Although most colubrids can be physically capable of breeding in as little as 18 months (sexual maturity seems to be related to physical size more than age), it's really better to wait until 2 1/2 to 3 years of age, especially for females. The breeding, egg development and egg laying process is stressful for females. It's better to wait until they are fully adult and in top physical condition.

So, my suggestion would be to learn all you can about the snake you have in the 2 years or so that you have before it can breed. You won't find a better website to learn from than this one. Use the search function. I'm willing to bet that just about any question you can come up with has already been answered. (Check the Archives forum, too.)

Hey there,I would recommend reading(the general care and maintenance of common Kingsnakes) By David Perlowin. That will get ya going. Most Kings are easy to breed but there is alot that goes into preparing them.I wouldn't recommend not trying to breed them until you have read this book and others.
IMHO,
Mike
C&M Reptiles