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Copperhead Experts? Visually Determining The Sex Of Copperheads?

Agkistro May 18, 2004 07:56 PM

Anyone who knows any valuable information, i would gladly appreciate your advice..

I have 6 wild caught northern copperheads, 3 are about 30 - 35 inches long, and 3 are a bit smaller. Some have larger heads, are thinnner.. and have darker eyes.. but they are all from the same locality..

im wandering if there is a way to detemine which are male, which are female, etc

without probbing..

also, any suggestions on what i should be feeding them? they dont seem to be interested in live fullsized mice..

thanks
aGKISTRO

Replies (1)

MsTT May 18, 2004 09:36 PM

You really ought to pick them up for a basic health exam and to administer antiparasitical drugs anyway, so probing them should not be difficult if they are head tubed.

Boys have long tails and you can sometimes see the hemipenal bulge caudal to the cloaca. Girls have shorter tails. But some animals are stubbornly intermediate and need a gentle probing.

Try paying attention to their housing, their temperature and their stress level. You want individual (not communal) cages with a temperature gradient and a hide box. WC coppers probably have a nice sampling of internal parasites, and if you get a fecal sample from one you can have it looked at to confirm which bugs might be crawling around in there.

Try small prekilled prey items about the size of their heads - fuzzies or pinkies. If they take the prekilled, inject the next dose of antiparasitical meds into the food to reduce the stress of medication.

Articles on how to weigh and restrain and medicate venomous snakes can be found at the link below.
Veterinary care of venomous snakes

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