LOL!!!
Common Mickey, A good weekend at Bear Lake UTAH/IDAHO, and I get a phone call message on my voicemail, and I almost FREAKED. Could I have sent him my box of Females instead of MALES??? NAHHHHH....
In selling over 3000 Boas, I have to say that I have had 2 MISSEXED snakes come back at me. I am VERY confident in my ability to sex as I have sexed THOUSANDS of baby boas. A few do slip through the cracks, and the 2 times they did, it was two FEMALES that ended up male. This year, it happened, and I had a Customer EXTREEMLY happy. Here is the story.
3 years ago, I sent a Lady, Friend, and fellow breeder 3 Het females. She wanted to get into the Albinos, and this was the EXACT time of my Fire accident when My daughter was born. I put 3 hets in one bag, and thought it was done. This year I got a call saying, GUESS WHAT?. I walked into the room today NOT EVEN knowing a female was gravid, and I am looking at a BUNCH of albino babies, and ONE of them is one of those CALICO albinos that is just INSANE. She wasn't upset. Actually it was FUNNY. She kept them all in a group. Well, ONE was a boy, and bred one of the girls, and she produced Albinos even when she didn't try. She didn't even have HER HET male yet. She thought she was a way off. SO, needless to say, it wasn't a BAD phone call saying I SCREWED UP.
The other time it happened, I sold a 1.2 DH snow group as a 2.1. 2 years later, he came back and told me. Asked me what I can do. NOW, I have changed my policy since this occasion. He was able to still sell the pair for more then he bought the trio for. He sent me back one of the males I was going to take back and send him an ADULT DH. However, when I got the male, it was in TERRIBLE shape, and I was in NO way going to accept that. I ended up giving a credit of 1500 and sent him the male back. (He was trying to SELL the trio, and the guy got them trio and realized it was a reverse trio). He sent him back the BAD male. I have NO idea why he was even trying to sell a snake like that. It wasn't well kept or just went through a ROUGH breeding season is what he had said. I won't be doing that again. LOL. I now leave a caresheet with a message letting them know they have 1 week to identify the animal and after that a claim can't be made. THIS PROTECTS ME AND THE BUYER BOTH. That way, they don't raise up a snake they didn't want, and later fall in love with a pair, they may have to give up because of a sex mishap. Also, it helps me so I don't have this come back to haunt me. I TELL Them, I am 99.9 percent sure, but STILL they should get a VET or Experienced snake sexer (LOL) to independently varify. I think that is FAIR.
Anyway, Back to you Mickey. When I was waterskiing on PERFECT glass having an awesome day, your message put some BITTERNESS in my day. HOWEVER, I realized the process I went through before I shipped your snakes, and then I knew I was safe. HEre is what I do NOW.
I FIRST look for Spurs. If there are Spurs, it is almost 85 percent MALE. If they are TINY spurs, it could be a female, but a large spur is ALMOST always a male. I have only had 2 adult females with VERY large spurs. Most female spurs are short and stubby.
SECOND, I then POP. IF I don't see a hemipene, I look again for SPURS. IF there are NO spurs, and I don't see a hemipene, I am SURE it is female.
HOWEVER, I do the TAIL test too for a 3rd confirmation. I rub with my thumb and index finger, and feel for the hemipenes. I have found this works VERY WELL, and is almost the best way. However, I have also noticed that SOME central americans can be tricky this way, and YES Mickey, those were TRICKY to feel. However, I DID see Hemipenes pop right out.
After I do this, before I ship a snake, I DO IT AGAIN. Then I give it to my manager and emoployee Gaylynn who has ALSO sexed THOUSANDS of snakes, and CONFIRM it with her. She was out of town when I shipped you those snakes Mickey, but my other employee Ronnie, is getting very good, and I had him DOUBLE check.
I'm SOO sure those are males, I'll say right here that you can KEEP them if they are girls. MY FOUL UP. LOL, and you're right. That would be a HUGE fowl up. If they are, I'll just be MORE careful with those DH snow blizzards and other Centrals.
Lastly. You're the Man Mickey, but lets cut the crap and stop reffering to me as a "BIG breeder". I NOT one of those guys yet. You made me blush. lol I do consider me an IN the middle breeder. I do have a HUGE variety of mutations and some VERY rare boas, but I'm NOT EVEN close to Ronnie, Kahl, Ihle, etc.... Maybe some day. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
Take Care, Jeremy Stone
