Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For the past year one of the snakes I wanted is a nice female red blood as I have a nice male. I go to a montly show and do prefer to buy snakes that I can see in person. Every nice baby blood at the show has been popped/probed as a male. Some of these were really nice-already showing bright red and even seemed tame. I almost bought another male just caouse some of these were so nice but do like to have pairs.

Well, one of the mega reptile dealers just told me that blood pythons are difficult and different than other snakes to sex and you really have to know what your are doing. He said that I probably passed over some nice females at my show due to vendor sexing errors. When a baby blood female is popped some type of gland is exposed and many say that is a hemipenis and a male. the hemipenis is extremely long in even baby bloods and he said that if I saw a male and female popped side by sie this would be most evident. As far as probing, a large probe should be used on females and you have to know what you are doing there.

Is this information true? Thanks-Bill

Yes that is very true.Bloods are one of the more difficult snakes to sex.I too had made a big error thinking my blood was a female,and then two yrs latter he pops his hemipenes.I can sex adults visually now by looking at the thickness of the base of their tail since males should be thicker to house their hemipenes.however this method isn't completly reliable.I have three juvies that prob female so I'm crossing my fingers.Good luck.

Female scent glands look surprising similar to male hemipenes when popping young blood pythons. As he said, when side by side the difference can readily be seen. As they get older, the differences become even more distinct, and the two would probably never be confused when looking at a single blood over a couple of feet in length. The probing comment is also correct as female bloods probe much deeper than females of most other python species. This can be especially tricky with younger snakes. With older bloods the differences are fairly substantial. I have seen adult females probe slightly over 1.5 inches although a large adult male will probe almost 3 inches.

Kelly

this is very true, at a reptile show i watched and learned the difference, when they are popped, u see 2 scent glands appear, and any novice wood thing hemipenis, well when u pop a female and a male side by side, there is a big difference, long dark red protrutions from the male.