Reptile & Amphibian Forums

That is my question. My striped king is 22" long, hatch date unknown. Does anybody know if the snake is to old to be popped?
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2.3.0 crested geckos (Speckles, Sandy, Squirt, Sunshine, Soldier)
0.1.0 Striped Cal. Kingsnake (Snuggles)
1.1.0 Green Iguanas (Sisco,Speedy)
1.1.0 Emperor Scorpions (Strongbad,Serenity)
0.1.0 Rose Hair Tanrantula (Sweets)
RIP Star and Sal

I only pop when they're hatchlings. Once they have some size to them I probe. Tom Stevens

I agree with Tom. The only time you can "pop" snakes to determine gender is when they are hatchlings. Once they get some size to them it is damaging to the snake to force Hemipenes or the lack there of out of the cloaca. I would definitely probe a snake if it is over a few months old.
John Lassiter

popping is ONLY successfully done to MALES. You cannot pop a female. Period. If you pop a young snake and you don't get a male, you must probe it to be certain. I personally hate popping hatchlings. I've been burned on three snakes, from "Big" breeders over the last 3 years. Raising three females for three years to find out they're males really sucks......they were popped by the breeders.

Brandon Osborne

You are very right Brandon. Males are obvious when popping, but females that were popped some times are just males restraining hemipenes. I re-pop all my so called females then probe them to make sure.
Thanks for adding that bit of info.
John Lassiter

I've been burned by BIG TIME breeders numerous times at reptile shows as they pop the snakes instead of probe (mostly in the late 1990's). Only to find out later that I got a pair of males. Now I take my probes to shows when I buy. I also do shows and I always have my probes with me. Besides probing them when they hatch, I also probe before I ship, and I also probe before I sell at shows. So most of my snakes get probed a couple of times before being sold.

Anyone can make an honest mistake, but to rely on "popping" for hatchlings is not accurate.

Kerby...

thanks..I never knew that you can't pop a female.. now I'll have to probe my eastern milks. I hope I don't have two males. learn something new every day
Wayne

When I hear about people getting burned by Big Breeders about the sex of a snake I laugh because many of these breeders have sex guarantee's. If you dont check the snake yourself right when you get it then its on you if it turns out to be something else down the road. I know that sucks but Damn Brandon I cant believe you would raise a snake to 3 years old thinking it was a female ??? This musta been a long time ago when you were a newbie lol. I realize some people arent good at sexing snakes but if you look you can always find someone even a vet will do it. With males its not an issue with females thats where you run into trouble. It also doesnt hurt to ask the breeder their methods of sexing if they only pop then ask that they probe the supposed female for peace of mind. I ran into a issue this past season where I recieved a pair of snakes and I popped them and they came out a pair. So I probed the female for confirmation and she probed a female. Now this snake hadnt eaten yet and was a bit slim so I soaked it for a bit then re-probed the next day and BAm it was a male. To make sure I popped it and there it was the Hemipenes coming out of my supposed female lol! My guess is the canal where the hemi's are stored kinda was dried up a little or something resulting in a shallow probing. So make sure you re-check them after you get them in a few days.

Keith
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I KNOW THIS IS A KINGSNAKE FORUM BUT...

Here' My Story bit long, but the pix will make up for that (i Hope):

I got a super deal on a pair of hypo Hondurans... I honestly think the individual had no clue what they were worth... when I got um he told me they were picky eaters (indeed they were, but only with f/t). I tried live pinks after failing on numerous occasions with the f/t. (but n e way that wasn't the point) Now here's how this ties in with every thing....

I decided to get my pair probed (not sure y)... turns out what was sold to me as a male was actually a female ( instant excitement) and what was sold to me as a female was actually a male (I was hoping to have 2 females!!!!)

My male (former female)


My female (former male)

Oh, I almost 4got the "super deal" I got the pair of hypos for $200 SHIPPED (TOO GOOD 2 BE TRUE? well it happened)

Psycho!!!
"normal" tangerine female "Dream": big meany- she turned into a nightmare

Story behind her: she escaped in my apartment building a few months after I got her, when I got her back she was 4X-5X bigger than when she escaped.
Before she got out.

the day after I got her back

The Trio before and after: she's the darker of the 3 in both pix.


BTW:They are all `03

THANX FOR LOOKING

~ZF