Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a female a month or so ago and she just didn't seem very female to me (call it womens intuition). I'd misplaced my probes, so I wasn't able to check. I gave up hope on finding them and ordered a new set and last night probed her. She probed 5 and 5. I've never probed a female at 5 before, they are usually like 2's and 3's with and occasional 4. I know they say if it's under 8 it's a female, but is 5 pretty safe to say she is a female?
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

I have a proven female that probes 6 deep. How old is the snake (what size that is)? If I get one that's around 1000 grams or larger, I first check for sperm plugs before probing. Most of the time, males will clearly let you know they are males without probing.
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Jay A. Martin

She is 1480 grams - not sure on her age, maybe 3 years but thats totally a guess, I did check for plugs once while my probes were MIA and once before I probed her last night - came up empty both times.

>>I have a proven female that probes 6 deep. How old is the snake (what size that is)? If I get one that's around 1000 grams or larger, I first check for sperm plugs before probing. Most of the time, males will clearly let you know they are males without probing.
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>>Jay A. Martin
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

As long as you did everything right, I'd say you have a girl.
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Jay A. Martin

Sometimes inexperienced probers can push past the natural stopping point and actually slightly puncture the female homologs of hemipenes. Then the females will probe deeper than expected the next time someone probes them. I usually go by the probe depth as well as visual inspection for vascularization (lots of blood vessels and a general red color) of the base of the hemipenes. Often times you cannot "pop" adults, but you can see the base of the hemipenes or homologs. In females they will be the same pink color as everything else, in males they are typically much darker red as males require the extra blood vessels to fill the hemipenes with blood during copulation. There are always exceptions to this, but it is another good indication of a male over a female. Check this before probing, since you might cause a female to look darker red by the actual probing process.

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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer