Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
I'm trying to figure out how to go about learning how to probe/pop snakes to determine sex. I need to learn, because I'm gonna be doing some breeding in the future, but i'm afraid of hurting my animals in learning the technique. I've seen it done a few times, but never done it myself. Can anyone give any advice?
Thanks
-John

I would try to go to a local show and see if there is breeder there who would be willing to go through it with you and show you again. Also, there is a video that explains the technique. It's called: Dr. Mark Seward's - Determining Sex in Snakes. I haven't received it yet (just ordered it), so I cannot give you a good review on whether it is helpful or not. Here is the website I ordered it from though: www.ballpython.com. It is under "Available" - "Merchandise".

What are you planning on breeding?

>>Hello all,
>>I'm trying to figure out how to go about learning how to probe/pop snakes to determine sex. I need to learn, because I'm gonna be doing some breeding in the future, but i'm afraid of hurting my animals in learning the technique. I've seen it done a few times, but never done it myself. Can anyone give any advice?
>>Thanks
>>-John
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Amber

1.2.0 Ball Pythons - Tucker, Trinity, & Tyler
1.0.0 Snow Corn - Aiden
0.1.0 Pueblan Milk Snake - Marishka

2.1.0 Dachshunds - Dakota, Montana, & Cheyenne
5.0.0 Ferrets - Tigger, Bailey, Cody, Keyta, & Bandit

lol.. n/p
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Chondros and colubrids... my 2 favorite types of snakes!

"Life is hard. Life is harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne

>>lol.. n/p
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>>Chondros and colubrids... my 2 favorite types of snakes!
>>
>>"Life is hard. Life is harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne

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Amber

1.2.0 Ball Pythons - Tucker, Trinity, & Tyler
1.0.0 Snow Corn - Aiden
0.1.0 Pueblan Milk Snake - Marishka

2.1.0 Dachshunds - Dakota, Montana, & Cheyenne
5.0.0 Ferrets - Tigger, Bailey, Cody, Keyta, & Bandit

Thanks for the vid lianna. I'll take a look at that. For what I'm planning on breeding, I'm waiting on my Jungle Carpet Pythons to get old enough. Also have some corns, and a pair of albino luesitic texas ratsnakes I'm gonna see about. I love the rats. Great snakes. In the mean time I have a pair of adult hondor milks that I'm gonna aim for next season. Actually just got them, and a few days after I got them, found a suprise under the girls hide. 2 eggs! Lol. She was gravid! So I got them in a incubator at moment. I'm not positive if there viable or not though, as they are HUGE! I think way bigger then the norm. But we'll see.
Thanks
-John

I'm waiting on my Jungle Carpet Pythons to get old enough. Also have some corns, and a pair of albino luesitic texas ratsnakes I'm gonna see about.

John,

I think you will find that you can sex the ratsnakes by comparison rather than having to pop/probe. With practice, you can even do hatchlings. Study the shapes of the tails of your adults (or whatever they are). The male's tail is longer and thicker. The female's tail is thick for a short distance (sometimes even thicker than the male's) but tapers more quickly.

You can also just measure the tails of the hatchlings, assuming they are about the same size. You will find that the tail lengths fall into two discrete groups - a long tailed group (males) and short-tailed group (females). I have used this to sex baby sandboas which don't pop or probe well.

In some boids, you might be able to see a difference in the size/appearance of the spurs, but I'm not sure about carpets.

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Chris Harrison

Thanks chris,
Ya, i'm aware of the visual sexing methods. I'm just not so sure if i would trust just that to sell a neonate as a male or female. I wouldn't want to misrepresent what I am offering. It's a little ways down the road though, so got time Well, I have to hondorans who should be hatching out in 20-30 days if all goes well. They haven't rotten yet, so I'm taking that as a good sign for them being viable.
-John