Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I get a new BRB from a friend today, he tell me that this snake is 4 years old. It's about a little longer than 5 feet. Acording to the length and the probing result I think it's a male, but I note that it has very small spurs. I use 1/16" probe to sex it, was that a proper size for adult BRB? or should I go to 3/32"? Just want to avoid false male.
Thanks.

hahaman,
...The spurs on BRBs are not as large as the spurs on some other boid species. If you probed it deep enough to identify it as being a male then attempting to sex it with a larger probe is not neccessary. It is when we have trouble probing them deeply enough so that we think they are females that sometimes switching to a smaller probe will let the probe go in deeper to actually identify it as a male. When I probe one deeply enough to identify it as a male I think my accuracy approaches 100%. When I probe one and identify it as a female I think my accuracy is not quite as good.
...If you have several adult BRBs to compare your snake to you may be able to sex it without probing. The spurs on males will sometimes not be real big but they will be more curved and have more of a cats claw appearance than the females spurs. Mature males often have dark base color on the spur and the tip half of the spur will be a much lighter color. You can sometimes see the bulge in the tail caused the males hemipenes. If you feel along the tail with the base of the tail between your forefinger and thumb you can oftentimes feel the hemipenes.
Jeff

>>Hello,
>>I get a new BRB from a friend today, he tell me that this snake is 4 years old. It's about a little longer than 5 feet. Acording to the length and the probing result I think it's a male, but I note that it has very small spurs. I use 1/16" probe to sex it, was that a proper size for adult BRB? or should I go to 3/32"? Just want to avoid false male.
>>Thanks.

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