Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a ball python about 20 inches long. I am not sure if its a male or female. How can I tell ?

there are a few ways to guess the sex on a BP,

one look at the size of the animals tail. at most a adult femle will have around a 1.5 inch tail. were as the mails tail will be bigger than this, colser to 2.5 - 3 inchs (or so ive been told anyway)
also the males have large spurrs underneith around the chloacha (but you really need one of each there as a case of comparrision)

the best way to tell is to take the animal to a proper and renowned herp vet and ank them to "probe" the animal for you, that is one way to tell for certan, were as the other 2 ways are just an appoximation

You have a few options....
1. Have it probed, it's not hard to do yourself once you see it done and would be handy knowledge in the future.

2. Pop it- Care must be taken with this as to not hurt the snake and I don't consider popping accurate unless it's a male and I see the hemipenes. I've seen several females that were "popped" female but when probed they turned out to be male.

3. The tail and spur trick really only works with adults and still isn't extremely accurate.

4. Magic 8 ball- Hey, I went 2 for 2 yesterday with the 8 ball before probing the babies.

5.Miss Cleo- We all know she's a fake but it would be interested to hear what she has to say.

Good luck sexing your snake.
Cole Maas

The only reliable ways to tell sex are probing and popping - both should be done by someone that knows what they are doing otherwise you could easily damage your animal.
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Tosha

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