Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi, my brb is 22 months old now and is about 5 ft which from what i see seems a little big for his"?" age i only feed him once a week so i'm not power feeding him. it was sold to me as a male but i am starting to doubt that it might be a male. is there any physical way of telling if it's a male or female without probing him?
here's a few pics of him not like you can tell in the pic but just to see him

and this one is when he was 17months

thanks
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1.0.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Eastern Hognose
1.0.0 Cat

You can sex BRBs (and probably most other snakes) very reliably by feeling the base of the tail for hemipenes. I position the snake in my hands so that I can run my thumb down the animal's spine and my forefinger along it's vental surface. I apply gentle but consistent pressure. About an inch or so after the vent, I begin to carefully feel for a "thump" as my forefinger comes to the end of the hemipenes. No thump, no hemipenes, no male. Babies can be sexed the day they're born using this method. You just have to be a little more sensitive with babies. Your animal is big enough that the hemipenes should be noticeable. Your snake can take that as a compliment if he likes.

I've never learned to "pop" snakes. I've just never been very good at it or very comfortable with it. Probing is a little safer in my opinion but this method is absolutely non-invasive. Good luck, I'll be curious to hear how it goes.

Mike

ok thanks, i think he might be a male but not certain because im better at comparisons but thanks again
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1.0.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Eastern Hognose
1.0.0 Cat

Slacker,
...Like Mike posted you can often feel the males longer hemipenes by sliding your fingers back along the bottom of the tail. The females have short small glands inside the base of their tails but these end a few sub caudal scales aft of the vent. On males their is a noticeable lump 8 to 12 subcaudal scales past the vent. Males also have larger and more curved spurs than females. The spurs on female BRBs and on the males when they are small and immature are short little nubs and ore usually brown colored. Adult males have spurs which are longer and curved often looking like a small cats claw. The adult male's spurs are often an off white color. Both sexes have spurs but they are much more noticeable on adult males. At 22 months and 5 feet in length your male may now or at least should soon display these differences in the spurs .
Jeff

>>hi, my brb is 22 months old now and is about 5 ft which from what i see seems a little big for his"?" age i only feed him once a week so i'm not power feeding him. it was sold to me as a male but i am starting to doubt that it might be a male. is there any physical way of telling if it's a male or female without probing him?
>>here's a few pics of him not like you can tell in the pic but just to see him
>>
>>
>>
>>and this one is when he was 17months
>>
>>
>>thanks
>>-----
>>1.0.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
>>1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
>>0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
>>1.0.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
>>0.0.1 Eastern Hognose
>>1.0.0 Cat

by any chance do you have any pics to show the difference between female and male spurs?
thanks

-----
1.0.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
1.0.0 Guyana Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Eastern Hognose
1.0.0 Cat