Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay. Here's the story. ( Short and brief.) I received a Lemon Pastel female in a trade from a local breeder. I decided to pop the animal. No hemipenes were exposed, however I did expell a small white waxy horse-shoe shaped substance that reminds me of a sperm plug. (This is a 2005 animal weighing only 186g empty.) I notified the local breeder and soon the animal was back in his possession. The local breeder verified the sex again by both popping AND probing. The animal popped as a female and probed two scales deep.

So here's the question. Assuming that the local breeder sexed this animal correctly [which I believe he has], what other substance could be mistaken as a sperm plug? And is this common at all?

Thanks In Advance,
Chris
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mean people suck

Chris,

This is something I see fairly often when popping females. Here's a link to a thread that may help out.

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=955334,955334&key=2005

George Knaack

So it's a female after all. [Wow. That is really good news.]

Thank you.

Chris
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mean people suck

Thanks for the link George, I've seen these in known females from time to time too, I've always called them mucus plugs for lack of a better word. Guess I was closer then I thought. Usually they are quite small but sometimes they just come gushing out and it can get confusing and I end up second guessing myself on whether or not the animal is really a female. It's good to know I'm not alone.

Mark

>>Chris,
>>
>>
>>This is something I see fairly often when popping females. Here's a link to a thread that may help out.
>>
>>http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=955334,955334&key=2005
>>
>>George Knaack
>>

I believe a Vet posted a picture of what you were describing a few weeks ago. He wanted to see if anyone could identify it before he told us what it was. I never saw a later post where he identified it but the picture title said "female plug". I am kind of surprised that a young female would have this though.
Mike

I found the thread you are talking about. (See reply above.) It was very surprising to me too. Although it does make sense. Especially after the animal probed two scales deep. LOL

I'm just glad that I got it all straightened out. It was a crazy situation. I originally advertised the animal for sale as a female, but I cancelled the ad after I found what looked like a sperm plug. I told everyone that it was actually a male. Now it has been double checked by the original breeder and it is DEFINITELY a female...again. LOL

I just have to laugh now.

Chris
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mean people suck

we always called them scent glands in girls...don't know if they actually are scent glands....but there is a small pocket for some reason.......

would males have scent glands also?........plus penes?.....

........when snakes shed , they shed even the anal plates and inside the vent.......so I guess they would shed out even inside these pockets........I have seen posts that said..or showed shed pene skins even?......but never saw this here in thousands of snakes in 15 years.......

........females expel "gunk" for lack of better word.....*(refered to as musk but not sure if it is actually a musk per say...).?.....

......pop a water or garter snake..you'll see some real gunk and know what I mean........that's some real "musk".......
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..................gottaLuvIt!!