Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just received 4 snakes from a neighor. 1 dwarf retic pyton, 1 full grown female redtail (huge) and a pair of juvenile dumerils. I have pics but cannot post using this computer, but they are the most stunning of the 4. Very clear patterns, female approx 3 ft, male maybe 4.

At this size should I be able to notice the spurs? Was told the larger one is the male, but I didn't feel anything when I held him. Didn't really try on the female, but maybe they have it backwards?

Almost forgot, they 2 dums have always been housed together and I was told that the male is very protective of the female and if I seperated them they would get very temperamental. They are very docile now. She also said they might even get sick missing each other.

All my other snakes are housed alone and that has always been my understanding of the best way to handle them.
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1.2 Ghost Corns, Beetlejuice, Casper and Spooky
1.1 Charcoal het pewter, Smokey and Flame
1.1 Hypo het lavender, Rosy and Rocko (RIP Rosy)
1.0 Anery, Goku
0.1 Amel, Sunny
2.0 Tabby Cats, Daddycat and his son Brat
0.1 Australian Shepherd, Angel (RIP Angel)
0.1 Blizzard Corn
0.1 Snow Corn
1 Ball Python
1 WC Yellow Rat
2 WC Normal Corns
1.1 Dumerils Boas
0.1 Redtail Boa
1.0 Dwarf Reticulated Pyton

Gypsy

Neighbor sounds a bit nutty, no offense! I keep my Dumerils seperated, and not one has died from a broken heart, or attempted to bite me over jealousy from watching me hold his girlfriend across the room, lol. This dual caging may be the real reason for his defensive posturing.

As soon as I get their cages built, I am going to seperate them. If there's a problem, they can always go back together. Right now I almost have to keep them under lock and key, may friends that have seen them want them soooo bad. Told them they had to wait until this were breeding age, then they could get one of their offspring, but these babies are MINE! They are really stunning, boy did I get lucky!
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1.2 Ghost Corns, Beetlejuice, Casper and Spooky
1.1 Charcoal het pewter, Smokey and Flame
1.1 Hypo het lavender, Rosy and Rocko (RIP Rosy)
1.0 Anery, Goku
0.1 Amel, Sunny
2.0 Tabby Cats, Daddycat and his son Brat
0.1 Australian Shepherd, Angel (RIP Angel)
0.1 Blizzard Corn
0.1 Snow Corn
1 Ball Python
1 WC Yellow Rat
2 WC Normal Corns
1.1 Dumerils Boas
0.1 Redtail Boa
1.0 Dwarf Reticulated Pyton

Gypsy

You don't have to feel for the spurs, they are very obvious by just looking. Males have them, females don't
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Thanks,
Amy

My Boids

I know this is a really late addition to this thread, but I finally took a decent picture of my male's spurs, and I even discovered that they are plainly visible on a shed skin! (In hindsight this seems so obvious, but in case your animals are a bit too wily for you to look for spurs, you can always examine a shed more closely!)

In the pic below, the (snake's right) spur is visible in the lower left portion of the big dark brown spot (my male has very symmetrical dark brown spots that very neatly flank his vent and hide each of his spurs from the casual observer, and I would guess that is a normal Dumeril's Boa pattern). If you know what you are looking for, just a little bit left of the spot and lower in the picture, you can find his vent, for reference. This picture was taken this summer on my male who is about 4 years old.

I hope this helps!

~Rebecca

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1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa '04
1.2.1 Ball Pythons
[1.0.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1.0 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1.0 '08 VPI line Axanthic (Jane)]
[0.0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

...and MANY more years' experience in colubrids

Ok, I thought I had already loaded this pic when I made the previous post, but I had to go back. Here it is! You can see both spurs and their location related to the vent in this shed fairly easily.

(Since a shed skin is inside-out when you find it, I had to turn it right-side-out to get this view)

~Rebecca

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1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa '04
1.2.1 Ball Pythons
[1.0.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1.0 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1.0 '08 VPI line Axanthic (Jane)]
[0.0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

...and MANY more years' experience in colubrids