Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Everyone

So I just got a Dumeril's Boa yesterday, Merry Christmas to me, haha. My question is with regards to sexing snakes. So I bought the one I thought looked the coolest had a really nice pattern, right now its about 19". When I took it home I just happened to say I wonder what sex it is and the guy pretty much grabbed it from me and popped it, it looked quite violent and I was mad he didnt ask my permission because I know it can damage snakes if done improperly. The guy that popped it isnt the guy that I usually ask my snake questions to as he isnt the snake breeder and I dont think he knows that much. My questions are 1. Has he damaged my snake as I read a snake shouldnt be popped over 2 weeks of age and 2. What would you snake experts age my baby Dumeril's at with it being 19". Can popping kill a snake or does it just damage it and is there anything I can look for to see if he popped it improperly? Im just quite concerned as I just bought her, thats what he told me it was a she.

Thanks Everyone

Taylor

I would not worry so much about your Dum as I would about some dude grapping your snakes without your OK if it were me he would be relaxing in the local hospital

Yeah I was pissed but he did it in like 10 secs so I couldnt really do much. But do you have any experience with snakes and the damages of popping improperly? It cant cause fatal internal damage can it? Shes already had 2 hoppers so I guess she cant be in 2 much pain. I just want to know what an improper popping can do to a snake.

Yea I do know a thing or two your Dum will be fine as long as it's pooping and eating no harm done

Okay, Dumerils can be sexed by looking for spurs. If your animal has spurs, it is a male. If no spurs are present, your animal is a female. This is 99% accurate, and I leave room for error as spurs can come off, and inexperienced people could miss the spurs on baby males. Popping Dumerils is not as easy as other species, and isn't accurate IMO. I've kept/bred Dumerils for 20 yrs. now and outside of a male losing spurs, I've never had a female with spurs, or a male BORN w/o them.

As far as the guy grabbing the animal, wasn't there. If you bought it from him, I would assume you were asking him the sex, so he attempted to sex it. Since he had to pop a Dumerils, it's obvious he doesn't know much about them.

Congrats on the Dumerils, they're awesome animals, and it should be fine from the popping, though I'd recheck with the spur method and use that for the sex. Maybe it will agree with his findings, but if not, go with the spur method for accuracy. I've seen males popped in front of me at shows, where they told me the animal was a female, when it was a male (because they're not easily popped with any age on them).

as far as age - can tell you that my dum - a '08 girl raised by d and k out of cincinnatti is 17 months old - about 36 inches give or take and weighed 700 grams about 2 weeks ago - anyway, congrats and welcome to the dum dum world - lol

Haha thanks so maybe shes about 7 months born in the summer or does that sound too young. Although the size of the snake is also comparable to how much its fed. Snake gets fed alot grows faster, power feeding, as long as conditions are right, temp and humidity. Because I heard Dumerils are a quite fast growing boa, is this true?

Thanks PBM

I would go with female aswell now since there are no spurs. Can popping be damaging to a snakes internals? Since you know about Dumerils can I ask you another question. I've fed her 2 hoppers since I got her so she has quite a good appetite but today I noticed a bulge just before her vent it looks swollen, do you know what this could be from? An obstruction of some sort or hardened poo? thats what the other owner of the pets shop seemed to think but Im not sure if maybe she is just covering for the guy who popped it, maybe he did damage my dumerils boa. But she also said if it was damaged from popping the damage would most likely be below the vent. I wish she was there when I got my snake as she knew about the spurs. Can I send pictures through this forum as I can show you what the swollen area looks like.

Thanks for your help, I was hoping someone who had bred Dumerils would answer me.

Taylor

She could be slightly impacted, possibly from being dehydrated previously. More than likely, not from popping. Keep an eye on it for a few days, and if she doesn't pass it, you can "assist" her in passing it with some slight downward pressure toward the vent. Everything should okay!