Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever heard of a relatively new way, at least to me, of sexing snakes. I recently had some chondros sexed at a vet, I'm too scared of that caudal lure to do it myself, and he used a new technique. He actually injected a couple cc's of saline solution in the tail about 5 scale lengths below the vent. The saline puts pressure into that area and pops out the hemipenes if it's a male. He said he uses this technique on lizards also and it has not been proven wrong yet. He said it was a lot less invasive than popping or probing. Just wondering if you guys had heard of this yet.

You can always take them to McDonalds and see what bathroom they use.

it does work well if the procedure is performed properly. However, it can cause permanent damage to the males hemipenes if not done exactly right. You must also use a sterile physiological saline solution for the injection. This is a procedure that should only be conducted by an expert and should never be attempted by anyone that is not trained and completely familiar with it. One other issue is that if a novice is attempting it and misses the hemipenal pocket with the injected solution, you could very easily mis-sex a male for a female. It's only accurate and safe in the hands of an expert.

Kelly

NP