Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I've been keeping a pair of whitewater rosys for about a year, and produced a nice litter of six neonates about two weeks ago. They've all shed, and some have taken their first meal already. All in all, it's gone well so far.

For the experts out there, I'd like some advice on sexing the newborns. My reading elsewhere tells me that you can get a reliable indication of sex by the presence or lack of spurs. Have you found this to be the case? If I can visually sex them, I certainly won't go to the trouble of trying to probe them. Does anyone have a pic showing the spurs on a newborn? It would be great to have a visual guide. Thanks for any help.
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Jason
Echo Mountain Reptiles
www.echomountainreptiles.com
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I sex mine the same day they are born.
It takes a bit of experience, good bright, lighting, and good eyes(or some use a magnifier)
but males will always have visible mobile claws. The claws
on newborns are small and often the same color as the scales under them
but they will be visible, whereas no such structure will be found on females.

Thanks for your help. I've got a small magnifying glass that I can use to look for claws. How long are the claws on a newborn - half a scale, quarter of a scale?
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Jason
Echo Mountain Reptiles
www.echomountainreptiles.com
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Unlike other boas, I have never seen spurs (claws) on female rosy's. The size of the spurs is not a good indicator as they are movable by the snake. So they can be retracted or extended. As retracted they fit into a "pore" but you can still see the tip of the spurs. On new borns, I always use a magnifier as sometimes the color camouflages the spurs.

n/p
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Jason
Echo Mountain Reptiles
www.echomountainreptiles.com
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..

Working alone, it was hard to hold both the snake and the camera but here is a pic of
a newborn San Gabriel male. You'll see the light yellow colored spur, and you'd be able
to lift that slightly with a piece of paper or similar thin material
Pushing slightly on the ventral scale will help pop out the spurs.

My borrego babies have orange claws but they are still so tiny that I have to use a magnifying glass.

I would not totally use the spur method. I have had female babies that were sexed that way that turned into males as they got older. They did not really change sexes the spurs just went undetected by the person who " new what he was doing ". Just thought I would share because it cost me a year of feeding to get the animals replaced with a baby from the next year. I will always back up the spur method with probing to make sure it really is a female.

Thanks Ryan