sexing cornsnakes

[LISA127]

i have an almost 3 yr. old okeetee cornsnake. is there anyway to tell the sex of my corn besides probing?

[BoidKeeper]

Post a pic of the tail from the bottom, from the vent back and we can take a guess by its shape. The only sure way is to probe.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Thomas]

or you can po the snake, but that only tells you if he's a boy. Also, I don't know if you can do it 2 animals that are older?

[Thomas]

sorry, I meant pop

[Emily-Fisher]

Thomas... isn't popping the same as probing? Oh well..maybe not but I've never heard of "popping" a snake. On males, the tail narrows closer to the bottom when on a female, the tail narrows higher. If you don't understand, send us a picture of your corn's tail and we will try to sex it for you. :)

[BoidKeeper]

Thomas, you should only pop very young snakes. Not long after birth they develop better muscle control making poping dangerouse. The hemipiens can be damaged if you try to pop a snake that is too old.
Emily, Poping is when you hold the snake upside down and roll you thumb up towards the vent aplying gentle pressure. If it's a male then the hemipiens will "pop" out. Probing is when a sexing probe is inserted into the base of the tail inside the inside the inverted hemipien or gland.
Trevor

[Emily-Fisher]

Oh really? I didn't know that...thanks Trevor :D Probing sounds dangerous though..does it hurt the snake?

[Andy_G]

If probing is done correctly, there is no harm done to the snake, but I wouldn't imagine that it is very comfortable.

[BoidKeeper]

Also it should only be done by someone experienced.
Trevor

[LISA127]

Thanks everyone.
I have the corn snake manual, and I've looked at the pictures comparing male and female in there many times, but I'm still not sure. It's hard to tell when u only have one corn and nothing to compare to. And this is also the only corn I have ever owned. My best guess, however, would be female.

[blito]

i`d guess female too!

oh hang on... show me a piccie first lol :)