sexing

[Wrath]

Forgive the stupid (and probably repeat) question: Is probing the only way to determine the sex of my ball? Or are there any other ways of telling?

I was reading about the hemipeenis, and I've seen hers...does that mean she's a male? It doesnt really matter, I'm just curious.

[HetForHuman]

probing and popping are prob the only sure ways to tell but some people claim they can tell just by looking, but i sure cant tell.

make sure you dont try to probe or pop unless your taught by someone that knows what they are doing.

im sure someone can explain popping better than me as i have not tried it and im scared i might hurt the animal if i did, but usually popping is only done on smaller animals.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Originally posted by Wrath
I was reading about the hemipeenis, and I've seen hers...

Are you sure you don't mean spurs?

If you saw "her" hemipenes then you don't need to ask about sexing... it's a male! :D But you probably meant spurs....

[snakehunter]

bps can be popped until about a year, to pop hold her upside down, and gently pull her vent scale back (towrds head) but not too far, then with your ather hand use your thumb at the tip of the tail, and rock your thumb backa nd forth, move up the tail towrds the vent, IF she is young enough either two small tubricals will "pop" out (male), or nothing will happen (female). this is all within reason though, as they age males' muscles down there will strengthen, and can hold it back making it impossible to pop, best bet is to have it probed by a vet or experienced handler.
hope i helped
-jacob

[Tim_Cranwill]

Just find someone who knows what they are doing. If the sex of the snake matters to you for breeding purposes (which you've stated it doesn't), you won't want to screw everything up because you <i>may</i> have popped him/her wrong.

Think of it, you could go and do your very best popping job and nothing pops out... FEMALE!!!! yay! So next year you buy a nice big male for "her" and after investing a lot of time and money and doing a lot of research you discover when you put the two together, they combat.... yup, two males. Sh!tty deal.

With popping, people who don't know what they are doing and find that no hemipenes pop out, shouldn't assume it's a female. There is a good chance you just couldn't <b>make</b> them pop out but it IS in fact a male.

Anyway, obviously my advice is get her probed by an expert. But since you're just more curious than anything, post some pics of her tail. There are people on the forum that will be able to give you a good idea... :)

[raebug2000]

usually an exotic/herp vet can probe for you for next to nothing.....

even if he did charge you like $ 20 it would be worth knowing for sure