When Do Rosys Become Dimorphic?

[Shmoges]

Our Rosys are all about 1 1/2 years old and growing nicely, except for the pita mexicans (ortiz) who are about half the size. Anyone know when these things start showing visible size differences between male and female? I have been reading care sheet after care sheet but non are talking about the dimorphics :P

[Caylan]

I found with rosies the main difference is in girth, which isn't really put on until age 2-3 in females. They aren't nearly as dimorphic as kenyans, but if you get antsy, just look for spurs. Males have spurs, females dont.

[Shmoges]

I know what is what they have been separated since I got them I was concerned for when the time comes to put them together will I have to mark them or with there size difference make it easy to tell. I hate sexing with spurs or tail length, no offence but i think its bogus, pop or probe or both otherwise wait to see who poos out the babies....

Thats another question, how would someone temporarily mark a snake that looks the same as its opposite sex that's not permanent? Wax marker?

[Caylan]

Well when it comes time to put them together they will be different looking, I can say that much. I have dealt with a collection with many rosies and never had a probelm keeping them separated in my mind. Lots of visual clues in pattern, face, colour and size. I agree sexing most snakes by tails or spurs is bogus, but in this case, it isn't, not from what I;ve seen. Males having larger spurs is bogus, females lacking spurs completely, well thats something else, and is an accurate way of sexing them, I was taught this by Roy Stockwell, a very reputable rosy breeder in Canada. As for temporarily marking a snake, I have no idea what would be best, but I can see a wax marker being difficult to use on a snake. It won't be necessary though.

[Shmoges]

Cool thanks for the info I will take more notice of our rosy collections spurs or lack there of and We are a year or so away from breeding but it doesn't hurt to know as much as I can before hand.

[Caylan]

No problem, no one should keep any info secret, it only takes away from the snakes in the end. You can never know enough about any snake, so learning as much as you can before breeding is the way to go. I'm sure even bigtime breeders occasionally look up different techniques, as new things are being found out all the time. In a collection of over 30 rosies one point, the spur/no spur rule has yet to fail me. But as adults there will be differences in size and even head shape I found. If your lucky like I was, you can also tell by the attitude.... females are food hungry monsters where males remain the tame snakes we know rosies for... this was also true for all but one breeding pair, in which the female was tame as the male(hualapi mountain locality).... but this is my own experience I have yet to read anyone else's take on this. However as babies, I found all were tame, males and females. So it could be as a result of breeding. I wouldn't call the females aggressive by any means, just have food on the brain constantly! Pick them up and they wrap you with their tails and look for something to bite onto, just hilarious! I have never had a male do this, and only ever seen one aggressive male(that was a random baby with a very funny story behind it) that thought he was some sorta viper....
Surprising myself with my knowlege of rosies now... I'm going to stop there.... but feel free to ask me any more questions. ~Caylan.s.~

[Shmoges]

I started wearing nitril gloves when I spot clean there tanks and they don't strike at me hardly at all now :D lol they can't smells fleshs.

[beardeds4life]

what people do with beardies is they use a non toxic paint on the base of the tail and it comes off with the next shed

[stephanbakir]

what people do with beardies is they use a non toxic paint on the base of the tail and it comes off with the next shed

With identical animals, this is the most common technique. Especially with colubrids.

[jaleely]

Hey, so we got a set of probes at the last reptile show we went to a few weeks ago...and i read how to use them and i have to admit...it was way easier than i thought. Some KY jelly, and another set of hands, and veeeeerry carefully....i found out i actually have a boy corn snake *lol* and confirmed a few guesses on some others.
Truly, the smaller probe is all you need. I used the second to smallest probe (blunt tipped) on our 4.25 foot male, and it was waaay easy. (Super small probe, no need to be big at all.)
I was afraid to confirm on our baby hognose though...he was sold as male and i'm just going to have to believe it (which i do, since they are pretty dimorphic) but i did want to check. Soo tiny though! I think you would be safe learning to do the balls and the boas.
We took our time and really did it safely, i felt.
I wouldn't try it alone...but you should get some probes!