Probing question. Pls help.

[CoLdY74]

Hi,
I really need some advise.

Today I brought my 2 bloods to be probe by a vet. The bloods r 2.5ft long.

The first one the vet confirm is a male.

The second one the vet told me SHOULD BE A MALE cos he only probe to the depth of 3 scales down.

I like to know for a blood python, lenght 2.5ft, probe to the depth of 3 scales, is it confirm a male???????

Pls advise soon cos if both r males I'm thinking of getting another one. Thanks

CoLdY74

[Matt]

I am no blood python expert, but only 3 scales should be a female shouldn't it?
how many scales did the first one probe to???

[CoLdY74]

Hi,
the first one the vet did not show me cos he is confirm that it is a male.

The second one he showed me n say SHOULD BE A MALE???

Confuse!!!

CoLdY74

[Grant vg]

Males probe around 8-9 scales, and females probe around 3-4.

Sounds like a female if the vet probed them properly...

gvg

[CoLdY74]

Hi Grant vg,
u mean for a 2.5ft blood the scale count should be in this way?? Can probe to such a depth?? Thanks

CoLdY74

[Gorelith]

The best advice I can give you is, if there's one around, get a better vet.

[Darren Hamill]

If anyone can advise on how hard it is to probe Bloods some times it's myself, GVG and Corey Woods... Bloods are by no means easy to sex at times! Go with GVG he knows what he's talking about....

[Grant vg]

Cold,

The depth ratio doesnt' change with age or size.
The hemipenes, grow with the snake, as does the size of the scales...
So, as a hatchling, you'll be dealing with a smaller length of insertion, but the scales will also be smaller. Same goes for an adult, longer hemipenes, larger scales...get what im sayin??

As Darren said, we have sexed many bloods, and the larger, more aggressive snakes can be quite a task.
If your vet probed these snakes alone, and your bloods arn't exactly the most sluggish animals, chances are he wasn't able to keep the snake still/straight enough to get the probe down to its total potential.
Many times, people will try, and the bloods tails tightens up SO much, that, its really hard to get the probe deep enough to tell if its truly a male or female.
Hence, why most bloods probe only a few scales and get labelled as females, but turn out males down the road.
Or females to males, back to females like some of mine ...lol

Your best bet is to either learn the proper process of probing, (that begins with lubeing the probe, constraining the snake, sticking the probe in, placing your thumb when the probe has fully inserted, and then measuring them to the scales.) And watch to see if your vet does this properly. or just find an experienced local herper to do it for you.

For bloods, i cant express how important it is to probe a couple of times on each side of the snake just to make sure!

Goodluck.

Gvg

[CoLdY74]

Thanks everyone!!

CoLdY74

[paul_le_snake]

as its already been said i can only reitarate it, but no matter how old a snake is it will always probe to a certain depth. a ten yr old blood will probe the same a 10 month old blood
cheers
paul