| |
Notices |
Welcome to the sSnakeSs community. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
|
01-07-11, 10:44 AM
|
#1
|
Member
Join Date: Jan-2011
Location: NY
Posts: 54
Country:
|
This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
is there a way to figure out the sex of your snake?
|
|
|
01-07-11, 10:58 AM
|
#2
|
The Original Urban Legend
Join Date: Dec-2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 5,526
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Yes, but I would not recommend doing it yourself until you have watched others. There are two main reliable ways. The first way can only be done on a very young snake, and it involves pressing and rolling your thumb across the cloaca so the hemipenes are everted in a male. Snakes quickly gain control of their junk, so this only works the first few months and is very risky, because it's easy to hurt the delicate spine and end up with a kinked tailed snake.
The second way is much safer and, IMO, more reliable and can be done on adult snakes. It involves purchasing a set of snake probes. These are blunt ball-tipped rods that you lube up and insert into the cloaca on one side. In males, the hemipenes are inverted inside the tail, so when you insert the probe you are actually inside the hemipene pocket. Mark what point the probe stops, remove it and measure how many subcaudal scales it went. Male snakes generally probe more than 5 subcaudal scales. Females have only shallow scent glands so they generally probe 2-3 scales, but some species are different. Diamond python females can probe 5-7 subcaudals in some cases from what I've read.
Female snakes that are probed improperly can have the scent glands ruptured and will then probe as male, so you do need to know what you are doing. I'd recommend going to a reptile vet to have him/her show you how to properly do it.
If your snake is a booid (boa or python) you can get a pretty good idea by looking for the presence of spurs (claw-like things on either side of the cloaca). They are the remnants of legs and males use them to stimulate the female during courtship. Thus spurs are very small or absent on females, but large and noticeable on males. This does not work for colubrids (corns, milks, rats, etc) because they are further evolved and have no remnants of the pelvic girdle or legs.
Hope this helps a bit.
__________________
Dr. Viper
|
|
|
01-07-11, 11:14 AM
|
#3
|
Member
Join Date: Jan-2011
Location: NY
Posts: 54
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
absolutely helpful thank you, he/shes a BP so i'll check for the spurs. i don't trust myself to probe, nor would i really want to put it through that discomfort thanks a lot!
|
|
|
01-07-11, 11:20 AM
|
#4
|
The Original Urban Legend
Join Date: Dec-2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 5,526
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Definitely don't probe until you've had a vet show you. It's not worth the risk. There really isn't any pressing need to know the gender unless you intend to breed it someday.
__________________
Dr. Viper
|
|
|
01-07-11, 11:22 AM
|
#5
|
Member
Join Date: Jan-2011
Location: NY
Posts: 54
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will0W783
Definitely don't probe until you've had a vet show you. It's not worth the risk. There really isn't any pressing need to know the gender unless you intend to breed it someday.
|
totally agreed
|
|
|
01-07-11, 01:27 PM
|
#6
|
Non Carborundum Illegitimi
Join Date: Mar-2010
Location: Keynsham
Age: 49
Posts: 9,556
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Willow, a quick question, my adult corn that i believe is female ahs spurs but reading what you put collubrids dont have spurs? Have i misread or have i got a weird snake?
__________________
May you have more good days than bad
You never know how strong you are - until being strong is your only choice
There are no dark clouds - just well hidden silver linings!!
|
|
|
01-07-11, 02:13 PM
|
#7
|
The Original Urban Legend
Join Date: Dec-2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 5,526
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
She should not have spurs. As far as I know, no colubrids possess them. If she does have claw-like appendages protruding from her, that might be a problem....
__________________
Dr. Viper
|
|
|
01-07-11, 02:14 PM
|
#8
|
The Original Urban Legend
Join Date: Dec-2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 5,526
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
As far as I know, colubrids don't have spurs, but maybe someone with more expertise on colubrids can help out? I'm more a booid person.
__________________
Dr. Viper
|
|
|
01-07-11, 02:37 PM
|
#9
|
Member
Join Date: Sep-2010
Location: Calgary, AB
Age: 42
Posts: 381
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
As far as I could find doing a quick online search is that Colubrids do NOT have spurs.
Check out this thread: difference between colubrids, boas, pythons, etc.. It's even from sSnakeSs
__________________
6.2 Corn Snakes ~ 1.0 MBK ~ 1.0 Garter ~ 2.0 Dumeril's Boas ~ 1.0.1 Gargoyle Geckos ~ 3.2 Dogs ~ 3.1 Cats
|
|
|
01-07-11, 04:55 PM
|
#10
|
Non Carborundum Illegitimi
Join Date: Mar-2010
Location: Keynsham
Age: 49
Posts: 9,556
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Ok, lets blame the medication! she doesnt have spurs, after checking with my memory bank (wife) on one of her sheds around rhe cloaca there where two brown marks that looked as if there would have been spurs or something similar
Next time i have her out, not doing it this heavily medicated, i will have a good look at her and if i notice anything will pop up some pics.
__________________
May you have more good days than bad
You never know how strong you are - until being strong is your only choice
There are no dark clouds - just well hidden silver linings!!
|
|
|
01-08-11, 09:37 AM
|
#11
|
slainte mhath
Join Date: Nov-2009
Location: kelty,fife
Age: 58
Posts: 8,509
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lankyrob
Ok, lets blame the medication! she doesnt have spurs, after checking with my memory bank (wife) on one of her sheds around rhe cloaca there where two brown marks that looked as if there would have been spurs or something similar
Next time i have her out, not doing it this heavily medicated, i will have a good look at her and if i notice anything will pop up some pics.
|
are you sure she's a she mate
those 2 brown things in the shed could have been sperm plugs
which would indicate she's a he
just a thought rob
cheers shaun
__________________
ALWAYS judge a person by the way they treat someone who can be of NO POSSIBLE USE TO THEM !
|
|
|
01-08-11, 02:40 PM
|
#12
|
Member
Join Date: Jun-2006
Posts: 477
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Checking a Ball python for spurs as a way of sexing is not going to give you an answer about what sex it is. All BPs have spurs and the size of the spur is also not going to help. The only sure way to sex your snake is to probe or pop.
|
|
|
01-08-11, 02:57 PM
|
#13
|
Non Carborundum Illegitimi
Join Date: Mar-2010
Location: Keynsham
Age: 49
Posts: 9,556
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by shaunyboy
are you sure she's a she mate
those 2 brown things in the shed could have been sperm plugs
which would indicate she's a he
just a thought rob
cheers shaun
|
TBH mate, we arent totally sure, she is a rescue so we are going on what we were told. If i get another shed with them in i will try to get pics...........
__________________
May you have more good days than bad
You never know how strong you are - until being strong is your only choice
There are no dark clouds - just well hidden silver linings!!
|
|
|
01-08-11, 06:17 PM
|
#14
|
The Original Urban Legend
Join Date: Dec-2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 5,526
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Spurs don't shed. If you saw brown thready things, those are sperm plugs (actually some people think they are shed hemipenal skin covering) and mean that the owner of the shed is a male, and sexually mature.
__________________
Dr. Viper
|
|
|
01-08-11, 06:27 PM
|
#15
|
Non Carborundum Illegitimi
Join Date: Mar-2010
Location: Keynsham
Age: 49
Posts: 9,556
Country:
|
Re: This may be an embarrassingly stupid question but.....
Sounds like our female may be a male then!! Will defo try to get some pics of the next shed if the marls are there again.
__________________
May you have more good days than bad
You never know how strong you are - until being strong is your only choice
There are no dark clouds - just well hidden silver linings!!
|
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:06 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2002-2023, Hobby Solutions.
|
|