Warm water encourages exposed hemipenes?

Kaetlinv · 09-08-12, 11:28 PM

I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else? I've popped my smaller ball python Romeo several times and gotten 'female' results. Romeo has been probed by a 'professional' (I have no clue if this really happened or if they were professional...) that said Romeo was a female.

As I posted on my thread specifically for Romeo, I gave Romeo a warm water soak this evening to help with his upcoming shed and when I went to take him out, when I looked down at the tail hemipenes were sticking out a good half inch or so. I've tried looking around to see if warm water would influence a male to expose his hemipenes, but no luck.

Do male snakes do this randomly, or would the warm water be a factor in it?

mykee · 09-09-12, 07:20 AM

Firstly, hemipenes are not a half inch long, at most they are 1/8 of an inch long, dark dark red in colour. Secondly, assuming what you saw were in fact his penes, then the reason you got a false popping was because you didn't apply enough pressure. It's a science to properly pop an animal. Gotta use enough pressure, but not too much.

Kaetlinv · 09-09-12, 11:52 AM

I probably was exaggerating the length. I only caught a quick glance before they went back in. As for a false popping, I figured as much since i'm no expert, and he is no longer a baby and can resist it. I can pop my other male fine, I can see at least the base of his hemipenes.

I remember that what I saw was not dark red but rather very pink. After searching for answers I found pictures of a person popping both sexes of a pair of pythons and a pair of boas, and what I saw looked like male boa hemipenes, which is odd...