Female snake courting male?

[valhalha30]

Got a male, proven breeder albino bubblegum ratsnake today, for my triple cross girl (who lost her brother recently, that was housed with her) who is ready to breed.
I'm dang sure she's a girl, she shed her vaginal cavities many times, I know they weren't hemipenes or sperm plugs... on the shed they looked like scabs. Like dried blood... in ONLY 2 places.... I know they shed them during ovulation.
Now, as soon as she was introduced to the male, she started "throbbing" her muscles and jerking her body forwards and backwards, showing courtship behavior..
Is this heard of? Does this happen? I've never seen her do this to her brother.

[valhalha30]

It's not unheard of for a female snake (in desperation to mate) to court a male snake, is it?

I'm darn sure Butter is a girl, it's shed it's skin and had 2 scab looking things on it, more than one time, which I found out is a female shedding her vaginal cavities (like a period) and signifies she's ovulating.

My previous male shed solid black prongs more than once, which I found out is either sperm.plugs or hemipenes... they look TOTALLY different from what she sheds......

But, I've never heard of a female courting a male before.. rare behavior? Or what?

[Pyrate81]

I don't have XP with breeding behavior in snakes. Hopfully someone can shed light on your questions.

[loonunit]

Well, I have no idea what ratsnakes do. None!

But I've seen my ball python females approach unresponsive males, particularly if they are an established couple from a previous season. Last year when I put my pied female with her black pastel boyfriend, he more or less ignored her, and she was clearly trying to get HIS attention. But her behaviors were different. Normally George puts his head on Ursula's back while he tries to line up their bodies. That time, Ursula was following George, but she kept jamming her head UNDER his body.

[valhalha30]

After digging through the Net, I found out that in Garters, a dominant female may often court a male. I also read, that in many colubrids, a dominant fema le could show courtship behavior to a male.
It's good to know your BP girl does that, loonunit, makes me feel less concerned about Butter's odd behavior.

[wilomn]

Have you probed your snake? If not, well, you never know for sure.

[valhalha30]

I didn't, no. Where does one find a probing kit and what would I be looking for while probing?

[Pyrate81]

I think Reptile basics may sell a probing kit. Or at least they did at one point. There is a video on this site somewhere of "how to probe your snake"(I'm too lazy to look for it right now). Personally I'd recommend having someone demonstrate in person how to probe cause if you do it wrong, you can hurt the animal. At least that is how I want to learn when I get to that point.

[valhalha30]

Oh, ok. Thank you.
Can a vet do it for free? If not, I have a friend who could possibly do it, but idk if she knows how to do it.

[Pyrate81]

I would question the quality of a herp vet if they were unable to do probe or pop a snake. Not sure if they would show or charge for a sexing of your snake or not.