Male or Female?

[doronxl7]

Hey there,
So I just probe 2 of my ball pythons both got like 6 sub caudal scales.
One of them 1.5 KG weight and the second 600 G, the smaller one was gifted to me as female and the larger I bought as female so I paid "extra" money (male cheaper as I see).
With only 6 sub scales for both, how can I be sure about the gender?

** The 1.5 KG BP at shed if it make any difference

[Joelgriz8124]

If your not familiar with sexing them you can take them to a local breeder and have them probed or “popped” I looked up videos on how to pop them myself and I tried it on my adult male but I was too scared I’d hurt him , but luckily a sperm plug came out so I know he’s a male lol.
I didn’t know what a sperm plug was at first so I kinda freaked out and thought he was injured but after doing research I calmed myself down .



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Joelgriz8124]

This is what the plug looked like .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lord Sorril]

6 caudal scales would be male if you are doing it correctly. That being said: You could read wrong if you are holding the probe at a bad angle as the snake struggles.

If you think they are both male you can put them together in one of their cages (supervised) and see if they start doing the ball python mating contest combat (look it up). They may not. If both snakes freak out though and try really hard to get away from each other-that would be another tip that they are probably both males. If they start mating: That is another tip...Getting someone who knows what they are doing to sex the snake is still your best bet.

I have bought several 'female' snakes from some of the most reputable dealers over the years and they probed as males when I got them. Most of the dealers were cool about their mistakes, a few were not (understatement). I only buy males now and hold back females I produce-a lot less aggravation.

[Craiga 01453]

I'd be super careful probing animals without the proper knowledge and experience.

[IsmQui718]

6 caudal scales is male as mentioned above. Popping becomes much more difficult as ball pythons get bigger because of their musculature. Therefore probing is the way to go. I would highly recommend doing a search on YouTube on probing videos to see how it’s done.

Personally, I’ve never had an animal mis sexed from a reputable breeder. I did end up with one snake that turned out to be male, but this was years ago and it was from someone on Craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Joelgriz8124]

6 caudal scales is male as mentioned above. Popping becomes much more difficult as ball pythons get bigger because of their musculature. Therefore probing is the way to go. I would highly recommend doing a search on YouTube on probing videos to see how it’s done.

Personally, I’ve never had an animal mis sexed from a reputable breeder. I did end up with one snake that turned out to be male, but this was years ago and it was from someone on Craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel like a squid asking but what is a “caudal scale” ? I looked on google but couldn’t find any pics . I’m just curious I only knew of popping and probing I never knew there was third way to sex a bp .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IsmQui718]

I feel like a squid asking but what is a “caudal scale” ? I looked on google but couldn’t find any pics . I’m just curious I only knew of popping and probing I never knew there was third way to sex a bp .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Definitely not a silly question. Lol.

“Caudal” is a term used to describe something that’s towards the tail. For example- when probing, you’d want to insert the probe and go in the direction of the tail. Not towards the towards the head of the animal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Joelgriz8124]

Definitely not a silly question. Lol.

“Caudal” is a term used to describe something that’s towards the tail. For example- when probing, you’d want to insert the probe and go in the direction of the tail. Not towards the towards the head of the animal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you so are the caudal scales the scales after the vent ?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AbsoluteApril]

Thank you so are the caudal scales the scales after the vent ?

yes. technically sub-caudal
google image 'probing snake' for more photos
here's an example:


another good link explaining scales:
http://www.seanthomas.net/oldsite/scount.html