Also known as "don't buy females from scuzzy people in crappy petstores".

Bought a set of probes and brought a nice assortment of sizes and genders in to my vet so I could practice under supervision.

The big skinny scarred up female that I bought for $50 from the creepy guy because I felt so sorry for her (and was hoping to get a breeder out of eventually when she recovered) is unquestionably a male. Poop and double-poop. "She" has been eating ravenously and gained a good 250 grams in under two months, up to 800 from the 550 I purchased "her" at, so I had hopes that she'd be breedable next year. My other girls are all babies so this one was going to be my "practice" breeding before I get started in earnest the following year.

What sucks is the guy probed this animal in front of me, and at the time I didn't know enough to tell the difference...he had a bunch of unsexed adults in this little tank together with no hides or heat...just a screen top. I asked him what sex they were and he started probing, and this one probed female according to him. At the time, I didn't know what to look for when you probed, and I'm still not sure I could tell the difference just from watching someone do it. This was the one really crappy looking snake, and I knew it wasn't going to get care from him, so I bought it out of pity, and with the hope it would eventually be a breeder. Oh well. Now I know, eh?

Oh, and probing is not nearly as hard as I was afraid of. I'm not saying everybody should rush out and do it, but if you have a good sense of what you're feeling, it's very clear. The descriptions that folks gave in another thread were perfect...I could tell exactly what I was feeling.