Stupid Question. Help Please

[DEVILDOG]

I have a stupid question. A couple of years ago a bought three Ball Pythons 1 male and two females. At least that is what I thought they were. The one that was to be the male is now larger than the other two so I figure that he is a female and the other two are males. Right? Last night I started noticing them copulating and the larger one being the aggressor. He/she is the one that is placing her head above the other ones head and doing most of the positioning. Does this help confirm the sex or am I still out in the dark. The two smaller ones have never had the appetite the larger on has ether though.
This is my first time with snakes, if you can't tell. I have had them most of my life but being in the Marine Corps did not allow me the space or the longevity to try to breed them. I have bred Leopard Geckos and Old English bulldogs but never snakes. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Brad.

[rabernet]

Brad, really the only way to confirm the sex of your snakes is to have someone probe or pop them for you. An exotics vet can probe them for you for a nominal fee, or try to find a herp society near you and see if there's a member who would be willing to sex them for you.

Since you're not sure which are the females, I'd definitely make sure none of them are under 1500 gram, a small female is going to have a harder time with being gravid and laying eggs.

Generally, when the pair are locked up, the male's tail will be on the bottom and the female's on top.

[Nate]

I agree with what she said.

Also, have they been housed together for their whole lives?

[DEVILDOG]

Thanks for the replies. Yes they have been in the same tank since I have had them. I take them out and separate them when I feed them and clean there cage. Brad

[Sputnik]

If they start to copulate, you will soon see who is the male and who is the female!

[DEVILDOG]

O.K. here is a picture of two of them what do you all think? Are they to small? And are both of them normals? And can anyone tell me which one is the girl by this picture. http://render1.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,442

[dr del]

Hi,

Well the only way to know for sure is probing or popping as others have said as I'm sure I read somewhere males will look like their copulating as a dominance display - but I might be completely wrong about that so don't take it as gospel till someone smarter than me confirms or denies.

As to whether they are large enough to breed it would be handy to know what weights they all were.

I like the pattern near the tail on the one that looks to be in the "male position" (the light one with his head on the bottom )
but can't really get any idea of their size from the picture.

Stick each of them on a decent scale and tell us how many gramms they are if you can.

Oh and just about everyone is liable to tell you they would do better in seperate cages so you might want to look into the things you would need for a couple fo extra tub setups.


dr del

[SoundUnsleep]

The light colored one has some very nice blushing. Further, I seems to me that the lighter one is a ringer. Anyone agree/disagree?
Well, no matter what they are, they sure look gorgeous!!!

[DEVILDOG]

Thanks everyone. But I still don't understand if I seperate them to feed and they get along what would be benificial about seperating them. Thanks again Brad

[Adam_Wysocki]

I'm sure I read somewhere males will look like their copulating as a dominance display

Actually Derek, males will physically copulate with other males ... it's all about dominance.

-adam