Valuable lesson learned after 5 years of Balling!

[muddoc]

I learned a valuable lesson this week after keeping and breeding Ball Pythons for 5 years. Make to sure to sex your animals when you get them and periodically throughout the years.

On Wednesday, I got all of my adult females ultrasounded, to see how our breeding season was coming along. During the session, we ran across an '04 female, that I bought as a farmed baby in 2004 and have raised since, that didn't have any follicles. That was strange. Well a gentle squeeze near the cloaca everted some hemipenes. I was almost heartbroken, as she is a very dark chocolatey BOY, that was my top pick that year. It did make sense, since she/he was much smaller than the rest of the girls that we got the same year.

Well today is cleaning day, so I decided to double check all of my girls that are small for the age, or that haven't bred and I felt should have been breeding. The first animal that I came to was an '06 farmed girl that we called a chainlink. Really neat animal. Well low and behold, nice big penes and loaded with sperm plugs. Well I put that one in with a spare female, just to see if I could reproduce the look or not. Another heart breaker.

The biggest let down of all was still to come. I did have one female, maybe, that we tried to ultrasound, but she was very tense and balled up. She is a very shy animal. We couldn't see in her very well, so I just blew it off, and thought I would keep breeding her anyway. She is a 2005 66% Poss. Het Genetic Stripe. Well my Het. G-Stripe male has been breeding well all season, but would never touch her. Now I know why. She has big ole penes.

The moral to the story, is to make sure you are checking your animals periodically, because sometimes, when they are small, you may just mis-sex them. ISince it was so long ago that I got these animals, I can't confirm that I checked their sex when I got them. I am pretty anal when it comes to sexing my animals, but maybe I didn't double check these, since they all came from breeders that I have dealt with before, and I respect them and have never had a problem before. I don't blame them, and I am sure they will make things right. I just wanted to pass this on to others, in hopes of preventing another person from spending 2-4 years raising an animal, and have breeding plans in mind, only to find out that you spent alot of time and end up with no project.

I hope this helps just one person form having a big let down.

Sincerely,

[JASBALLS]

I learned a valuable lesson this week after keeping and breeding Ball Pythons for 5 years. Make to sure to sex your animals when you get them and periodically throughout the years.

On Wednesday, I got all of my adult females ultrasounded, to see how our breeding season was coming along. During the session, we ran across an '04 female, that I bought as a farmed baby in 2004 and have raised since, that didn't have any follicles. That was strange. Well a gentle squeeze near the cloaca everted some hemipenes. I was almost heartbroken, as she is a very dark chocolatey BOY, that was my top pick that year. It did make sense, since she/he was much smaller than the rest of the girls that we got the same year.

Well today is cleaning day, so I decided to double check all of my girls that are small for the age, or that haven't bred and I felt should have been breeding. The first animal that I came to was an '06 farmed girl that we called a chainlink. Really neat animal. Well low and behold, nice big penes and loaded with sperm plugs. Well I put that one in with a spare female, just to see if I could reproduce the look or not. Another heart breaker.

The biggest let down of all was still to come. I did have one female, maybe, that we tried to ultrasound, but she was very tense and balled up. She is a very shy animal. We couldn't see in her very well, so I just blew it off, and thought I would keep breeding her anyway. She is a 2005 66% Poss. Het Genetic Stripe. Well my Het. G-Stripe male has been breeding well all season, but would never touch her. Now I know why. She has big ole penes.

The moral to the story, is to make sure you are checking your animals periodically, because sometimes, when they are small, you may just mis-sex them. ISince it was so long ago that I got these animals, I can't confirm that I checked their sex when I got them. I am pretty anal when it comes to sexing my animals, but maybe I didn't double check these, since they all came from breeders that I have dealt with before, and I respect them and have never had a problem before. I don't blame them, and I am sure they will make things right. I just wanted to pass this on to others, in hopes of preventing another person from spending 2-4 years raising an animal, and have breeding plans in mind, only to find out that you spent alot of time and end up with no project.

I hope this helps just one person form having a big let down.

Sincerely,

Tim, Have you ever sold an animal as a male and it turned out female? Or vice versa.. And what is up with the ultrasound? Palp them Girls!

[rabernet]

Very good reminder to us all, Tim. I periodically check all my animals every few months - so far, knock on wood - everyone's still what they are supposed to be.

[frankykeno]

Awww Tim what a heartbreaker for you and Monica. It's a good lesson to all of us to doublecheck and occasionally recheck. Thanks for sharing what must have been a very disappointing day for you.

[Ginevive]

Oh crud. I am sorry about your letdowns I have nightmares about selling someone a snake and it being the wrong sex.

[LadyOhh]

Ahh yeah. Tim, I feel you on that one.

I have had that problem on several occasions with females being males, which is why when I plan to breed, or when I plan to sell them, I ALWAYS check before sending them out or preparing to breed.

I'm sorry, buddy. It happens to the best of us.

[muddoc]

Tim, Have you ever sold an animal as a male and it turned out female? Or vice versa.. And what is up with the ultrasound? Palp them Girls!

John,
I have never sold one YET that has switched sexes. I quadruple check everything I send out, but I guess I haven't been diligent enough with stuff that I get in.

As for the ultrasound, I like to do it in January, to see those small follicles(10mm to 18mm), the ones I can't feel yet, so I can do some switcheroos if I have some males that aren't getting the job done. I gots plenty from 10-15, but not many that are palpable (over 20). Trust me, I do plenty of palpating.

[muddoc]

Thanks everyone for the condolences. I mostly wanted to post to remind everyone to check out ther females. I find that the sex problem typically isn't the revers of my problem, since once you see a pene, it never goes away. I think some males as babies just have very small penes, and can possibly get missed when popped at a young age. I will definitely be rechecking all of my animals from now on once they hit about 400 grams.

[JASBALLS]

John,
I have never sold one YET that has switched sexes. I quadruple check everything I send out, but I guess I haven't been diligent enough with stuff that I get in.

As for the ultrasound, I like to do it in January, to see those small follicles(10mm to 18mm), the ones I can't feel yet, so I can do some switcheroos if I have some males that aren't getting the job done. I gots plenty from 10-15, but not many that are palpable (over 20). Trust me, I do plenty of palpating.

Not doubting you Bro. Just asking. The sexing thing had me off though. Yes I have done the same thing. With hold backs or new animals. It just bothers me to think I could miss and send a customer the wrong sexed animal..

[akaangela]

I learned that lesson this year myself. I had my pick female a BEAUTIFUL normal female who I got as a baby 1.5 years ago. Was cleaning cages and thought heck I will just put her with my big female for a second and when I went to get her less than 5 min later I found them LOCKED. I about died. The large female is my poss het albino and I had her paired (and seen a lock) with my het albino male. So my luck I will have an entire clutch of normal babies that I will have to call normal babies unless (hopefully) one is albino

Two lessons learned sex them and don't get lax on keeping them apart. I knew both of them to be healthy (I have had them both over a year) so I wasn't that worried. Now I am paying for it.