Can it be a she?!?

I've heard about people getting the wrong sex when purchasing snakes that they thought were the other gender but it may have happened to me also. I know you cant tell by just looking but Ive tried to pop this snake and I didnt get any hemipenes, do you think that this is a female based on the fact that I have popped baby BPs before and successfully gotten hemipenes and that this snakes tail is more slender(no place for hemipenes to be stored)?

P.S. the cloaca is right where the black spot gets cut off about right in the middle of the body (3rd large spot)

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/413/tail1.jpg

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/7716/tail2.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2818/tail3o.jpg

Actually, from a visual standpoint, females tails are thicker and shorter. Males tails are longer and thinner. Males have larger and more hook shaped spurs. Females have slightly smaller, thinner spurs which do not hook inward as drastically. These are not 100% accurate ways of telling sex but if anyone here who has multiple BPs that are a year or older will look and compare them all, they would see these differences are quite common. Older BPs are very good at holding it in. If its a male I mean. You need to use much more pressure and more of a kneading motion to get any hemipenes to come out. This is the most common reason an older BP would be mis-sexed by popping. I prefer to probe. No guessing then. No squeezing the begezus out of your poor snakes rear end either :P

Thankyou for the info, i really appreciate it, now all I have to do is find someone who is experienced at probing or find someone who can successfully pop a snake.

you cant really tell on ball pythons by saying that it has a short tail (cloaca to tip of tail) its a girl and if it has along tail its a male...some males have short tails but still have hemipenis as the same with some girls that have long tails but if you popped her good then she might be a girl

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Actually, from a visual standpoint, females tails are thicker and shorter. Males tails are longer and thinner. Males have larger and more hook shaped spurs. Females have slightly smaller, thinner spurs which do not hook inward as drastically. These are not 100% accurate ways of telling sex but if anyone here who has multiple BPs that are a year or older will look and compare them all, they would see these differences are quite common. Older BPs are very good at holding it in. If its a male I mean. You need to use much more pressure and more of a kneading motion to get any hemipenes to come out. This is the most common reason an older BP would be mis-sexed by popping. I prefer to probe. No guessing then. No squeezing the begezus out of your poor snakes rear end either :P

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Not strictly true. I have a female which, although she only has one spur, has one very large and hooked one compared to some of my males who have stubby spurs. She probes female, has 7 follicles and is building though too small to breed this season so i know she's a female.....

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

These are not 100% accurate ways of telling sex

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More like 50/50 in my experience so not really worth mentioning as a way of sexing at all. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by fishboyUK

More like 50/50 in my experience so not really worth mentioning as a way of sexing at all. :rolleyes:

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Same in my house.