Popping; Age limit?

Alright, I've seen many varied opinions on popping ball pythons after a certain age. Is there a "no-no" age at which you shouldn't pop a snake?

I have an adult normal, approximately 5 years old, that I got from a friend who took it in as a rescue. She told me the snake was a female, but I have never actually taken the time to probe it and confirm. I'm currently out of vaseline to lube my probe, so I'm holding off on probing, but for the life of me can't remember to pick any up when I'm at the store and the need to know is killing me. However, obviously, I don't want to hurt my girl/boy!

So is there an age to stop popping? I know adults have more developed muscle control than juveniles, but if done properly, is it okay? And refresh my memory, when probing it's 2-4 scales deep for female and 7-9+ for male, with the 5-6 scale range kind of being the "limbo" zone?

Thanks everyone!

Popping adults is an art, and the only for sure way is to probe. But popping can be done.

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Is probing a reliable way to tell the sex of the snake? I mean, is it a huge difference between probing a male vs. a female?

Adults yes, they can hold it in or not show it etc. Probing they can't keep out.

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Originally Posted by DPBallPythons

Is probing a reliable way to tell the sex of the snake? I mean, is it a huge difference between probing a male vs. a female?

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Yes, when you probe the female it will only go in about 2-3 maybe up to 4 belly scales. A male will be 5+. Usually, in my experience, 6-7 is norm.

There are some expert poppers out there that can pop at any age ;)

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There is no age limit. I can pop my adults with no issue. Just got to make sure they're not tense. I like to tickle the underside of their tails and that seems to do the trick of making them less tense.

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

There are some expert poppers out there that can pop at any age ;)

sent from my incubator

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x2, it just takes practice. Super easy to know if you have an adult male when you pop one, adult females are harder and I'm less confident about.

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Originally Posted by Zombie

Yes, when you probe the female it will only go in about 2-3 maybe up to 4 belly scales. A male will be 5+. Usually, in my experience, 6-7 is norm.

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Okay, thanks. I guess I'll have to buy a probe kit then :)

I know its weird but I actually find popping 500-1000g animals much easier then the smaller ones. I don't think that I have found the correct pressure to apply to younger animals and I always am worried about damaging their spine. I can pop smaller animals correctly but I prefer to do ones with size. You can pop any size animal, there are videos of people popping 14ft retics with ease, you just have to know how to do it.