Sexing a pet snake. Is it worth it?

First off, it was the only way I could think of wording the title so make jokes if we must. We’ve had mike Tython for over a year now and don’t kno “his real sex”. I’ve read a lot of information about sexing and if done wrong can cause problems. Is it that tricky that it’s not worth the risk seeing as we have no plans on breeding. I mean I drain my dogs hematoma in his ear. I’m pretty sure I’d be capable but I’d rather avoid hurting him if it’s hard to get right. The only reason I’d be interested is so I could assume what a final size would be.

Even knowing the sex doesnt help all the time with final size. I have had a couple huge males close to 3000g

If you don't really need to know, I personally wouldn't bother...and I've sexed snakes in the past, when I bred some. I have the probes. But I have a small
Western Longnose snake that I've never sexed and whose tail shape is quite ambiguous. These are lizard eaters in the wild & very difficult to keep as pets
since they very difficult to get-keep on mice (& you all think BPs are hard to feed? :rofl:) but anyway, he (?) is now 16 years old & feeds great for me on mice
(f/t fuzzies) other than going off feed for a few months in winter...so do I want him to feel harassed by me probing his tail? Heck no! If I don't need to know
for breeding, I don't bother. There are minor risks to sexing, and none with leaving well enough alone. Many kinds of snakes I can make an educated guess
that's fairly accurate as to their gender from tail shape, but not this guy (or gal). He's a pretty little tri-color, btw...similar to a milk snake, red, black & yellow.

In my opinion, if you have no plans for breeding and you don't feel comfortable doing it without possibly hurting the animal, then no need to sex it. There's no real need to if you don't intend to breed, plus care requirements aren't any different between males and females.

Another thing, I was picking up substrate a few weeks ago at a petsmart, and got to talking to an employee about a pastel they had (just labeled as "fancy ball python"). She said that most petsmarts, at least in my region but maybe its a nation wide thing, only carry males. I guess their suppliers want to keep their females for breeding and they need less males, so its cheaper for petsmarts to get all males.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Treeman

In my opinion, if you have no plans for breeding and you don't feel comfortable doing it without possibly hurting the animal, then no need to sex it. There's no real need to if you don't intend to breed, plus care requirements aren't any different between males and females.

Another thing, I was picking up substrate a few weeks ago at a petsmart, and got to talking to an employee about a pastel they had (just labeled as "fancy ball python"). She said that most petsmarts, at least in my region but maybe its a nation wide thing, only carry males. I guess their suppliers want to keep their females for breeding and they need less males, so its cheaper for petsmarts to get all males.

---

Like what Petco does with rodents...you have to beg them to special-order a female. :rolleyes: They want you dependent upon buying from them, not breeding your own. ;)

Thanks for all your input guys. I’ve decided seeing as its 2019 and all I’m gonna let mike decide what he wants to be.