At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
According to the pet shop guy my BP is a male. He determined this by looking at "his" tail. He is definitely a juvenile so I know it can't be accurate. However, his anal spurs are pretty long, and his head seems smaller in comparison to his body than the adult female BP's I've seen.
At what age will it become more apparent what his gender is? I know popping or probing would be ideal, but I don't know anyone who knows how.
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
The Serpent Merchant
Never. Females can get bigger but there are large males as well. The only way to tell is to pop or probe
X2
With BP's the only way to sex them is by popping or probing.
What type of pet store was this at?
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
drezden
Thank you for crushing my dreams with your cold logic
Sorry lol but sometimes the truth hurts :(
There are some good videos online that show you how to pop/probe. Seeing it first hand is better but you can learn from a video.
I know Justin Kobylka and Ralph Davis have good ones on their YouTube channels.
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
drezden
Thank you for crushing my dreams with your cold logic
lol - too funny!
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
The Serpent Merchant
Never. Females can get bigger but there are large males as well. The only way to tell is to pop or probe
X3, my thoughts exactly.
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Slim
Your petshop guy is clueless. I'd be careful about taking any other helpful tips he may have given you.
Oh indeed. When I got my BP I followed the petshop guy's advice, had him in a large glass aquarium with an unregulated UTH and a heat lamp over the UTH.. with a cheap dial stick on thermometer, it must have been 115+ degrees, thankfully I found this site pretty quickly and now I have everything perfect.
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
I'm going to go against the grain here and say that there is an age/size where balls will start to differentiate by sex. I'd say in the 800-1000 gram range is where males and females start to "look different". Body type and tail shape/length are fairly solid indicators of sex after a certain size/age. Not fool proof by any means, but I'd bet that plenty of people can pretty accurately tell sex visually.
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Never! No matter what anyone tells you, there is no way to physically differentiate male or female in ball pythons. You must pop or probe. Palpitation can be used and it is common for boas, but it has not been studied with ball pythons and is not accurate.
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RobNJ
I'm going to go against the grain here and say that there is an age/size where balls will start to differentiate by sex.
I agree, that is against the grain. :tongue2:
Re: At what age do BP's gender become visibly noticeable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
evan385
Never! No matter what anyone tells you, there is no way to physically differentiate male or female in ball pythons.
I'm not saying it's a practice that should be adopted as fool proof...all I'm saying is that it is entirely possible. Males generally have a much lighter build, and their tales are generally longer and not as sharply tapered. I do believe that in adult bp's, it's possible to visually differentiate between males and females with a good degree of accuracy. Is it something I think people should rely on? Not at all.
