What's this? Please educate!

Picked up my girl tonight and while giving her a look over noticed something near her tail. Wondering if that's her genitalia (don't really know any other way of putting it)

Please let me know if this is normal. Thanks in advance!

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/16/gu3asytu.jpg

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Im confused are you referring to the spurs?

Yes, I guess so. Just never noticed them to ever stick out like that before.

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Both males and females can have spurs its just something balls have :D It is said that males are bigger but I have never noticed much of a diff.
Is this snake much bigger than the others you have?

Spurs are vestigial remnants of legs.

Now males use them as courtship limbs to tickle and clasp females.

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

Both males and females can have spurs its just something balls have :D It is said that males are bigger but I have never noticed much of a diff.
Is this snake much bigger than the others you have?

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Yea, she's my largest BP even though my Albino male is only about 4 months younger.

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Are you talking about the spurs on either side of the cloaca(they look like spikes) or that string-like thing coming out of the cloaca?

Since we're on spurs topic, how old when they start to "develop" spurs? I was told its off-season (so they can mark up the price by a cutthroat 25%).. and most breeders said their BPs are 4 months old, but the one who sold Totti to me doesn't know how old is mine.

I was talking about both to tell you the truth.

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Originally Posted by Lemonde

Since we're on spurs topic, how old when they start to "develop" spurs? I was told its off-season (so they can mark up the price by a cutthroat 25%).. and most breeders said their BPs are 4 months old, but the one who sold Totti to me doesn't know how old is mine.

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Idk when do your legs start to grow after you're born? :D The spurs are there at birth. They may be smaller but they are there.

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Originally Posted by Misha

I was talking about both to tell you the truth.

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Not sure on the string thing, her vent scale looks li it is bent into her cloaca, could be a small piece of shed or waste. what kind of substrate do you keep her on? could be a coco husk fiber.

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Originally Posted by Aztec4mia

Not sure on the string thing, her vent scale looks li it is bent into her cloaca, could be a small piece of shed or waste. what kind of substrate do you keep her on? could be a coco husk fiber.

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That's probably what it was since I do keep her on coco husk. Checked her out today and it was gone.

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The string thing looks like some left over shed.

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Are you sure shes a she? Looks kinda like a dried sperm plug. Could be an old piece of shed too...

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

Are you sure shes a she? Looks kinda like a dried sperm plug. Could be an old piece of shed too...

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Thats what I was thinking to was a dried sperm plug. When I was trying to figure out if my normal male was a male or female, it was really hard to tell with him because when we probed him one side was shorter like how a female is and the other side was deeper like how a male is. The only reason we figured out he was a male was because when we pulled the probe out there was a dried sperm plug on it and it looked just like that.

To tell you honestly, I'm not 100% sure of the sex. I bought her at a local reptile shop where the owners have a pretty good knowledge about BPs but I never probed her.

I house my Albino male and my Regular girl together do you think it could be from the male?

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I would check that animal again. Even honest, reliable, and knowledgeable breeders can make mistakes every now n then. Unless you checked it yourself, you cant be 100% sure. May be just me, but If im buying a female, i like to be 110% sure :D

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

I would check that animal again. Even honest, reliable, and knowledgeable breeders can make mistakes every now n then. Unless you checked it yourself, you cant be 100% sure. May be just me, but If im buying a female, i like to be 110% sure :D

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True that. I'm usually pretty good at sexing these guys, but I sexed one of my 2012 babies as a female and gave it to a friend once it got started good. We referred to it as a girl for a year, even named it Lacey, then about 6 weeks ago I was over there checking up on it and noticed that it looked kinda slender-ish to be a female (I know body shape isn't 100% accurate so don't everyone jump me, but males do commonly have a distinctively slender build toward the lower gut compared to females. It's a good hint even though it occasionally lies). So anyways, it was enough that I felt compelled to pop "her" again and SURPRISE!! So yeah, that can totally happen to any of us lol. :)

I don't have any experience in probing or popping so I'm kind of hesitant to do it even though I've seen enough videos on doing it.

Anyone with the experience in probing have any good tips? Or should I possibly find someone to show me how to do it?

I might order a probe kit and carefully try it.

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I can tell you that popping starts to get tough when they get up past about 500 grams or so. Super hard to virtually impossible past 1000.

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Originally Posted by Misha

I don't have any experience in probing or popping so I'm kind of hesitant to do it even though I've seen enough videos on doing it.

Anyone with the experience in probing have any good tips? Or should I possibly find someone to show me how to do it?

I might order a probe kit and carefully try it.

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Stef made a great probing video. I'll go try to find it...

Edit: here you go
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=194166

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

Stef made a great probing video. I'll go try to find it...

Edit: here you go
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=194166

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Thanks for finding it for me. I've actually seen this video before. Now I just need some courage to try and do it while making sure I don't hurt my snakeys.

Which one is better to use for probing (Vaseline or water)?

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Originally Posted by Misha

Thanks for finding it for me. I've actually seen this video before. Now I just need some courage to try and do it while making sure I don't hurt my snakeys.

Which one is better to use for probing (Vaseline or water)?

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I had never probed prior to this. Bought a set and did just like Stef did. Water worked fine. And I was terrified of hurting them, but it was super easy. Just be gentle, and it does slide right in, you'd be surprised. Although my albino striking at me didn't help anything...lol

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

I had never probed prior to this. Bought a set and did just like Stef did. Water worked fine. And I was terrified of hurting them, but it was super easy. Just be gentle, and it does slide right in, you'd be surprised. Although my albino striking at me didn't help anything...lol

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Well I appreciate the encouragement. I'll have to pick up a probe kit and very carefully give it a try. I need to learn how to probe sooner or later because I'm planning to start breeding my ball pythons in about a year.





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I use KY or lube. Ive never used water or vaseline. But whatever works :p

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Well I just ordered the probe kit from Reptile Basics so once it comes in I'm going to carefully probe my animals and make sure of their sex.

Is there any other way of measurement besides the scales system?

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So quick update: I got my probes today and my normal girl is really a girl :) It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was a little nervous but it was pretty easy. Thanks again for the encuragement!

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