Need help sexing

Hi i have an albino corn. Its about 5 foot long. Give or take a few inches. I was told it was female from the pet shop i got it from. Heres the thing i probed it and im having a hard time telling if its male or female.The reason im asking is I was told a female should only probe 1-3 scales. It probed about 5 scales on one side and 7 on the other. I know in ball pythons that would be a male. Ive seen in some male corns probe up to 15 scales. When you probe a female there should be a hard stop right? Thats how this one was. Males have kind of a stretchy feeling when at the end. Any help would be great. I know you can kind of tell sometimes by how thick the tale is or something like that. I could get a few pics posted if that would help. Not till tomorrow. Thanks for your time.

Hi,


I'm far from an expert with these but I think the best guide is the shape of the tail. Does it begin to taper immediately past the vent or does it maintain its thickness for a bit then start to taper?


dr del

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Originally Posted by ama1997

Hi i have an albino corn. Its about 5 foot long. Give or take a few inches. I was told it was female from the pet shop i got it from. Heres the thing i probed it and im having a hard time telling if its male or female.The reason im asking is I was told a female should only probe 1-3 scales. It probed about 5 scales on one side and 7 on the other. I know in ball pythons that would be a male. Ive seen in some male corns probe up to 15 scales. When you probe a female there should be a hard stop right? Thats how this one was. Males have kind of a stretchy feeling when at the end. Any help would be great. I know you can kind of tell sometimes by how thick the tale is or something like that. I could get a few pics posted if that would help. Not till tomorrow. Thanks for your time.

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Are you wanting to breed her(or him)? If so i suggest you have someone who is experianced with probing a corn check it for you.I say this because you can injure the snake by forceing the probe to far past the organs ending.I have never heard of any corn probing in the 15 scale area and wonder if the snake was stabbed thru the area and inturn injured.A pic might help get a guess at the sex but i prefere probing to be exact :) .

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I'd listen to him - he knows more than I do.:P


dr del

I've never really looked at scale count, but on any male corn I've probed, it went in about 3/4-1". Where as females went in 1/4", maybe a little more. Is there someone you trust that could do it for you?

There isnt anyone around here that knows much about corns so. I use to breed corns i sold all my breeders. I kept the one albino because i wasnt sure on the sex. I know how to probe them Im just having a hard time telling if this one is male or female. Ill look at the tail today and see ill get a few pictures and post them too. The reason im having a hard time telling is. The probe goes in far enough to make me think its a male,but theres a hard stop when i reach the end. Unlike the stretchy feeling you get with the males. I have a picture i got off of a website. It shows females being 1 to 3 scales deep males being 9 to 15 scales deep. So what if it probes 4 to 8 scales deep well her the drawing of that. Ill get pics posted later of the tail. Thanks again

There isnt anyone around here that knows much about corns so. I use to breed corns i sold all my breeders. I kept the one albino because i wasnt sure on the sex. I know how to probe them Im just having a hard time telling if this one is male or female. Ill look at the tail today and see ill get a few pictures and post them too. The reason im having a hard time telling is. The probe goes in far enough to make me think its a male,but theres a hard stop when i reach the end. Unlike the stretchy feeling you get with the males. I have a picture i got off of a website. It shows females being 1 to 3 scales deep males being 9 to 15 scales deep.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ingdrawing.jpg

So what if it probes 4 to 8 scales deep well heres the drawing of that. Ill get pics posted later of the tail. Thanks again

Crap ive been getting alot of double post lately anyone know why. Well sorry about that

Not too sure on corns but I've read females can be up to 8 scales deep with ball pythons and males are anything over 8... just a guess based on what ive read.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ama1997

There isnt anyone around here that knows much about corns so. I use to breed corns i sold all my breeders. I kept the one albino because i wasnt sure on the sex. I know how to probe them Im just having a hard time telling if this one is male or female. Ill look at the tail today and see ill get a few pictures and post them too. The reason im having a hard time telling is. The probe goes in far enough to make me think its a male,but theres a hard stop when i reach the end. Unlike the stretchy feeling you get with the males. I have a picture i got off of a website. It shows females being 1 to 3 scales deep males being 9 to 15 scales deep. So what if it probes 4 to 8 scales deep well her the drawing of that. Ill get pics posted later of the tail. Thanks again

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Where are you located? If you bred them at one time then you should be able to look at the tails and tell the differances:) .Is it possible the probe you are using is to large? Try a smaller one and see if you get the same results.

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Originally Posted by JoshJP7

Not too sure on corns but I've read females can be up to 8 scales deep with ball pythons and males are anything over 8... just a guess based on what ive read.

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In my opinion corn snakes are not even made up close enough compared to ball pythons to get this differances in the probings.

I dont have any other corns to compare to. I just got rid of all my corns but this one. I do want to get a male/female to go with this one. Heres a few pics of the tail. Oh im from Wisconsin.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/100_7833.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/100_7828.jpg

Thanks again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ama1997

I dont have any other corns to compare to. I just got rid of all my corns but this one. I do want to get a male/female to go with this one. Heres a few pics of the tail. Oh im from Wisconsin.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/100_7833.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/100_7828.jpg

Thanks again

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Hmm its kinda hard to see if the tail tapers or is just bent by the movement of the snake.I never live by guesses at pics,i still say try to go to a show or someone to probe it.

Hi,


I'd say male Just going by the lack of taper visible in that but the photo doesn't really show much of the tail so it's a guess at best.

It does say in the book that the probe should rarely go much deeper than the tail is wide in females but as Joe said pictures aren't the best method for judging.

Hopefully there is someone on here close to you that would be able to help out.


dr del

Yah there not very good pics. I took like 20 of them and those were the best 2. Its in shed and didnt want to be messed with. I could never tell by looking at the tails. Maybe was just because i wasnt sure what to look for. I could get a better picture of the whole tail if that would help. Well thanks for everything

To be honest, I find that sexing by tail shape is a guessing game. There are definately both sexes who appear to have opposite phenotypes as far as tail shape goes.

Can you probe him again, then put your finger against the probe where it meets the cloaca, remove it with your finger still next to the probe, and get a picture of that and post it? This way we can see just how deep the probe went in. Make sense?

Yah i can try and get that. Ill try to get that posted tomorrow sometime. Thanks again