Just a question on determining BP gender.

[Whoodnballs]

So I have watched the videos that Ralph Davis has on youtube on determining sex of BPs. I guess this will actually be 3 questions. Do you pop, or probe to determine the sex? And my friend has a BP but doesn't know the sex. The vet told him that determeing the sex would tramatize the snake. Is that true? And one more, Is one way of determining the sex less invasive than the other?

[KelchUSMC]

I've seen videos on probing, doesn't seem traumatizing or invasive if done correctly. When I bought my BP at LLLReptiles they popped it and told me it was a male. It didn't look pleasant to me, but I don't know if the snake minded.. even so I doubt it would be traumatizing.

[CoolioTiffany]

So I have watched the videos that Ralph Davis has on youtube on determining sex of BPs. I guess this will actually be 3 questions. Do you pop, or probe to determine the sex? And my friend has a BP but doesn't know the sex. The vet told him that determeing the sex would tramatize the snake. Is that true? And one more, Is one way of determining the sex less invasive than the other?

For me, I pop my snakes unless told the sex or see if it is a male or female if popped or probed in front of me. If I was not told the sex, I choose popping since it's fast, but I am careful because there are always possibilities of injuries occuring.

I do not believe determining the sex would traumatize the snake unless if it got seriously injured from someone trying to do so. You will not really need to know the sex if you don't plan on breeding, but if your someone like me where I want to know the sex then doing much research on popping (which I think you should do before even probing because you could seriously injure your snake if probed incorrectly) would be the best choice.

I don't really think any method of determinating the sex is invasive. The snakes don't really seem to mind it when I pop them, but sometimes some snakes can me sensitive and act nervous when trying to determine the sex. I'll post up a video from SnakeBytesTV that shows 4 ways of how to sex your snakes.

Here's the video from SnakeBytesTV, it shows the 4 ways to sex a snake:
YouTube - SnakeBytesTV-sexing up some snakes!

Here's a video from 8BallPythons on how to pop your BP:
YouTube - 8 Ball Pythons - Popping Lessons

[Whoodnballs]

Thanks for your info.