Dumeril's sexing?

[SquamishSerpents]

I ask because last summer, we were "snake-sitting" our friends male Dumeril's boa, David Bowie.

They went on a 1.5 month roadtrip across Canada (SO JEALOUS) however when they got back, something had happened with their housing situation, and they could no longer care for him. They knew I was IN. LOVE! with this snake, and decided to let me keep him since they knew I would provide him with the best of care.

He is just the biggest puppydog ever, with GORGEOUS colors. I have not been able to capture his colors with a camera yet, but I think he's due for a photoshoot soon! He's got browns, greys, pinks, speckles, he's got it all.

But ANYWAYS, the reason I ask is because right now, he is housed in a 55 gallon aquarium.

He had been eating live for his entire life, and I have FINALLY managed to switch him to f/t. It only takes a good blowdrying of the rats to get him to eat them...but I hope to wean him off the blowdryer one day! But since using this method, he is eating a lot more steady than he was on live.

Now since I got him I just took their word for it that he was a male. Never really bothered to look into it, as he's a pet only, and I don't ever plan on breeding Dumerils.

I'm just concerned that if he is indeed a female, I'm going to need to get much bigger housing for him (because I assume he's going to start growing like a weed on his new feeding regime) or perhaps rehome him.

Can any of you tell me how to figure out weather he is a male or female? I've read that males will have spurs.

I breed ball pythons, so I know what spurs look like. He doesn't really have any, though he does seem to have teeny tiny places where spurs might be. I know with ball pythons the spurs can shed off into almost nothing. Could this be the case with him?

I am going to get some photos of his cloaca area later on, I just need Dave to help me hold him!

Thanks!

PS - Pics!

here is David and David:



and me and David:



and David playing in the park:

[Wh00h0069]

First off, spurs are little bones on either side of their cloaca. Search for them on Google. I do not visually sex mine. Your best bet is to probe him / her. Another option is to pop, although it would be tough because of his / her size. If you do not know how to probe, you could learn, or take him / her to someone how does. It is not tough to do as long as you have the probes.

[Cendalla]

David Bowie is a hottie! Beautiful looking snake all around. They are impossible to photograph and show their real charm. Flash, no flash, indoors, out- nothing has worked like I would like.

I have a female (Leela) thats right at six feet. I had her in a 6' X 2' setup and she hated it. I moved her into a 55gal (3' X 2') and she is in heaven. I'm not sure why she prefers smaller but I have a feeling it was because she was kept in a 20L for about six years before I got her. Your boy looks like he's smaller than her (mostly because Leela is a chunk who loves food) maybe he might like the smaller setup too- I don't know.

I had Leela probed to be sure thats she's a she. I think at his size and age you could probably hurt him by popping. Its a lot safer when they are little and haven't built up their musculature.

Good luck with him. I LOVE my Dum. I have never had a snake as sweet and mellow as her (unless its chow time).

[SquamishSerpents]

thanks guys!

yeah, he is much to large for me to even consider popping him, wouldn't want to hurt the poor guy!

unfortunately there isn't anybody around me that could probe, either. i am the reptile expert in the town, lol. i am hoping to pick up a set of sexing probes at the BCRC Show and Sale this weekend, but i haven't heard weather anybody will be bringing them or not.

probes are just one of those things that is on the "would like to have" list that gets pushed to the back of my mind!

and yeah, David Bowie was in a much bigger enclosure before but his previous owner said he seemed extremely stressed out. wouldn't eat, was always snappy, roaming around like crazy, etc. he seems incredibly happy in the 55. i gave him a very thick layer of substrate and he's constantly going through his little tunnels, and poking his head up and watching what's going on.

i hope to get some updated pictures of him soon!

[SquamishSerpents]

First off, spurs are little bones on either side of their cloaca. Search for them on Google. I do not visually sex mine. Your best bet is to probe him / her. Another option is to pop, although it would be tough because of his / her size. If you do not know how to probe, you could learn, or take him / her to someone how does. It is not tough to do as long as you have the probes.

this is what i was looking for on him:



because i've seen them on both my male and female ball pythons. however, i believe they're mostly made up of skin, because every so often i will notice a clump of skin near the cloaca area on a fresh shed.

[MoonlightBoas]

Male Dumerils Boas have spurs and females don't. At your snake's size they would be fairly easy to see. Most likely your Dumerils Boa is a female. Your 55 gallon tank should last you a while. Best of luck to you.

[SquamishSerpents]

thanks, Moonlight. i think i've cruised your site before, very nice!!

do you have any photos of a male Dumeril's spurs?

when i examined him before his vent area definitely did not look like the classic BP spurs that i've seen, but it did look like there were tiny, almost unnoticeable indents where the spurs could protrude out of, if that makes any sense.

will a Dumeril shed their spurs off like ball pythons occasionally do?

i found this on the web somewhere:



if they are that obvious all of the time, then i do believe my snake is female.

i'll look again tomorrow, David (boyfriend) is sleeping in the same room as David (snake) lol!

in the same thread that i got the spur photo from, somebody mentioned that Dumeril's are difficult to probe accurately, as well because of their short tail, and shallow hemipene depth. is this true?

*EDIT*

^whoops, sorry to sound like a broken record. forgot i had said pretty much that in my OP^

[MoonlightBoas]

Dumerils Boa spurs look just like that. As for sexing, I prefer palpation rather than probing. I feel it's less invasive than probing. I need to make a video sometime showing how to do it. Basically, you support the tail with your thumb, then you run the tip of one of your fingers from the vent towards the tip of the tail. About 9-10 scales down you'll feel one or two bumps like BB's. That tells you the snake is a male. It's a little easier on baby snakes than adult snakes, but very accurate with practice. You could practice on one of your male Ball Pythons to see what it's supposed to feel like, then try it on your Dumerils. Most likely, your Dumerils Boa is a female though because of the lack of spurs. I'll post a video of the technique when I get a chance. Take care.

[SquamishSerpents]

here are some photos of his vent area. in the closer crop you can see the spot where it looks like spurs are supposed to be.

i did try feeling the little "BBs" but didn't feel anything. i haven't felt up any of my ball pythons though, so i probably wasn't doing it properly.

[SquamishSerpents]

bump!

haven't gotten any responses since i posted pics of my Dumeril's in question.