I dont know the gender of my snake

[Buddyball]

So, we were told when we got the snake that it was a male but after taking it to the vet he said that he thought it was a female but couldn't tell. Can you tell by the spurs? Ive even heard that you can tell by the tails, I cant remember how though. Anyways, here's a picture. In case it makes any difference, its about 7 months old.

[Sauzo]

There is no way to tell the sex of a BP without probing or popping. What kind of vet did you go to lol? Vets have probe kits and can sex your snake. I take my snakes to my vet whenever I'm in doubt for sexing and a checkup.

[Buddyball]

Ah, thank you. He said it was too difficult to sex them when theyre young, maybe he just couldnt have been bothered to do it

[Regius_049]

Ball pythons being the are thick and robust snakes even at a young age making them sexable very early. It is likely your vet does not have much experience sexing snakes (most do not) as this is very generally true of many snake species (unable to sex when very young), but ball pythons are not one of them.

I might suggest looking at a few youtube videos. There are two reliable methods: (1) popping, and (2) probing. For a beginner, you can try popping, but it can be tricky. I suggest trying probing first. I use lubricated and straightened bobby pins as they can be found almost anywhere and are disposable.

[Sauzo]

Well my vet told me the smallest probe she has in her kit is too large for any BP under 7 months old so maybe that was the same problem with yours. I would just call around to exotic vets and see if they got probe kits small enough for 7 month old BP. Heck getting them sexed is easy money for a vet lol. You basically pay the office visit and they just probe it tell you haha.

[Buddyball]

Thanks, ill look into it

[Sauzo]

If you don't know how to pop, don't try and learn it off youtube. You can hurt the snake if done wrong. Worst case, check with your local herp club and ask them if anyone there has experience sexing BPs or if not, what vet they would recommend to do it. That's my advice.

[redshepherd]

Ah, thank you. He said it was too difficult to sex them when theyre young, maybe he just couldnt have been bothered to do it

It's actually a million times easier to sex a young snake than than a grown one. The younger, the better. If he's not a reptile specialist, I wouldn't actually trust him to do it LOL.