Palpating?

[Medduussa]

I’ve heard a lot about sexing ball pythons by palpating them. What does that mean and how is it done? Can it be done at any time?


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[Stewart_Reptiles]

I think you are confused palpating is to palpate a female to monitor folicular development.

To sex a ball python you either pop (which is the action of everting the sexual organs) or probe (which is the action of inserting a probe in the cloaca towards the tail to see how deep it goes)

If you have no experience doing so, find someone to teach you

[Toad37]

As far as I'm aware the palpation method (the bump test) only works on boas and only up to a couple years of age. I've never heard of it being done on a bp. Different definitions for different species I guess. Like Deborah said palpating a bp is feeling for eggs.

[Alicia]

As far as I'm aware the palpation method (the bump test) only works on boas and only up to a couple years of age. I've never heard of it being done on a bp. Different definitions for different species I guess. Like Deborah said palpating a bp is feeling for eggs.

This. Sexing by palpation is doable-ish in ball pythons, but the window for doing it is pretty narrow. It's really from about a hatchy to ~200 grams that I can kind of tell a difference between make and female babies, then females develop what feels more or less exactly like the "speed bump." Up until then, male tails feel squishy and then solid; female tails feel solid all the way down.

But it's not reliable. Popping or probing are the ways to go, as Deborah said.