Girl or Boy?

[catzeye21138]

We have had ball pythons in our house before and we knew the gender of them because the people at the store checked for us. But all of them have long past (aka: our first girl accidently fried herself. ;_; My sister's baby bp couldn't -cough- poop. And the other one we had wasn't nice and bit my dad. xP My dad has had snakes in the past and had never had an adult bite him). But the one we have right now(we've had him for about.. a year? I dunno.) we don't know what gender it is because we bought him from a petstore. His name is Mr. Sister and we don't plan on changing it lol. Could I possibly get some information on how to check if its a girl or boy?

[daniel1983]

Welcome to the site

You need to take the ball python to a qualified person(either a reptile vet or snake breeder) to have it sexed. There are two methods: probing and popping. Both need to be performed by an experienced person, or harm may come to the snake. There are no other reliable methods of sexing.

What kind of setup are you using for the ball python?

Snakes don't fry themselves and not 'pooping' is generally caused by husbandry problems, so I would suggest that you take a look at our caresheet to learn a bit about ball python husbandry.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

Let us know if you have any questions.

[catzeye21138]

Snakes don't fry themselves and not 'pooping' is generally caused by husbandry problems, so I would suggest that you take a look at our caresheet to learn a bit about ball python husbandry.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

Let us know if you have any questions.

Acually, my dad had tried to heat the cage from the bottom but at that time the bottom was made of glass and the glass got wet and it cracked and the snake crawled down there and got.. fried. =( (we arn't using that method anymore lol.). And about the not 'pooping', the snake never really.. Grew. We fed it a pinky and it didn't er, 'poo'. We even brought it to the vet and they said to immurse its body underwater and stroke it everyday to help it 'poo' but it didn't work and one day it just, died. =(

[daniel1983]

How are you heating the cage now?

Pinky mice are way to small for ball pythons. Ball pythons can generally take a weanling mouse right out of the egg....and adult mice at a few weeks of age. The ball python probably did not have anything to poop out because it was using every bit of the pinky to sustain itself.

Like I said, we have a wealth of information on this site so feel free to ask questions. Alot of us have been keeping ball pythons for some time and have a great deal of information to share

[catzeye21138]

How are you heating the cage now?

Pinky mice are way to small for ball pythons. Ball pythons can generally take a weanling mouse right out of the egg....and adult mice at a few weeks of age. The ball python probably did not have anything to poop out because it was using every bit of the pinky to sustain itself.

Like I said, we have a wealth of information on this site so feel free to ask questions. Alot of us have been keeping ball pythons for some time and have a great deal of information to share

I'm not sure how its being heated I'll have to look but we only fed it one pinky because he was a tiny little guy and looked like a mouse would eat it. xP Plus we tried a live mouse but it looked like he was afraid in it and we left it in there for the whole day but he didn't eat it so we just had to take it out and clean up the cage. So back to pinkies we went and my sister had to try and hand feed it. She got a book. =P I'll make sure to check out that link you posted a few times back though. =)

[tigerlily]

Actually heating the cage from the bottom is the best way to provide the appropriate heat a ball python needs. The problem you encountered is because all heating elements need a control. A thermostat or even a dimmer will work to adjust the heat output. A digital indoor/outdoor thermometer will help to ensure that those temps are achieved. (plus they measure the humidity as well)

A pinky mouse is awfully small, even for a baby bp. It may not had to poo because there was no excess material to excrete. It's possible that bp also had internal parasites and may have led to it's demise. It sounds like you may want to find a new vet that specializes in herps. They should be able to do a fecal and sex the snake for you.

[catzeye21138]

Internal parasites.. That sounds bad. xP And our vet knew* quite a bit about herps but I once had one of my guinea pigs in there for a check up and it died so we don't go there anymore. ;_; I guess I could ask them to sex it. =/ I'm going to take some picks of Mr. Sister soon and post them in the picture part. ^_^ Hes super cute lol.

[daniel1983]

I cant wait to see the pics

[catzeye21138]

Is it ok if I post the link here once I take them? The link to the thread I'll put in the pic part that is.

Oops! I can't take pics because 'he' just ate today. I forgot.

I think I have a few older pics on the computer though.