So I got my probing kit in today(8 piece set with balled tips from LLL reptiles). Just for the record, I decided to teach myself how to probe after doing extensive research. I know it isnt the same as having someone teach you, but with extreme caution I proceded. Heres a link to my last thread explaining why I chose to self teach. Heres a Link to the last thread, explaining why I opted to self teach.

Ive popped my two females before I bought them from the pet store, and My spider was sold to me as a male, and my burm as a female. They were a little too large for me to condifently pop, so I never did.

I started practicing on my smallest female normal. I used vaseline as the lubricant(as was recommended by Kobylka in his pro tip video) and stopped when I felt the least bit of resistance. Just as expected, it only went up 3 scales. Just to get a better feel for it, I did the other side of the cloaca, and probed her a few more times before putting her back. She was acting perfectly normal and appeared to be in no pain. It went very smoothly. So I moved up to my other female normal, and came to the conclusion that she was female. It went in only 3 scales.

Now my spider on the other hand, is far larger then my normals, and was a little trickier. He tried to squirm more than they did, but once I finally got him to sit still, I managed to probe him too. It has been my understanding that females will take a probe a distance of 1-3 scales and males will take a probe between 8-9 scales. I measured 4-5 when I probed him, and that falls above the female range but below the male range. Now it is theoreticly possible that I didnt make it all the way up, but I felt resistance, and I know that wasnt the middle of the cloaca barrier. I was scared to push harder because the last thing I want to do it her him, and im fairly confident he is a girl, with a deep cloaca, as when I popped him afterward I saw no trace of hemepenes, even a little. Im so mad! Now I have to get him up to female breeding weight, and get a male pinstripe to sire my spider and pastel next season. That means I have to drop another $200 and quarentine another snake ASAP if I want everyone to be healthy and ready in time.

Anyway, I attempted to probe my burm as well, but shes much bigger and stronger than my balls, and I couldnt even mange to get the probe into her cloaca whatsoever. I may just have to let time and size tell on that one XDD