Monty, where are your hemipenes??

[CoolioTiffany]

When I purchased my second BP, Monty, I was told he is a male. I purchased him at a herpetological society, too. The man who sold him to me only took a good look at his tail, and said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a male." so I just assumed that he was correct.

However, tonight while I was checking up on my BPs, I thought to myself to try and pop Monty (have popped my snakes before, so not new to popping). Before I popped him, I watched the 8BallPythons "Popping Lessons" video on YouTube to refresh my memory on how to do so (I knew how to do it already, just want to make sure I did it correctly). So, when I popped Monty, nothing came out. I saw those two small scent glands that the females seem to have. I popped a few more times, just to make sure I wasn't doing it incorrectly, but results were the same. Monty's anal spurs are somewhat larger than Candice's, and I have heard that a male's spurs were larger than a female's. Here's a picture, maybe you experienced poppers can help me out and tell me if I did the popping wrong (I have popped a male snake before too, and popped females as well, so not sure if I did anything wrong or not):



Sorry if the pic isn't so good.. my brother doesn't really know how to work my camera lol

[Twisted Reptiles]

IMO, its hard to say from that picture Tiff. It looks like you're squeezing the bejeezus out of it, but maybe pinching too much. Make sure you start far enough back on the tail and that you're pulling back with your right thumb.

No penes in that picture but not sure anything can be said 100% from that pic. If you're ever in the north valley stop by with it and we can figure it out for sure.

[CoolioTiffany]

IMO, its hard to say from that picture Tiff. It looks like you're squeezing the bejeezus out of it, but maybe pinching too much. Make sure you start far enough back on the tail and that you're pulling back with your right thumb.

No penes in that picture but not sure anything can be said 100% from that pic. If you're ever in the north valley stop by with it and we can figure it out for sure.

I wasn't squeezing it too hard at all, and I did start at the base of the tail. I just may stop by, I am anxious to know the sex because I'm planning on breeding next year and I do need to know if he's (or she's) a male or not.

Thanks!

[Hulihzack]

Can't go by spurs or just looking at the tail with ball pythons... I'm surprised a guy at a herp society thought he could eyeball a ball python's sex. -_-

[nixer]

Can't go by spurs or just looking at the tail with ball pythons... I'm surprised a guy at a herp society thought he could eyeball a ball python's sex. -_-

i wouldnt there is many many ppl out there that think they know everything about herps, some do, most dont

[CoolioTiffany]

Can't go by spurs or just looking at the tail with ball pythons... I'm surprised a guy at a herp society thought he could eyeball a ball python's sex. -_-

Yeah, every time I see someone do that (just look at the tail and assume its sex) I just kinda sit there in a "wow" thought.

A guy at Petsmart did the same thing (took Candice to Petsmart) with my Ball python. I was handling Candice and he came up and talked to me for a few minutes, then he grabbed my snake's tail, took a good look, and finally said, "Is it a male?" My reply, well, of course I said no. I told him I had popped her before and found out she is a female, and it's hard to tell the gender just by looking at the tail.