ALWAYS have a professional double check your snake sex IDing!!

[moravaguy]

well im looking for info to back this up ive been in this a while and never heard of it...i mean think about it almost a year went buy wouldnt of some scar tissue stopped my probe?

[rabernet]

well im looking for info to back this up ive been in this a while and never heard of it...i mean think about it almost a year went buy wouldnt of some scar tissue stopped my probe?

Sigh....I'm bowing out - I'll let others "back this up".

[Argentra]

Dude...chill out please. I don't want this thread turning into a 'you said' debate. She wasn't Directly saying that YOU injured your snake... she was just mentioning that she had heard of it happening. Please drop it and let the comments on sexing flow as they should.

Now then, I do feel a bit better hearing that mistakes can always be made even by the big guys. However, I still feel nervous about all my other snakes, especially the two I still want to sell.

Does anyone know of, or might they be, someone in the southern Seattle area who could probe my corns and BPs for me either free or very cheap? I have someone who put a down payment on my pastel BP female, and I want to make sure it's a female they'd be getting. Not to mention that I want to make sure of sexes before I get all ready to breed these guys.
Thanks, and keep the comments going.

[moravaguy]

im sorry, im just so used to people bashing on here, and if you read it does seem that way, but again im sorry

[dr del]

Hi,

well im looking for info to back this up ive been in this a while and never heard of it...i mean think about it almost a year went buy wouldnt of some scar tissue stopped my probe?

Just to say not only have I heard of this I had the cringe worthy experience of watching someone do it to their snake while learning to probe.

Granted in his case it was because the snake wasn't being held correctly and jerked its tail towards him quicker than he managed to let go of the probe but seeing it actually slide down towards the tail tip under the skin was not a pleasant experience for us never mind the poor snake.

It's hard to teach someone how gentle they have to be with small snakes - especially if they are using a probe set that doesn't have ball tips.

You can still do it with the ball tips but it is a lot less likely because of the extra force needed to actually rupture the membrane.

I'm not sure how it heals as I have never probed a snake that has had this done to them - maybe someone else can chime in with this?

And just to say (quoting from your own post )

"did YOU probe both sides of the spider?

This is a sentence where Rabernet is specifically asking you a question about what you did.

Sometimes, someone inexperienced with probing can actually injure the female and it will go deep like a male"

This is a completely different sentence explaining why you were asked the question and in no way shape or form accusing you of anything - hence the use of the word "someone"

I'm sorry but you simply misunderstood what she said.

Rabernet in no way deserved your reply but I am glad things are settled now anyway.

Sorry for drifting offtrack Argentra.


dr del

[moravaguy]

like i said im sorry for jumping but anyway did it bleed and stuff when the probe went in like that?

[dr del]

Hi,

No there was no sign of anything wrong aside from us seeing the probe go waaaaay past where even a male would have reached the bottom of the pocket.

The probe came out clean and the snake seemed fine afterwards. We told him to keep it on papertowels for a week and he never told us he saw anything out of the ordinary at all.

It still makes me nervous when probing hatchlings though as I obviously have to use a thinner probe. If I could just learn to pop older snakes reliably I'd be happy to stop probing to confirm for the hatchlings altogether.


dr del

[moravaguy]

does she breed?

[dr del]

Sadly I am no longer in touch with him so cannot say.

I can't see any reason why she wouldn't though.

If it had been a male it might have damaged a hemi-pene but there are some males out there who lost one side through prolapse etc that are still breeding for people. I don't know if peircing both sides would put the male out of commision but you'd hope it could heal from a small rupture like that eventually.

The important parts of the female are all in the opposite direction as far as I can tell so it should affect them even less I think.

For the female I'd guess the only time it should have serious consequences is if infection set in? But that's just a guess as I say.


dr del

[moravaguy]

well hopefully someone will know