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

[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

[WingedWolfPsion]

I have a probe set, but I've just never used them for ball pythons...once I learned how to pop them properly, it just didn't seem necessary.

I have had at least one hatchling with smaller 'bits' that it took me 3 or 4 checks to confirm the gender on, but I check them all numerous times before they go out, to be sure.
I haven't had any issues popping older snakes, either--in some cases it's actually easier.

[MikeV]

Hey guys,

I am getting a 3 week old Ball Python female on the 22nd - 25th.

The breeder (which is a small store) says it is a female

He is the boss of the store so I am inclined to take his word. The baby ball is coming from thier farm, he asked me if i wanted male or female, i chose female cuz I want a bigger snake.

I was wondering if it would be wise for a first time BP owner to try to pop it? I watched a video on it and have a very good idea of how to do it

YouTube - Pro Tips #9 - Sexing your Ball Python

I also am very shy in person, well.. sometimes.. and this would be one of those times... I dont really want to ask him to pop it infront of me. He is giving me a good deal on it and an aquarium and UTH...

I dont wanna look like I dont trust him or something


any advice on what I should do?

[moravaguy]

ask the person to do it in front of you because you want to see how its done