I'm in shock.

[Crazy4Herps]

<<-- in shock

Way back when I purchased my first snake I bought a female (I paid $50 extra for a female) ball python from a reptile shop. When the box came and I opened it that was probably among the most exhilarating moments of my life--my first snake, a big beautiful girl named Culebra. I fell in love, and no matter how many snakes I bought later, this girl has always been my favorite. As I type right now she's hanging around my neck. I love her to pieces, I really do; she is simply amazing.

Well. Not too long ago I was helping my mom out with a day camp she was running for her elementary students. Naturally, I showed them some ball pythons, they all had a great time, snake education is important, etc. After about 20 minutes Culebra peed all over the floor, and as I was rushing about to clean up the mess, I saw--HEMIPENES??

So. Um. This is awkward.

Realize I've had this snake for some years, and for all those years she (HE??) has been "my adorable little sweetie girl".

I mean, I really don't care. I don't breed snakes. It sucks that the shop misinformed me, but I have reason to believe she's wild caught as well so I was already pissed at them. Well, I always thought that "she" was a pretty small female at nearly 7 years and barely 4 feet.

I'm just not sure I can make the transition is all. Cu has been my favorite girl for all these years... And what am I supposed to call her (him???) now? Culebro? I am really tempted to ignore the offending hemipenes and forget about it. I think I'll leave her labeled as a female on iHerp and represent her on my collection list as 0.1 ball python. Sorry, Cu, but I think you're stuck being called a girl.

Gah. Snakes, huh? Lol please tell me I'm not the only one who has experienced the gender reversal of a dear pet?

[Salamander Rising]

<<-- in shock

Way back when I purchased my first snake I bought a female (I paid $50 extra for a female) ball python from a reptile shop. When the box came and I opened it that was probably among the most exhilarating moments of my life--my first snake, a big beautiful girl named Culebra. I fell in love, and no matter how many snakes I bought later, this girl has always been my favorite. As I type right now she's hanging around my neck. I love her to pieces, I really do; she is simply amazing.

Well. Not too long ago I was helping my mom out with a day camp she was running for her elementary students. Naturally, I showed them some ball pythons, they all had a great time, snake education is important, etc. After about 20 minutes Culebra peed all over the floor, and as I was rushing about to clean up the mess, I saw--HEMIPENES??

So. Um. This is awkward.

Realize I've had this snake for some years, and for all those years she (HE??) has been "my adorable little sweetie girl".

I mean, I really don't care. I don't breed snakes. It sucks that the shop misinformed me, but I have reason to believe she's wild caught as well so I was already pissed at them. Well, I always thought that "she" was a pretty small female at nearly 7 years and barely 4 feet.

I'm just not sure I can make the transition is all. Cu has been my favorite girl for all these years... And what am I supposed to call her (him???) now? Culebro? I am really tempted to ignore the offending hemipenes and forget about it. I think I'll leave her labeled as a female on iHerp and represent her on my collection list as 0.1 ball python. Sorry, Cu, but I think you're stuck being called a girl.

Gah. Snakes, huh? Lol please tell me I'm not the only one who has experienced the gender reversal of a dear pet?

My first was a male who turned out to be female.

My second was a male who was first male, then female, then male, then female and finally male again.

Now, when I buy snakes, if it's not already guaranteed a proven breeder [such as a hatchling/young snake] I insist on being shown 'the goods'.

Makes naming them so much easier and permanent.....

[Missy King]

ah after my first few purchases, i now insist on seeing the goods *lol* i *thought* copper, my hognose, was a boy...then i called and asked, and she said Girl! Until a month or so ago i got a BOY for her...and posted pics online, and someone reminded me that (duh) for hogs, i can tell by the tail.

Boys. Both boys. My little Copper! LOL oh well i named him copper thinking he was a boy to begin with! *rolls eyes*

Most of my snakes are unknown, as they are reascues or adoptees. I did buy my two dumerils, and since i do plan to breed them some day, yeah, i insisted on checking *lol*

[decensored]

are you sure you saw 2 hemipenes? Sometimes, especially with adults it can be difficult to differentiate when they pop. It doesn't surprise me though, pet shops like to do that :\ i'm not sure if honesty still exists in the business world anymore.

[JulieInNJ]

And this is why my first snake is named Goliath...and it's a girl... LOL!

[WifeOfSlasher]

This hasn't happened to us but it did to my sister... Her 5 1/2 foot "Joe" turned out to be a josephine. lol We don't know the gender of our guys, bp and bci, for sure but they both have very big anal spurs. Honestly... We don't care.

[RobNJ]

Culebra works for a boy.

[JLC]

There's a story on here somewhere from several years back... (I'm too lazy to look for it right now. Sorry! ) About a member who had a pair of ball pythons that she loved very much. I'm pretty sure she raised them from babies herself, but I know for sure she had them for a long time. The time came when this member decided she wanted to get into breeding. She put this male and female together and witnessed the locks. And some time later, the MALE is found proudly curled up around a beautiful clutch of eggs. Both the animals had been sexed wrong from the get-go, and no one realized it until the eggs came out of the wrong one!

[wendhend]

Having owned hundreds of snakes, I have only experienced one gender mix-up to my knowledge, and it was on the very first ball python that we bought for our son almost nine years ago from a pet store. We bought the snake as a "male" and finally discovered it was actually a female three years later when I started becoming suspicious of the large body size and small spurs. Sure enough, she probed female. So, "Jake the Snake" became "Belinda" and went on to become an excellent breeder for me, laying clutches of 9-10 egg clutches. We still have her today. My kid was initially shocked and disappointed by the gender mix-up, but he got over it pretty fast.

[jjmitchell]

I completely feel your pain, I have been sold 2 females that have in fact been males. The first was an albino that was a long dramatic story to begin with.... the second was a black pastel vanilla purchased from a big name breeder, whe refused to correct his mistake and basically called me a liar. I under stand that you payed 50 bucks extra for a female, the seller took care of me on the missexed albino, but the missexed black pastel vanilla cost me around 300 bucks extra for a female (the only female availible was mine @ 1100, and the only male availible sold for about 800 bucks. I dont understand how so many animals are missexed, I understand that petstores tend to know little about it, but from breeders..... I understand mistakes happen, but the attitude I got from these two people were amazing... Even after seeing pics of snake with hemipenes hanging out one of the 2 breeders in question, questioned my ability to sex a snake... the other simply told me in all his years and thousands of snakes produced this would be the first he has mis sexed....