popping snake

[Slim]

When you are learning, it helps to practice on animals of a known sex...it eliminates one of the variables in the situation.

[Quantum Constrictors]

Well I watched the guy probe Ekans today and it was for sure a male. But I dont know how often do you get bit while popping? Ekans is really docile and didnt have a problem being probed tho. But still I dont know how much I trust myself

[HerpIsAhobby]

Getting bit while popping isn't all that common if your doing it right. I have popped quite a few animals and have never been bit as a result of popping. Now feeding bare handed and not paying attention...that will get you bit most of the time.

[Quantum Constrictors]

Ok cool but when I pop do i just like let him dangle there?

[satomi325]

Ok cool but when I pop do i just like let him dangle there?

They might be a little frisky if you dangle them. Try supporting his body or tuck him under your arm. That way it also restricts their movements. A still snake is easier to pop.

[HerpIsAhobby]

Satomi has it spot on. You don't want the animal to be tensed up trying to find something to support its weight because that will make popping much harder. If they cooperate enough I like to have them scooting up my forearm and support the body with my arm so I have both hands free. It might not be true of everyone but I like to have my dominant hand do the rolling/popping and my other hand applying pressure above the vent.

A quick piece of advice is they tend to want to check out whats going on with their butt when someone is touching them there so don't be surprised if the first couple of attempts while your getting comfortable you have a snake staring at your hand Good Luck.

[KrazyKevin]

You all have been very helpful I am going to try in 2 days because Fang just ate

[JLC]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it (unless I missed it in my quick read) but when you try it, don't wear anything that you would be upset about getting peed/pooed on. Have some paper towels or something handy as well. It CAN get messy.

[MrLang]

I don't understand. The margin for messing this up is huge. I 'popped' my normal as well as the person at the pet store and we were both confident the snake was a female. Months later, I bought a probe kit and it is undoubtedly a male. Probing is fool proof and you only need 2 probe sizes to sex any age ball python. I feel MUCH more comfortable applying the pressure I need to apply with a probe than on the end of the spine of a tiny little hatchling snake and forcing its organs to erupt from its cloaca due to an overload of internal pressure.

For someone who has done it a million times, sure, you wouldn't want to have to pull out your kit every time you need to double check a snake. I get that a lot of you are pros and can pull this off with confidence and without risking the snakes' health.

For someone who hasn't done it and has nobody to show them in person, why isn't anyone recommending probing instead? We don't give novice keepers advice to actively remove stuck eye caps. Why would we advise them to 'apply more pressure' to the most delicate part of the spine?

[HerpIsAhobby]

MrLang I have to disagree with you here. Probing can be very dangerous to your animal if done by someone who has no knowledge of how to do it. Sure if your a gorilla and squeeze way to hard on your snake during a pop you can injure them but the countless people I have shown how to have the opposite problem with using too little pressure because they didn't want to hurt the snake. Learning how to probe should be taught by a professional because the difference between going to far and getting it right is a puncture of the sex organ of your animal. Also Probing an animal can lead to false results as well and for me the only way for me to guarantee the sex of a snake is to actually see it with my own eyes.

In your case you and someone else popped your animal and came to the conclusion that it was female because you saw no hemi's correct? Since probing have you had a pro pop the animal and actually see that it was male? If I were you I would take the animal to a pro if you have not done so already and make sure.