To my knowledge, probing is the least foolproof method while popping is great for babies. Scale counts aren't as accurate as many would like to believe and that includes with corns. There are always some that will go against it and when you're either trying to sell or look to breeding, you don't want your beautiful "girl" to try and attack the boy "she's" put in with. Quite frankly, probing is rather easy though I would recommend having someone else help you hold the snake when starting out. They don't exactly like it (not that I blame them!) and that is where the danger lies for injury to them. I will not pop an adult either bp or corn. The pressure needed can do damage though it could be used in a pinch say at a show where you wish to verify the sex of an animal.