Green Tree Python Sperm Plugs - High Quality Image

[reptileexperts]

A lot of people out there have asked historically about sperm plugs. My male Green Tree Python (Mostly Sorong influence) gave me a clean one piece shed last night with a perfect example of sperm plugs. So I busted out my professional macro setup for frog work in the tropics, and got everyone a clean shot to compare with. Enjoy!



And the boy



Morelia Viridis

Cheers

[Evenstar]

Awesome pictures!! Will have to use this thread to refer back to when the opportunity presents itself...........

[reptileexperts]

Thanks Kali! I have this shed saved for future reference sake as well should I ever need to scan it or submit it to someone.

[bfirecat]

Those are amazing pictures and a great looking boy!

[Kaorte]

Great pictures! I'd only expect a green trees sperm plugs to be just as photogenic as the actual snake!

[tikigator]

I wish all snakes shed sperm plugs as easily as our chondros, would make sexing A LOT easier! Our males shed them regularly and it makes it very easy to sex them at 1-2 years without the hassle of probing. Def no question there, you've got a male!

[reptileexperts]

Yep, with Boas we can rely on spurs pretty commonly. Hognose we rely on tail length and once you've seen the difference there is NO question at all. Other colubrids can be slightly different visually, but most still need to be popped for high confidence. But with Green Trees, it is really nice to have such a clear cut method to confirm your sex without harassing your snake.

[rocknhorse76]

My Dumeril's usually sheds sperm plugs too.

[tikigator]

But with Green Trees, it is really nice to have such a clear cut method to confirm your sex without harassing your snake.

We can usually tell visually by a year regardless, how they feed, how they perch, personality, etc By 2 years there is usually no question. However for people who aren't experienced, the presence of sperm plugs are a nice way of telling. We just purchased an unsexed 4 year old that we were not sure if he was female or not. It was either a very overweight male or very small female. But personality and feeding response said male. Perching said female...although part of that was the extra "fluff" So we simply waited for the shed...and there were the plugs. Some breeders can tell by tail length, shape, etc but that involves a bit of "harassing the snake" haha and I personally have not checked out enough tails to be able to verify that way.

As my finace told me when we first met.....it's easy to sex baby chondros....just hold a credit card above their head...whichever one strikes at the card is a female.....

[KMG]

Some breeders can tell by tail length, shape, etc but that involves a bit of "harassing the snake" haha and I personally have not checked out enough tails to be able to verify that way.

I know you already said you don't really handle your collection but calling it harassing is a bit much. I could not imagine having a collection that I didn't handle. I think if the only stress or "harassing" a snake gets is being held for a brief time is a pretty easy life. They get a nice penthouse apartment with perfect weather and a steady diet of gourmet rodents brought to them. I think this is far less than one would encounter in the wild.

While I will agree that our snakes may have specific needs that makes them some what high maintenance to keep. I have said before that I think they are far more resilient than they are given credit. I never do any more than hold my snakes and let them crawl on and around me, and I really don't do it often, but I think they put up with me rather well. I don't think it has any ill effect on them.

I like the credit card idea. I will have to try it.