Sexing a snake

[thehonestpirate]

Is it really dangerous to sex a snake via popping? I would like to sex my snake and have no one else to do it for me

[shaneswife828]

If your not sure how to do it you can cause them harm just as you can with probbing. You pull gently down with your thumb matched to the top of the vent and roll your other thumb from tail toward vent while slightly bending the tail. If you have a local reptile person who is familiar with it they may be more than willing to do it for you.

[thehonestpirate]

If your not sure how to do it you can cause them harm just as you can with probbing. You pull gently down with your thumb matched to the top of the vent and roll your other thumb from tail toward vent while slightly bending the tail. If you have a local reptile person who is familiar with it they may be more than willing to do it for you.

Well ive seen people do it and ive read up on how to do it. It seems easy enough. I wouldnt trust my LPS with it.

[Eramyl]

It's fairly simple once you get the hang of it. I watched a few videos on YouTube and tried it on a known male. Took me a few tries to get it to work. You have to roll the tail forward like a tube of toothpaste. The flesh should be a lavender color and the hemipenes should be red.

If the flesh starts turning red, stop. If you haven't gotten anything by then, you're either doing it wrong or have a female. If you don't have more than one snake to practice on, give it a day, to be safe, to rest before trying again.

You should get it on the third or fourth try. Also, smaller snakes are easier than larger snakes to pop. Probing is usually better when dealing with a large snake.

[thehonestpirate]

It's fairly simple once you get the hang of it. I watched a few videos on YouTube and tried it on a known male. Took me a few tries to get it to work. You have to roll the tail forward like a tube of toothpaste. The flesh should be a lavender color and the hemipenes should be red.

If the flesh starts turning red, stop. If you haven't gotten anything by then, you're either doing it wrong or have a female. If you don't have more than one snake to practice on, give it a day, to be safe, to rest before trying again.

You should get it on the third or fourth try. Also, smaller snakes are easier than larger snakes to pop. Probing is usually better when dealing with a large snake.

Im dealig with a 200g BCC

[Eramyl]

I've never popped a boa. I have three but they were given to me as adults.

However, 200g is not heavy enough to give problems. It starts getting hard with ball pythons at 500 grams in my experience.

YouTube is your friend here, especially if you can't find an experienced keeper to guide you. It can be learned by yourself, just be careful and go slow.

[thehonestpirate]

I've never popped a boa. I have three but they were given to me as adults.

However, 200g is not heavy enough to give problems. It starts getting hard with ball pythons at 500 grams in my experience.

YouTube is your friend here, especially if you can't find an experienced keeper to guide you. It can be learned by yourself, just be careful and go slow.

So the only real danger is with people who dont use caution and assume theyre doing it right immedietly?

[MontyAndMelissa]

Study up. You want to make sure that you're doing it right the first time. You don't want to stress your snake out, or anything like it. It's a fairly simple process, but does take some amount of knowing what you're doing.

[Albert Clark]

So the only real danger is with people who dont use caution and assume theyre doing it right immedietly?

Well, more of a danger is repeatedly practicing on the same animal! Popping can be a damaging procedure if done incorrectly or done repeatedly. Ralph Davis and Justin Kobylka both have great youtube demonstrations on the topic. Ralph Davis actually makes it look very easy and he is very funny.