Popping is fine if you know what you are doing. You definately know when you have a male but sometimes it can be tricky with a "female". You don't know if you have a female or a male that you weren't able to get the hemipene's to pop out. Once you get experienced you know what a male and female look like even if the male hemipenes don't pop out. Although, it is definately better to double check when unsure. Probing for ball pythons is 100%.

Corey