GTP Pricing, Sexing, Age

[James_Scott]

Hey Guys,
I'm looking at getting a pair of GTP's over the next few years, but am curious of the procedure. I have only seen Hatchies for sale and as far as I know you can't sex a GTP until it is 14 months old, so if you want a pair you either have to sell off one or swap it, or buy them at a later age. Has anybody seen yearlings for sale that are sexed and if so how much are they?
thanks

[mysnakesau]

Try Southern Cross reptiles. They sell all their hatchies as pairs - not sure about their GTPs but I am sure they will be able to tell you.

Occasionally you'll see ppl selling off older ones but you will pay more for them - especially for proven pairs.

[boa]

Most agree that it is unwise to sex a GTP before the age of 12 months.
Southern Cross sell their Greens singly as it isn't possible to guarantee a pair without sexing them.

[wokka]

We will be selling unrelated pairs in November. Safe sexing is more a matter of size than age. The advantage of buying yearlings apart from knowing sex is that they are over the feeding problems and give an indication of adult colouration.

[levis04]

have seen a few yrling pairs for around 20k right up to 26k and they were advertised on herp shop and rdu.

[tan]

Southern cross only sell their hatchies as singles not pairs, Sorry Kath, but some people do offer a swap system if you buy a pair and it turns out to be same sex when the time comes to sex them.
You could buy two and try your luck or perhaps buy one hatchie, wait 12 months till you sex it and then try to get a yearling down the track to partner yours once sexed.
Good luck with it.

[craftsman]

There is a nearly two-year old female on herptrader for 15K. Grab it if you have the money because sexed females rarely hit the market and if there were any, they won't be any cheaper anyway.

[RedEyeGirl]

i'd love a GTP are my fav snake.But i don't think mum has the money. damn it!!!! lol

[snakecharma]

sexing can be done with ultrasound if there is anyone willing to do it

if i was gonna spend 10K on a pair of snakes i would definatly pay the extra $200 to get the sexed via ultrasound

but tan is right there was someone advertising hatchie pairs garaunteed. The way they did it was if they got to yearlings and ended up same sex they would swap yours for a sexed yearling definatly a good way to go imho just cross ya fingers and hope that the seller will have enough animals to cover swaps lol

[pythons73]

If i remember correctly their green python had about 25 babies and they were only selling about 5,nearly guarantee that if some1 got the incorrect sex they would have enough 2 exchange.

[craftsman]

Snakecharma, we have tried ultrasound, using a specially small head but it didn't work. Perhaps juveniles of other, larger species can be done but the GTPs reproductive organs are so small and the tissue is so fine that hemipenises don't show up. Although, the GTPs we've used were new-born neonates, perhaps 6 months-old or older, i.e. larger, (more developed) can be done with US.

[Splitmore]

The jury is still out on the sexing of GTP's as juviniles. There are many, many breeders overseas (most notably Dave Barker) who claim to have sexed literally hundreds of hatchling greens without any problems arising down the track. According to Barker spinal and tail kinks are seen in just as many greens that were unsexed as babies as those that were either probed or popped. The general ethics for selling baby greens is to sell them unsexed but I'm sure for some breeders it's more of a smoke screen for selling off excess hatchling males.
That being said, in my personal experience of seeing my fair share of GTP's there seem to be alot more females than males in the general population, at least in Australia.

[Helikaon]

a random question but has anyone ever used nylon probes on green trees, i cant imagine they would cause any problems.

[craftsman]

Helikaon, it has been done. Personally, I would never, ever buy a GTP that has been probed as a yellow juvenile. It's only when you see, handle and feel a new-born GTP you realise how delicate the cloaca and tail is. Just to hold the snake in you fingers firmly enough to insert (any) probe can damage the spine, They don't like to be restrained and things pushed up their bums - they wriggle! Popping? You would have to be crazy.
The Barkers and others can do what they like with their snakes, they are not going to touch mine.