Sexing of Hatchie’s

[Djavery]

Enquiring to the brains trust about how old a snake can be accurately sexed??
Just speaking to another ‘noober’ and they bought 3 hatchies listed as females, had them 6 months and got them vetted all as males.
thank you in advance

 

[Sdaji]

Most species can be sexed the day they hatch, and in many cases that's the easiest time to do it (it depends on the species, method and skill of the sexer).

Many people are completely terrible at it, others are very good. Some will blatantly lie about the sexes (especially selling males as females since females are usually more sought after). Many vets have absolutely no idea what they're doing, but people believe them because they charge money so there's an expectation of competency. Most reptile specialist vets are reasonably competent with sexing, but certainly not all. Some people are willing to say "I don't know" or "I think it's x but I'm not sure" and others are not and will always give a confident-sounding answer even if they don't know. Some of these people are liars and some of them believe their own bovine waste.

Obviously in your case one or both of the people sexing the snakes had no idea what they were doing. Chondros aside, most snakes are easily sexed as babies, though not everyone is willing and able to do it (and there are plenty of people willing but not able, and also able but not willing).

 

[Djavery]

Most species can be sexed the day they hatch, and in many cases that's the easiest time to do it (it depends on the species, method and skill of the sexer).

Many people are completely terrible at it, others are very good. Some will blatantly lie about the sexes (especially selling males as females since females are usually more sought after). Many vets have absolutely no idea what they're doing, but people believe them because they charge money so there's an expectation of competency. Most reptile specialist vets are reasonably competent with sexing, but certainly not all. Some people are willing to say "I don't know" or "I think it's x but I'm not sure" and others are not and will always give a confident-sounding answer even if they don't know. Some of these people are liars and some of them believe their own bovine waste.

Obviously in your case one or both of the people sexing the snakes had no idea what they were doing. Chondros aside, most snakes are easily sexed as babies, though not everyone is willing and able to do it (and there are plenty of people willing but not able, and also able but not willing).

Thanks for feedback. As I said lots to learn lol

Noob q #2 then, what is most accurate way of sexing? Apart from ultrasounds

 

[Herpetology]

Probing is more accurate than popping

When popping a "female" could be a male just holding his penes in

but if u pop a male and see hemipenes, you know 100% its a male -- Female is like "i sexed it as a female, but theres a chance it could be a male"


probing is done based on scale count on a probe inserted into the cloaca, shouldnt be done on young snakes as theyre more delicate and you can rip them

 

[Sdaji]

Probing is more accurate than popping

When popping a "female" could be a male just holding his penes in

but if u pop a male and see hemipenes, you know 100% its a male -- Female is like "i sexed it as a female, but theres a chance it could be a male"


probing is done based on scale count on a probe inserted into the cloaca, shouldnt be done on young snakes as theyre more delicate and you can rip them

I think whether probing or popping is more accurate is subjective. It depends on the size and species of the snake and the level and type of skill of the sexer. Either can be better depending on the situation. If you know what you're doing, there are things to look for in females which don't exist in males, it's not just as simple as 'no hemipenes = female'. If that's the extent of your skill, then yes, probing is probably going to be more accurate for you, but then, your accuracy is fairly low and you need to improve before your sexing can be considered reliable.

Simply relying on 'I did/didn't see hemipenes' or 'The probe did/didn't go beyond x subcaudal depth' is the most basic level of these techniques but alone won't give you great results and will definitely give you plenty of 'uncertain females' and even some females mislabelled as males.

The feel of the probe insertion is important, and sometimes more important than just the raw depth. There is an overlap in the probe depth of the sexes within many species, and certainly between many species. The overall structure is different between males and females which can be seen by a skilled popper. Females can evert hemipene homologues which fool many poppers into incorrectly sexing females as males.

It's easy to see why so many missexed snakes get sold.

Thanks for feedback. As I said lots to learn lol

Noob q #2 then, what is most accurate way of sexing? Apart from ultrasounds

The ones which lay eggs or give birth are female.