I have a spotted python age approx 6-10 months & wanted to get it sexed. I phoned the vet & they said they want to anesthetize it ... is this safe because if there is any risk to our baby i dont want to do that.
That's rediculous, every time I've had a snake sexed the guy just holds it's firmly (but gently) and has no worries. That's on snakes at 5 weeks old.
I wouldn't do it, find somewhere else. You might get charged $40, but better than $300 to anesthetize it, plus if you get a vet that hasn't really dealt with snakes before you are asking for trouble
Completely unnecessary. A better option would be to contact your local herp group and find someone experienced at sexing young snakes. An added bonus is you might also get to learn how to do it yourself .
As others have suggested, the vet sounds like he/she lacks hands-on experience with reptiles.
Thank's for your replies. I thought so much... well the vet clinic told me that all there vets were Herps so i dont know what they were thinking I will deffinatly not be letting them near our snake...
Thanks again.
Are you sure the vet wants to probe the snake?
I have heard of some vets using an anesthetic in order to loosen the cloaca muscles so they can easily pop them (good luck popping hemipenes of an adult otherwise)
Either way I would go find someone else who has experience with probing rather than have the animal popped.