For all you snakesperts...

[ittybitty]

one of my young carpets that I bought as female, turned out to be male. Only reason I know this is he is a not very good with his sheds and whenever I give him a warm bath his hemipenes always come out. Not sure if that is normal, but he is a really healthy snake, eats well, etc.. Im not fussed that she turned out to be a he though as I dont intend to ever breed snakes. Thought about it.. But ill stick to keeping them as pets, and stick to breeding showdogs.

 

[Waterrat]

I am also interested to learn more about popping,. I too have heard it can be tricky & dangerous,. how many people use this method?

Nick, I have done some popping on the more robust species and adult snakes but I certainly wouldn't do it on juvenile GTPs, RPSs (because of their delicate perhensile tails) and Antaresia because they're so small. I wonder if pythons are more prone to spinal damage as a result of popping because they have retained bits of vestigial pelvis. It could well be that a pressure applied onto the area while restraining and popping the snake causes the "pelvis" to push onto the spine. If that was the case, elapids and colubrids should be safe to pop.

There is a certain stigma attached to popped snakes - some people (including myself) would never buy popped snakes and that's of some consideration to any breeder. From my experience and watching others ......... when you gently pop a snake and the hemipenaces come out, great, it's a male and you put it down. However, if nothing pops put, suggesting it's a female, people tent to press little harder to make sure and that's when a damage can occur. JMO.

 

[Ozzie Python]

that is very infortunate for you, however mistaking a male for a female is just one of those things. they can tense up and not probe as deep. the other way round however i would be asking questions.

a little trick i use before pairing any of my snakes (that have not been bred previously and proven sex) i put them out on the floor and see how they react to eachother. females will almost always (100% for me so far) tail flick and open up their cloaca if a male is present and usually let out some waste- this can be unpleasant if they are i your hands

if this behaviour doesn't happen i will probe them both to make sure they are a pair. Not exactly a scientific proven method, but a good indicator and so far worked a treat for me with all adult antareisa and womas. I have found not all males will combat, but females always put on a show.

definitely wouldn't use this to sex snakes, but it helps me feel confident they are sexed correctly when introductions start.

 

[Schnecke]

Nick, I have done some popping on the more robust species but I certainly wouldn't do it on GTPs, RPSs (because of their delicate perhensile tails) and Antaresia because they're so small.
There is a certain stigma attached to popped snakes - some people (including myself) would never buy popped snakes and that's of some consideration to any breeder. From my experience and watching others ......... when you gently pop a snake and the hemipenaces come out, great, it's a male and you put it down. However, if nothing pops put, suggesting it's a female, people tent to press little harder to make sure and that's when a damage can occur. JMO.

We have a 7 month old 70cm Bredli and a 60cm 8 month olf Jungle, both have been probed as males, but especially for the Bredli, it was only 7 sub scales, that's why I'm another person interested in popping.

For the videos I've seen (and there are far more than I expected) popping, if done slowly, carefully and gently, doesn't look harmful and (just in my opinion) would seem less risky than probing (that's just my opinion and that's probably completely incorrect about the risks, but it's just coming from witnessing both techniques, the probing which was done by an experienced vet clinic, of which I wasn't too keen on ever seeing it again, as I thought it to be quite rough)

Would it all really come down to the person doing it? (For both techniques) as I would assume in the hands of someone rough, a snake being popped or probed would have as great a risk?