Sexing Question
 

I have someone holding a BP for me that they said probed out as a female. I tried popping it and got the first part of the sex organs to pop. I noticed red veins and a brown pasty type substance. I checked VPI's site and it hasn't mentioned veins being present on the females . It also mentioned that males have the brown goo from their scent glands. Any help would be appreciated. I'd hate to pay $100 for a male I really don't need.

When probing, males are sometimes thought to be females because the probe does not go all the way in as it would normally in a male. This is either due to improper probing, the wrong sized probes, or the physiology of the snake itself. BPs can be somewhat difficult to probe because of extremely strong tail muscles in that very short tail. If you popped one and exposed the hemipenes, there should be no doubt that it is a male, as there should be no doubt if a probe passed into the hemipenes far enough. Then again, I do not understand what you mean when you say you exposed the first part of the sexual organs, to exactly what are you making a reference when you say: "the first part..."?

Little tired when I posted, sorry. When it popped , I didn't get hemipenes , I got the part that the hemipenes would be in if it was a male. The reason I'm asking is because I've never seen the veins present on the sexual organs of a female.

You have me stumped, but I think I understand what you mean about the part that popped out. BPs can be tough to pop or probe, although I would suggest probing with a fairly small probe if it is a baby and gently twirling the probe as you try to see if it will enter or not.

Its the part that houses the hemipenes. I got it figured out. Popped all my females and some males for comparison. Only the males had veins running to the hemipenes and the females didn't. I also found out that 3 of my females are males.

My apologies for not thanking you in my last post. What is the difficulity lavel breeding WC females?
Thanks

I'm only willing to push hard enough to pop hatchlings (I find it easiest right out of the egg after washing them off - they practically pop themselves at that point). However the females have what I call "horns". I'm not sure if it's a scent gland or not but it is tapered and has a little curl to it and a point but is not as long as a hemipene. Could that be what you are seeing? Best to get a 2nd opinion from an expert while you are learning rather than spending years growing up the wrong sex or getting rid of what might be good adult females. Also pick your experts carefully as I’ve had plenty of missexed snakes from supposed experts while I was learning and still don’t consider myself an expert although I stopped having any hatchlings double check wrong a couple years ago.

The horns is what I was trying to describe. One of the females that ended up being a male was supposedly sexed by a knowledgable person. I went back and double checked the one on hold. I popped it 3 times and each time it popped as a girl. I've been able to pop adults with little trouble. Might have something to do with every male I have being breeding ready.