Question for ball python people

Yesterday I sent out some larger supposed female ball pythons to a customer. He received them 'a' Ok, and everything was thought to be fine. Later in the day I receive and e-mail stating that I had mis-sexed one of the two said female balls. I typically probe all the animals at least twice to make sure of there sex, and this was no exception. I recall at least twice probing "her" and coming up female. The part that leaves me scratching my head and that I found interesting, is that in his return e-mail he said that he 'popped' the said animal and it came out male. Like I said I typically probe and never try to 'pop' a larger female ball. Then my question to ball python keepers and breeders out there, does anyone easily or maintain the practice of popping larger ball pythons. This snake is 940 grams and I was under the impression that a snake especially a larger ball wouldn't pop that easy if at all. Just wanted to get any feed back before taking care of this possible little mis-understanding. Thanks in advance for your help and feedback.

Justin Higgs
ECTOTHERMZ...

Hi Justin,

You can "pop" adult Ball Pythons. This should ONLY be done with people who have the knowledge on how to do this safely. I use it as a last resort to sexing. The steps I take are these (This can refer to most Boas and Pythons). I first look for the secondary features. First, usually females are larger than males. Second, females will in most cases have smaller spurs when comparred to males. Thrid, Females usually have somewhat smaller and fatter tailes than males. If all looks good, then I probe for that sex. You dont want to force in a probe if your thinking you should have a male and it turns out to be a female. This can puncture the snake and lead to a number of problems. Probing should be done with gentle guidence. If all isnt adding up to what I was told, then I "pop". 99% of the time this is successful for me and my guess (using the first 4 methods first) is correct. Here's a few examples Ive had.

1) I was sold a adult "female" Ball Python. When I got her in I noticed that she had a long and narrow tail. I also noticed that she had very large spurs for a female. I probed her to a "gray" area at 5-6 sub scales. Not being 100% sure on the sex, and leaning towards it being a male, I decided to "pop" her. Guess what she was indeed a he.

2) A good friend of mine (Justin you know who Im referring to) sold me a 1.2 group of Diamond Pythons. I noticed that one of the "females" had a long tail comparred to her partners (1 male and 1 female). I also noticed the spurs being rather large. We decided to probe her and she only probed to around 5 sub-scales. Not being sure we decided to "pop" her and she was also a he. Now this is with a 6ft + Diamond Python !!!!

Bottomline, is that you can "pop" adult Pythons and Boas. But, ONLY should be done by someone who has the knowledge. A beginner or novice, who hasnt been taught the procedure can damage the snake, if not done correctly.

Hope this helps.

Joe Dembinski

Thanks Joe! The situation is taken care of and all is well.

Justin Higgs
ECTOTHERMZ...