Snake sexing

[RichZ]

I was attempting to "pop" an adult alterna and some really thick white goo came out in 2 streams along side eachother. It also had a very foul odor. Was that sperm? Anyone ever have this happen to them.

 

[Greatballzofire]

I think this was musk, not sperm. Nobody likes to have their junk painfully squeezed! LOL!
Also. trying to pop an adult snake is likely to injure him/her.

Female. Shorter tail and the tail sort of indents just aft of the vent.

Male. Longer tail and a slight bulge just aft of vent.

Photos may help until you can find someone who is experienced with probing, the method recommended for adult snakes.

 

[akonitony]

Just about any reputable store that sells reptiles should have a sexing kit of probes for around $25. If it is a fairly large animal, you can take a piece of stainless or aluminum wire like that available at feed and hardware store used for electric fencing. Or you can also use a piece of coat hanger, as i have done in the past once to sex a BP for a friend. The main thing is to file the end that is going in to a small rounded half-sphere, and make sure there is no jagged edge of any sort that might cause injury. Next, you take the prob ad push rounded end gentlyagainst the side of the cloaca, or vent scale just slightly forward to the vent scale edge. As soon as it gives, you want to very delicately try and move the probe distal toward the end of the tail. As soon as you feel resistance, stop pushing and tap the exposed end of the probe once or twice to make sure it is seated, but don't tap or push hard. Finally, mark the point on th probe where the anal scute is at, and gently pull the probe out. If it is a female, you will probably have no more than 3 tail scutes depth, but a male will usually go 10 - 15 subcaudal scales from my experience, unless of course the snake is Italian, in which case you might as well get out your calculator... B-)

 

[akonitony]

I was attempting to "pop" an adult alterna and some really thick white goo came out in 2 streams along side eachother. It also had a very foul odor. Was that sperm? Anyone ever have this happen to them.

Did it taste salty? I've been told it can be salty...

 

[scaledverts]

Just about any reputable store that sells reptiles should have a sexing kit of probes for around $25. If it is a fairly large animal, you can take a piece of stainless or aluminum wire like that available at feed and hardware store used for electric fencing. Or you can also use a piece of coat hanger, as i have done in the past once to sex a BP for a friend. The main thing is to file the end that is going in to a small rounded half-sphere, and make sure there is no jagged edge of any sort that might cause injury. Next, you take the prob ad push rounded end gentlyagainst the side of the cloaca, or vent scale just slightly forward to the vent scale edge. As soon as it gives, you want to very delicately try and move the probe distal toward the end of the tail. As soon as you feel resistance, stop pushing and tap the exposed end of the probe once or twice to make sure it is seated, but don't tap or push hard. Finally, mark the point on th probe where the anal scute is at, and gently pull the probe out. If it is a female, you will probably have no more than 3 tail scutes depth, but a male will usually go 10 - 15 subcaudal scales from my experience, unless of course the snake is Italian, in which case you might as well get out your calculator... B-)

I know this is an older thread but I wanted to mention that you should learn how to properly probe from someone that is experienced with it before you try to do it on your own. You can do quite a bit of damage to the snake if you do this improperly.

Also, I would not recommend using any kind of wire. Even with rounding it off the chances of puncturing the body cavity is just too high for me.

 

[akonitony]

I know this is an older thread but I wanted to mention that you should learn how to properly probe from someone that is experienced with it before you try to do it on your own. You can do quite a bit of damage to the snake if you do this improperly.

Also, I would not recommend using any kind of wire. Even with rounding it off the chances of puncturing the body cavity is just too high for me.

I agree completely with the first part, and I was shown how to do this by several experienced people before I tried it with supervision the first few times. this is why I cautioned to be extremely careful about not forcing the probe, but in hindsight, I should have also recommended what you did.
As for the second half, from what do you think the store-bought probes are made?

 

[scaledverts]

As for the second half, from what do you think the store-bought probes are made?

Unless you are talking about the REALLY small probes, they are not the same. A good set of probes is tapered and has a "ball" at the end to make the probe smooth and help prevent puncturing the body wall. No matter how careful you are with wire or coat hangers you will probably not be able to get it as smooth and certainly not get the larger rounded end.

No matter how you slice it is really isn't safe to use a homemade probe.

 

[akonitony]

Unless you are talking about the REALLY small probes, they are not the same. A good set of probes is tapered and has a "ball" at the end to make the probe smooth and help prevent puncturing the body wall. No matter how careful you are with wire or coat hangers you will probably not be able to get it as smooth and certainly not get the larger rounded end.

No matter how you slice it is really isn't safe to use a homemade probe.

I've sold many sets of probes when I used to work at Hogtown Herpetological Supply back in the '90s. The ones I've made are just as good. I finish them by smoothing off the round ends with 400-grit emory cloth after filing them to a very round, ball-like end. Also, it isn't all that easy to puncture the snake when you are sexing it. You would basically have to force the probe pretty hard since all that is back there is muscle, bone and the caudal vein and artery, and those blood vessels would be extremely difficult to hit with a sexing probe - I won't say it is impossible however, so yes, care should be given.

 

[scaledverts]

I've sold many sets of probes when I used to work at Hogtown Herpetological Supply back in the '90s. The ones I've made are just as good. I finish them by smoothing off the round ends with 400-grit emory cloth after filing them to a very round, ball-like end. Also, it isn't all that easy to puncture the snake when you are sexing it. You would basically have to force the probe pretty hard since all that is back there is muscle, bone and the caudal vein and artery, and those blood vessels would be extremely difficult to hit with a sexing probe - I won't say it is impossible however, so yes, care should be given.

I agree that as long as you take care homemade probes can be close to the quality of probe kits. However, for a new snake owner to make and use a homemade probe is irresponsible and dangerous.

I will agree that it is difficult to puncture the body wall with a high quality probe and probing experience. However, for someone that does not take the care to smooth the probe and make sure the end is cut at the right angle and does not have the experience in probing it is very easy to cause damage. For example, if the end is not perfectly rounded and has some angle to it you are basically using a dull hypodermic needle to probe. In this case it is actually quite easy to puncture the body wall.

Also anatomically, there is no bone here that the probe would have to go through (the only bones are the vertebral column with maybe a few remnant ribs depending how far away from the vent you are). So really all you have is connective tissues, which do not provide much resistance to a not perfectly smooth probe.

Also, most wire you purchase from hardware stores is not perfectly smooth to start with. It is usually extruded out and there are usually burrs or even ridges that you can feel if you run your fingers down the wire. When making a probe from rough wire you have to put in a significant amount of effort to make sure the entire probe is smooth.

With all of these considerations, why not just buy a good probe set at a reptile expo. You can usually get them quite cheaply (I think I paid ~$10 for each of mine).