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How can I learn to sex?

phoenix-cry

phoenix-cry

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So I have all my breeding projects set up for next year. However when I get little ones I can't sell them until I know the sex. I know a guy who charges 10 bucks to sex ball pythons. But I'm going to be serious in this hobby I need to learn how to sex them myself. Here's the problem, I really, really, really don't want to practice sexing on my snake in fear of harming one of them. Actually I don't want to harm any snake.

So how do I learn how to sex ball pythons when I don't have someone to 'hands on' teach me?

Or should I just give in and pay to have my hatchlings sexed?
 
There's also a few videos on probing out there. We're in the same boat. We've researched the topic a lot, but until we have hatchlings in hand, it's all just studying at this point :)
 
phoenix-cry said:
I would just feel so guilty if I hurt a snake trying to sex it (morph or not).
Click to expand...

Bottom-line is you are going to have to watch someone in person, watching a video or reading. The only way you are going to have confidence is by repeated effort of popping and probing. There is no perfectly doing it by having the knowledge beforehand. Practice is the key to confidence.
 
People can show you over and over again but until you do it yourself you will not be confident. A little common sense goes a long way. I learned first on corns. Read everything I could. Until you actually do it you don't actually get a firm grasp. Practice makes it like second nature and I don't believe I ever hurt a snake while learning. Read, watch, find someone to help you and use a little common sense, then try.
 
I agree, learn on a hatchling. They are very easy to pop. Once you get use to it its like riding a bike!
 
It IS easiest to pop neonates, but it isn't a guarantee for accuracy. I've had a couple of babies that I KNEW were males that I was unable to evert hemipenes, despite multiple attempts.
Hint: practice on a few males.....if you practice on females, you don't know if you are doing it right, lol.
 
I was wondering how I would know if they were females or if I was just doing it wrong. :)

Thanks for all the great resources guys!
 
LOL no problem, if you don't see two little pointy knubs come out then they are female typically. The two hemipenes will usually turn bright red. Did you check the video out above? It shows a couple examples of each sex.
 
I agree with Harald. Practice on the males. I had a buddy who had an awesome spider female hatchling. Well he went to have them sexed to double check and she was a he!! Lol. He didn't wanna pop for him, so I recommend until you are 100% confident with your sexing skills to have them double checked by a more experienced person. Better to be safe than sorry!
 
Holding back the wrong gender only affects you - you can shrug that off pretty easily, as all it costs you is some feeders and some time. Sending the wrong things to other people affects you both....and will cost you money to fix.
 
I always probe them first, then I double check by popping. It takes some practice especially popping but once you have done a couple you get it down pretty quik. It is hard to learn how to pop by watching videos and others doing it, you just have to get the basic idea of how to do it and practice until you get it right.
 
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