Males Locking Up?

So, at work, someone dropped off 3 ball pythons and we were told they were all males. An enchi, a black paste, and a spider. Had them housed together for a few days (the guy had dropped them off in a 40g breeder tank and we didn't have room at the time).

One of my coworkers ran up to me freaking out because one of the males, the spider, had his "intestines and guts" hanging out. Apparently, the spider and the black pastel were locked and my coworkers had pulled them apart when he went to pull it out for a customer. We pulled out the spider into a bin with a screen ducked taped over it, just in case, and I go back to work.

The same coworker comes over and said the snakes are at it again. Now the black pastel is locked with the enchi. I don't separate them because I don't want to risk hurting either snake.

After locking up for the night, I go to get the black pastel, and I see the enchi rubbing his spurs up and down the black pastel and they lock.

So I bought the black pastel. I am assuming he is actually a she, but I have heard stories of males locking up with males. However, I thought this was only the case when temperatures drop. I left my probing kit at work, so I haven't had a chance to actually sex it yet.

So could I have a potentially gravid female? Or a male who had some fun with his friends?


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Could be either. Has the spider BP been taken to a vet?

Originally Posted by bcr229

Could be either. Has the spider BP been taken to a vet?

I think the coworker mistook the hemipenes for "guts" lol. That was how I read it anyway.

One of my male garters tried to have at another one, but if both of the males were working on the same snake (black pastel) it's probably likely he's a she. If it were just one I'd say who knows, but 2/2 on the same partner is fairly suspicious.

It was the hemipenes. Poor guy was as white as a ghost thinking he just killed a snake. The spider is completely fine, pissed off but fine. Our vet was there when it happened and said there was no damage to either snake, other than a bruised ego. Haha.

I thought 2 on the same snake was odd too. When the two boys were together, there was no courting or locking or anything like that.

"She" is now happily curled up in a tub at my house.


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Update:
Now I'm just confused. Tried probing "her" only probed two scales. However, when I pulled the probe out, there was a hemipenal cast. I tried looking on the other side for one and found none. Tried probing again, still only two scales.

My gut is now telling me it's a male because of the shed. I have 0 experience breeding balls, but I didn't think the cast was left in the female after?




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I've pulled stuff out of females before, I wouldn't mistake that as a sure sign it's a male. Especially if the males were just having their way with her, there's a good chance they pushed something up into her.

I always trust the probe, if you do it on both sides and get the same result that's a pretty good indication. If she pops out eggs in a few months you'll know for sure :P

Both sides were equal at 2 scales. Looks like I'll just wait and see.


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I have heard of males locking up as a dominance thing, but if the probe is saying female, then I'd trust the probe. We sex every new snake we get just to be sure when it arrives (not that we don't trust the sellers, but not everyone probes, so we like to double check) and have been fortunate so far in that every animal we've bought has been sexed correctly. Sounds like the guy who dropped them off didn't really know... and I'm having a giggle at your coworker's misinterpretation of the hemipenes!

We aren't really a reptile-savy store. I'm the only one who really knows about them in an in depth sense. We have people who drop off reptiles all the time and we end up rehoming them after giving them medical treatment if they need it and a few meals.

We had a good laugh once I explained what he was seeing.


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You could try popping it

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