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Probing and age

C

Clyborn

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Hi to all!
I've been reading all this posts and I've been unable to find an answer to the question (or maybe a problem) I have. Lots of good stuf btw.
Probing and age of BP? How old must a BP be (or is recomended to be) before first probing?
Maybe weight/length is more important, since some of my young BP eat like "pigs", while other do not. They are app 50% bigger and heavier.
 
Probbing is a personal decision, they can be probed as soon as they hatch.
 
Did whoever they are offer any reasons for that?
Some snakes, such as Green Tree Pythons, that have very delicate tails should not be probed until they are bigger, but ball pythons are not one of them.
Like Junkyard said, they can be probed soon after hatching if there is some reason to know the sex that early.
 
I prefer to pop when they are small (only suggested if you know how to do it), but you can probe them with the appropriate sized probe and the gentleness required to do it when they are neonates. Patience is a virtue, since they are so small and require a gentle hand, so if you are impatient and/or don't want to risk it, just wait until you really need to know, I guess. :) Good luck though!
 
Ball pythons are about the easiest snake to sex by popping that there is. That said, I do not suggest that anyone that has any doubts as to their abilities try to pop any snake, but I equally suggest you do not probe a snake if you are not 100% sure how to safely do that as well. There is no reason to probe baby snakes though. They are so easy to evert manually.
 
Popping is something I do not know "how to do it right", nor do the people I know. Trying to do it right just by following some directions probably won't work. So - I'll stick on probbing for the time being.

On one web page an author stated, that the only certain method to determine sex of the (living) snake is to x-ray the snake and view if the hemipenises of a male are present. It is probably expensive, but not invading method.

Someone did something like that?
 
I suppose you could achieve 100% accuracy with an x-ray, but I don't know of anyone myself who actually goes to that length.
If you every a hemi pene by popping, there's no question it's a male. Occasionally a male might be mistaken for a female if the technique isn't right or the snake is a little too developed.
Someone skilled at probing though can come very close to 100% accuracy. Mistakes will still be made occasionally. Some snakes probe on a borderline and make it difficult.
Overall though, with hatchling balls popping is extremely accurate. I just can't see going to the trouble of having an x-ray. Anyone planning to breed snakes is going to have to learn to sex them, and once learned they can do it themselves from then on.
 
If you are going to breed snakes, how would you be able to sell or trade your offspring if you couldn't sex them? Some animals have a very large difference in price based on sex. AND you would never know which animals you produce to keep and raise for yourself to move your projects along if you can't sex them.
 
I have popped corns and they are pretty easy. I have some babies between 200-300 gram females. Would it be safe to practice popping with them or futile considering they are females? I was shown how to pop but haven't gotten the technique down because I think I don't put enough pressure (worried about hurting them).
 
There's no point trying to pop known females. You'll have no way of knowing whether your technique is right or not since there's nothing to evert.
With corns that size even males would start to give you trouble if you're not proficent with the method.

It would be best to get with someone experienced and have a clutch or two of hatchlings for them to work with you on.
 
Babies

I must agree - anyone planning to breed snakes must have to learn to sex them. Step by step. Experience is all that mater. But - it needs some time, practise, instructions, a good mentor, if I can say so. And yes - price and sex are correlating.

I have my first BP since 1997, but it was just a pet. Inspired by a lot of information on net I bought a female in march 2004. Needles to say all - eggs came - 7 of them and they all hatched on 24.08. What an excitement to see first head out of an egg. And second, and... Something I'll never forget.

I'm posting a picture of babies hatching on end of august 05.

:)
 

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