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How to tell the sex of a ball python?
- Thread starter JMurphy97
- Start date
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*Barracuda_45*
Norhtern Michigan Dragway Mama
DerbyCityNeps
Always a newbie- Previously glider14
dont males have little spurs on there umm rear end?
What part of the snake should I take pics of? I know towards the end of the body there are two things poking out. At first I thought they were nails of something it ate but then I looked at the mice I feed it and they have no nails like that. Then the other day I looked at it and there was another poking out on the other side. Maybe these are the spurs glider is talking about?
DerbyCityNeps
Always a newbie- Previously glider14
it is male then they use them i think to "hold" on to females while mating
*Barracuda_45*
Norhtern Michigan Dragway Mama
Males and females have spurs one on each side of the vent where they go poo, but the males spurs are always longer or larger than the female, these spurs are used for tickling the female so to say durring courtship.. Try and get a pic of the vent are and the spurs, then a full body pic where the BP is stretched out say like place it against a wall and let it crawl there so it strecthes out snap a pic as clear as ya can tail included in the pic. I use to have alot of BP's alot of them were rescues and some where my own pets, now i just raise boas.
JB_OrchidGuy
Cardiac Nurse
Interesting. The spurs on mine look pretty much the same. My male has a bigger head and is a darker color. I just lucked up and got a breeding pair. It wasn;t planned that way. I had the female and then got the male from a friend when he was moving. I was lucky they got along and now are a pair. Been together for over 10 years now.
Houstonherp
Send in the Clones
JMurphy97 -
Unlike the anal spurs on Burmese Pythons, the anal spurs on both male and female Ball Pythons are similar in size. There is no way to RELIABLY differentiate the sexes by appearance, so photos won't help. At best, anything you are told based strictly on morphology would be a guess.
That having been said, the only reliable way to sex a BP is to either 1) have the snake probed by a knowledgeable person (reptile veterinarian or breeder who has snake sexing probes), or 2) manually evert the snakes hemipenes (male reproductive organs), which shold ALSO only be done by a knowledgeable person (you can really hurt the snake if you don't know what you're doing!).
I wold be happy to do this for you, but I'm in Houston!
Hope this helps.
Mike
Unlike the anal spurs on Burmese Pythons, the anal spurs on both male and female Ball Pythons are similar in size. There is no way to RELIABLY differentiate the sexes by appearance, so photos won't help. At best, anything you are told based strictly on morphology would be a guess.
That having been said, the only reliable way to sex a BP is to either 1) have the snake probed by a knowledgeable person (reptile veterinarian or breeder who has snake sexing probes), or 2) manually evert the snakes hemipenes (male reproductive organs), which shold ALSO only be done by a knowledgeable person (you can really hurt the snake if you don't know what you're doing!).
I wold be happy to do this for you, but I'm in Houston!
Hope this helps.
Mike
