Sexing your Corn....

I know...I know....just take Dallas to a vet and find out if he's a boy or girl.

I always figured him to be a boy, but I never asked the breeder if he could tell me. Dallas has a pretty long tail from his Cloaca (i think that's what it's called) to the tip of his tail. So that's why I say boy...

I really don't care if he is a boy or girl, I love him way too much anyways.


But....


Curiousity has been kicking me lately....so I want to know. I know by looking at the tail is not 100% proof, but does anyone want to give it a try??

I would guess male, but that's all it would be- a guess. More than the length of the tail, look at the width right after the cloaca. A male needs room in there to store his hemipenes, while the female's tail often tapers off very abruptly.

Thanks so much Nanci!

Hey Sarah1228,

The only way you are going to know for sure is to probe the snake.

Kathy Love has a video here is a link.

http://www.corn-utopia.com/Corn%20Utopia%20on%20the%20Web/-%20Sexing%20corn%20snakes%20-%20intro%20to%20vid%20clips.htm

Love the Fatman

I would be scared to hurt my baby.

I'll just have to take him to an experienced Reptile vet....

Thanks Fatman...

You know what though, I am not convinced that many reptile vets know how to accurately sex snakes, by probing or popping. Look at Okeetee Mom's recent experience. I had Kathy Love show me how to probe, and also watched her do it a number of times. Really, if you watch the videos, and have a helper to restrain the snake, and are just veryveryveryvery careful, I think you could be able to learn, just from the video. It's WAY easier than popping, I think. Do you have friends with snakes? Sexing is nice to practice on snakes of a known sex. My first victims were Pepper and Ruby, when they wouldn't mate. Guess what, Ruby was a male!! And then I had a case of a mis-sexed snake that I bought, who HAD TO be the sex I wanted. So I probed him, and he was a male, not a female. Then I probed the female replacement, and she _was_ a female! Then after all that, Zorro wanted to send me Fred on a breeding loan, and I had had the two mis-sexed snakes right in a row, so I probed Lily before John sent Fred, just to make sure she was a female! She was. That is where the mistake is made, during popping- the person sexing the snake just doesn't get the hemipenes out. When I sold female babies, I had Carol sex them, and Joe sex them, and me sex them, and me sex them again right before they left! I didn't want anyone to have a horrible surprise three years down the road...

True....well maybe one day I'll have the guts to do it...or find someone who does know how!

Plus vets usually charge an arm and a leg to probe anyway, at least in my experience (never got it done by a vet, but I asked around just to see what they wanted for money)

If you can find a reptile person in your area that knows how to probe and wouldn't mind doing it for you that'd be the way to go. They could probably teach you how to do it, too.

Possibly a nice reptile shop might have someone who can probe.

Thanks everyone! I'll call this place I know that's popular in my area (The Chicago Reptile House)...I know the guy does popping there, he showed me one time.

Nanci, I remember poor Carol popping all your hatchlings. "Male, male, male, male..."

DYK I know. Boys for sale!!!