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I want opinions: gender

DollysMom

DollysMom

It never gets old!
This is regarding my snake's possible gender and I want your opinions. I'm tired of calling Dolly a he just because don't have an official gender for him/her.

Probing or popping is beyond my skill set and I'm not taking him/her somewhere just for sexing a snake that I have no intention of breeding.

So today, while having a wonderful handling session, I had a good look at his/her tail. It is definitely and immediately more slender beyond the vent. It is also very short. In fact it is amazingly short considering his/her total length.

The other thing is Dolly is still young. I don't have a hatch date, but s/he's still small. S/he is about 18 in long nose to tail tip (best guess, but s/he seems to be nearly 2/3 the length of her 20 gal long viv). She is holding at 14 grams these past three feedings (my scale doesn't measure 10th of grams, only whole grams). Is s/he too young to use the tail method on?

Sadly, I don't have anyone to take a picture while I'm holding Dolly, so you have to take my word as to the visual.

I want your opinions. Should I continue to use the neuter he with a decidedly feminine name? Should I just continue to have a "boy" named Sue, er Dolly? Or should I assign a gender and start calling him/her a she? I wasn't even looking to see this tail business today, but I did, so what do you think?
 
A picture would definitely make guessing easier. You can put him/her in a clear sandwich container and take a picture from the bottom.
 
I have the same conundrum. People I tell just kind of shrug and wonder why it matters. I never really have a good answer for this, but it does.
 
You could just pretend it's a non-binary, agender, gender fluid, androgenous, or bi-gender snake :p And use gender neutral pronouns like they/their (which are the common preferred pronouns for people with these gender identities and are not used as plurals). I've also heard ey/em/emself as a made-up gender neutral singular pronoun. Sweden just added the word "hen" to their dictionary for gender neutral individuals... The kind of forums I'm usually on use this kind of stuff a LOT

I spend too much time on tumblr... :p
 
Thanks, IrishinIsengard. I think those are the same people who would say, it's just a snake. I know I have a lot of friends and family say "she" anyway, just because the name that came to me was feminine. I know the name is the right one, but I don't know if it matches the gender!

Yes compasslogic, for all I know Dolly is all or none of the above. We do have a neutral singular pronoun in English, but I'm not going to call my baby an it ;)! Too bad we don't have an equivalent to the Swedish "hen".

In the meantime, I'm going to try to get a tail pic so the community can give their best guess.
 
Evidently I have not perfected the art of photographing a snake's nether regions while holding up a clear container with said snake in one hand and a camera in the other. All I got was a dark blur. Plan b is to wait for my son to come over and take some pics while I'm holding Dolly. I want some pictures of Dolly in my hands anyway.

No more pictures for a few days in any case. Dolly ate tonight and is now digesting-- definitely a champion f/t pinkie eater.
 
I had considered naming my Rufus - "Bruce Caitlyn Jenner" when I first got him just because I didn't know what he was. (And I still don't officially.)

But I have looked at pics of males and females all over the internet, forums, youtube and best I can tell he's a Male. (I may never know for sure) but I just went with Rufus.
 
Karl_Mcknight said:
I had considered naming my Rufus - "Bruce Caitlyn Jenner" when I first got him just because I didn't know what he was. (And I still don't officially.)

But I have looked at pics of males and females all over the internet, forums, youtube and best I can tell he's a Male. (I may never know for sure) but I just went with Rufus.
Click to expand...

Rufus is a great name and definitely goes with his coloring.

As Dolly grows, his tail still looks too short and slender immediately beyond the vent to be a male; but since I don't know and am used to it, I'm still saying "he". The name is right no matter what.

Dolly is getting ready to shed and is in hiding right now. At last weigh in he was 39 grams so maybe I'll try to get another tail pic post shed. He's definitely a long and slender snake with a very small tail.
 
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