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Progression thread: Normal Cape African house snake
- Thread starter DollysMom
- Start date
DollysMom
It never gets old!
This picture is a couple of weeks old and is not the very best because it is hard to hold a snake in one hand and a camera, even a phone camera, in the other hand.
I'm posting it now specifically for albertagirl so she can look at Eve's tail in comparison. However, it is educational for anyone interested in house snakes.
Anyway, Clyde is growing up and he has a very, very male tail. Even his vet commented on the fact that there was no mistaking his sex. Female house snake tails are shorter overall and thinner, especially where Clyde's is slightly bulging. Like all tail sexing it helps to have the tails side by side. But here's a male example where the hemipenes location is pretty easy to see. There is a distinct bulge just beyond the anal plate and then the tail tapers to its sharp little point (and house snakes tails do have a sharp little scale on the end -- can't break skin but feels like a pin prick)
So I hope this helps. I'm not sure other males are all this "well endowed", but you all can get the idea of a male house snake tail in any case.
I'm posting it now specifically for albertagirl so she can look at Eve's tail in comparison. However, it is educational for anyone interested in house snakes.
Anyway, Clyde is growing up and he has a very, very male tail. Even his vet commented on the fact that there was no mistaking his sex. Female house snake tails are shorter overall and thinner, especially where Clyde's is slightly bulging. Like all tail sexing it helps to have the tails side by side. But here's a male example where the hemipenes location is pretty easy to see. There is a distinct bulge just beyond the anal plate and then the tail tapers to its sharp little point (and house snakes tails do have a sharp little scale on the end -- can't break skin but feels like a pin prick)
So I hope this helps. I'm not sure other males are all this "well endowed", but you all can get the idea of a male house snake tail in any case.
DollysMom
It never gets old!
:roflmao: Good things come in small packages, or something like that, lol.
I know. It's not easy! They sure are little wiggle worms, or they wrap up and then there is no seeing anything. Looking forward to seeing the pics when you can!
DollysMom
It never gets old!
Wow Tavia, very nice photos (as usual). What a perfect illustration. It doesn't get much clearer than that.
This also reinforces my belief that though still young and below optimum breeding weight, Clyde is sexually mature. Not that I'm breeding him, but his tail has gone from male to unmistakably male this spring.
This also reinforces my belief that though still young and below optimum breeding weight, Clyde is sexually mature. Not that I'm breeding him, but his tail has gone from male to unmistakably male this spring.
albertagirl
Sharan
Wow, how on earth did I miss this whole tail discussion?? Those pictures are very helpful. Eve definitely does not have any kind of bulge beyond her cloaca. Thank you both of you for taking and sharing those pictures, and DollysMom for hijacking your own thread for me. <3
Also, good news that both your guys ate! Still nothing for Eve since April 15, but at least now I know that it's not time to worry yet.
I love our little mini house snake community here!
Also, good news that both your guys ate! Still nothing for Eve since April 15, but at least now I know that it's not time to worry yet.
I love our little mini house snake community here!
DollysMom
It never gets old!
Yay, Ukiah! Glad he's off his fast. I figure he knows what he needs but it's really hard on us when they don't eat!
Wow, how on earth did I miss this whole tail discussion?? Those pictures are very helpful. Eve definitely does not have any kind of bulge beyond her cloaca. Thank you both of you for taking and sharing those pictures, and DollysMom for hijacking your own thread for me. <3
Also, good news that both your guys ate! Still nothing for Eve since April 15, but at least now I know that it's not time to worry yet.
I love our little mini house snake community here!
Hey, better late than never. Now you know why we said Eve had a girly tail! Hope she eats soon.
I love our little housie community, too. This whole board is great, but the "housie club" is neat.
DollysMom
It never gets old!
I said on another thread that if Clyde had pooped overnight I could clean his house and then hold him. He's so regular, so here he is wrapping my fingers and my heart this morning!
I don't handle him on feeding day so I got a quick weight today. He was back up to 107 grams which is about where he was before his shed and refusal in April.
I don't handle him on feeding day so I got a quick weight today. He was back up to 107 grams which is about where he was before his shed and refusal in April.
DollysMom
It never gets old!
Here's another post for the housie club. If you didn't already know how amazing these harmless little guys and gals are, look at the latest snake "family tree". That's right, the Lamprophiidae which includes our little Boaedon capenses and other house snakes is closer to elapids than colubrids based on genetic studies. They were considered colubrids for so long though, that most colubrid interest groups still welcome housie owners.
For the record this diagram is from "How Snakes Work" by Lillywhite. I highly recommend the book and believe I am correctly making "fair use" of this excerpt.
albertagirl
Sharan
So house snakes are no longer a colubrid? Whaaaaaaat? I used to try to learn all the scientific names and stuff, until I realized how often they change, and then I stopped. But this is interesting!
DollysMom
It never gets old!
I think it is very interesting. Yep, they have their own branch, the Lamprophiidae. There are some very interesting things in the Lamprophiidae well. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprophiidae. I read there are 290 species in Lamprophiidae. And while they are no longer colubrids they are colubroids, but so are vipers, elapids and colubrids so go figure, lol.
To us they are Clyde and Eve. <3