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Sex Change!

WingedSweetheart

WingedSweetheart

New member
I have a snake that is almost 2 years old now. It is the only snake I have bought from a breeder. The snake was labeled as a female. I did not question this at all. I gave my snake a female name and everything.

Anyway my snake shed this past Friday and I decided to count the scales after the vent to the tip of the tail. I read that 65 or less would be female and that 70 or more would be male. Guess how many my "female" snake had? 79! :eek1:

Now I'm all confused. The tail is skinny and has no bulge or anything after the vent like a male. But the scale count is male... So I guess the breeder made a mistake?

What are your thoughts on this?
 
I've had two females that turned out to be males, from "big breeders.". The first one caused a major problem, causing me to check a new "female," who was caught in time to not affect my project. A female replacement snake was sent!

The moral of the story is, if your breeding project depends on a snake being a certain sex, check when the snake arrives. If you don't know how, learn.
 
Here is a current picture. It was really hard to get a clear one.
tail.jpg


I need to learn how to sex snakes myself. I don't know where to find someone to teach me though. I could just buy some probes and have at it. But I don't want to hurt my snakes.
 
I'd like to see a straight side pic, too. But really, unless you probe, (or pop a male hatchling) there is n guarantee until the snake lays eggs or breeds right in front of you.
 
I'd say that looks like a male tail.

Mis-sexing a baby corn is definitely not unheard of. As babies, you can only really get confirmed males, and suspected females. Until a female lays eggs, you just don't know for sure.
 
Here are a couple of side view pictures.



After taking these I remembered that I read you could use a bobby pin as a probe. I dug one out and washed it really good with hot soapy water. Then I pulled it apart so it was straight and put vaseline it. My first time trying to probe so I'm not trusting it. But it would hardly go in. Only about a scale length or so. I tried both sides. That would mean female. But I don't trust myself and I don't want to push it with my snake. He or she is pretty pissed at me now. But 79 scales on a female is just weird. Is that even possible?
 
I still say male. There is almost no taper to speak of on the first picture you provided of the underside of the tail, and it looks exactly like the tails of my various male snakes.
 
Knowing my luck it probably is a male. I ordered a probe set and I'll practice once it gets here. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't buy her/ him as a breeder. While I'm at it I might as well sex everyone and pick out new names...
 
Do you have any confirmed adult females in your collection? That's how I confirmed the gender on 3 of my males. XD

I just plopped them in with her and out came sperm plugs and it was ride 'em cowboy. Vanay took the longest to mature sexually, but once he hit a full 2 years he was ALL over Tor and is hopefully the sire of her second clutch.
 
No I have a kingsnake who I'm 99% sure is a male. Not only did I see his hemipenis when he was near a female kingsnake. But this year he stopped eating for 3 months and is just now eating again. So pretty sure he is a male. But as far as corn snakes. I have one other corn and she came from a pet shop. So sex was unknown when I bought it. I purely guess female. I tried my hand at popping when she was a tiny worm and nothing came out so I guessed female. She is only a year old now.

The snake in question is now 2 and is rather large and grows very fast. I bought as a female but now I'm not sure based on scale count. She/he is on the cubby side. But I only feed 1 weenling every 7 days. I was feeding hoppers but the snake would be out less than 24 hours later looking for more. So we went to weenlings. Just seems to get fat easy.
 
Now I'm all curious about snakes I know are unknown and the ones who were bought as male or female. I can't wait to get my probe set in the mail. I'm gonna have some angry little snakes!

Currently I have 3 kingsnakes and 2 corn snakes. The kings should be fun!
 
No need to change the names, lol. I named Candice before I knew his sex. I figure nobody can tell by looking so... Also Nagini is a boy and apparently Nagini means female snake... ;)
Have fun learning to probe!
 
I'd recommend watching a few probbing videos if you haven't already. I refuse to probe or learn without someone present to assist me until I'm comfortable with it. I don't want to hurt any of my snakes.

I have a snake that was popped female as a hatchling, but refused males and females both. Though the tail made the original owner suspect it's a male (and I named it Bruce) it's never bred to either gender. He lives with as a pet and I assume he's a he. Doesn't matter either way really. :)
 
WingedSweetheart said:
Oh and I ordered a set of probes so I'll try again when they get here.
Click to expand...

Please learn more about probing, possibly even finding someone to show you how to do it properly in your community (?), I assume your intentions are to breed them one day and an injury now can

Em Wright said:
I'd recommend watching a few probbing videos if you haven't already. I refuse to probe or learn without someone present to assist me until I'm comfortable with it. I don't want to hurt any of my snakes.

I have a snake that was popped female as a hatchling, but refused males and females both. Though the tail made the original owner suspect it's a male (and I named it Bruce) it's never bred to either gender. He lives with as a pet and I assume he's a he. Doesn't matter either way really. :)
Click to expand...

Em, I have one of those also, an expensive one which probes one way but has no interest in dither gender, an awesome pet. Maybe one day they could meet each other? Sounds like a project.
 
Dave, nah I've retired the poor "ole boy". He's a Huddleston Miami with some nice possible hets, but I didn't get him to breed, I got him knowing full well he would be a pet. :)
 
Everyone out there knows my story, I think. But..this is an excellent time to retell it!
I had a snake that was given to me as a male. Had a male shaped tail. I never even considered the fact that Kelsey could be a female. I had a rack burn up, and temporarily stuck her with Sniper, my male bloodred. This was back in March 2005. I got my new rack and moved Kelsey back into it and life went on. The first week of July I went to feed him, and I thought to myself "Kelsey old boy you are getting chubby". Less than a week later "he" laid 13 eggs. I was really excited, and set them up in moss. A week later I noticed that Kelsey had a huge bulge next to her vent. I rushed her to the vet, and after 2 vet visits I ended up losing her anyway.
Only 3 of the 13 eggs hatched, but all the babies came out with her pattern, and one with her color. She was a striped amel, but could have been a fire. Not sure if I will ever know for sure.
<------- My avatar is Kato, one of her babies. I still have him.
 
I know it's silly. But I'm holding out hope that my snake is female and just has a abnormally long tail lol. I've had her for two years and it's going to be hard thinking of her as a him.
 
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