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sexing...

la testerosa

la testerosa

New member
hey, i'm new here, but i have a question. i've had snakes in the past. boa's. they get big, fast. and they're easy to sex. you can see the "claws" pretty easy by just a few months, in males. i now have two corn snakes. an oakeetee, and a red albino. i got the albino first, and thought he was a male. then the oakeetee so i could breed them. then upon looking again, i can't decide if they're both female or not! at what age can you easily see the "claws" to see if it's a male or female? and how else can i check it. i've heard of "popping", but i don't want to because i simply don't know how. is it something i can be talked through? or something i should be shown? someone please help before i bring one back!

marc
 
There is popping and probing. I personnaly have never popped before but, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone around you that has or that can probe. Why would you send one back?
 
sexing cont...

i can't find anyone locally that can sex my snakes. not even anyone at the pet store. i'm looking into going to a vet, but to pay $60 just to have them sexed seems not worth it when i KNOW that there is someone here than can do it.
i don't want to take either of them back. not in the least. but i want to breed them. and if i have two females, that's kinda hard. if i'm going to bring one back, i have to do it soon, because i just got one of them, and they won't take them back after too long. i'm just not sure what to do. so i can on for advice. i also thought i could house them togeather. it turns out that it's a bad idea. so, i'm not sure if i can have them both anyway. i don't think i have the room for two areas. my room is only so big. :)
so, again, any advice would be really appreciated.

marco
 
why would you bring back a snake you bought whom you want to breed? and if their the same sex you'll bring one back??? Why not keep it. or better yet once you have found out its true sex sell it. I would never give my snakes back to the pet store. well that MHO. I find it odd you have a 6 month and 3 month old snakes and you bought them to breed. Their not even of weight and age to breed yet. Breeding minimums I've heard is 300 grams. Well in weight. SO your snakes I'm guessing are no were near breeding weight to breed period. I'd say keep them, raise them both till their big enough, and if both are female...THEN, sell one. I've heard its much easier to sex our corns when they are older when you probe them. And if this is the case. I suggest wait.

So once again. All this is MHO and what I have heard.
 
Don't mean to be rude or anything but If you don't have room for 2 snakes with their appropriate vivs, how do you think you are going to breed them and properly house all of the resulting babies until they are sold? My advice would be to find a home for the second snake and concentrate on just the one until you have the proper room and equipment to breed them, if that is what you want to do.
 
hhmmm

i'm getting the third degree here. wow. i bought them to breed, yes. i know they're not ready yet. but i bought them at the same age, or similar, so i can breed them later. if i move, i'll have the two that i need. i won't have to find a mature one, of whatever sex i'm looking for to breed them. it's not necessarily easy to find where i live. well, i'm not finding it easy anyway. and i've been looking.
i do have room for them. both. i'm not into keeping them in a rack of tupperware boxes. i want them by a window. with a larger than needed viv. i'm particular with that. so, if i can't house them togeather, i need to change that fast. i'm not sure if i can set that up as fast as needed is all.
so, there are my reasons for possibly having to give one up. i'm not into it, i don't like it. but it's an option, maybe i just shouldn't have mentioned that part, and only asked about sexing. so, enough with comming down on me about my being choosy about what i want. please. i don't have the money, or the room, right now.

marco
 
1)I would seperate them into their own vivs asap. It's just better for the animal [And that is all I'm going to say about cohabitation!].

2) if you don't have the money to seperate them then why buy two? Just MHO.

3) If you ended up with 2 females then you can buy 1 more snake (male) & be set for double the trouble :D
 
males have longer tails that taper more gradually. females have shorter tales that taper rather quickly.

besides that, theres not much else you can do besides the conventional means. i reccomend getting it done by someone with experiance just so you can be sure its done correctly
 
i've thought about adding a male if these are both females. which would be fine. i'd have time enough to set that up. it'd take at least a year, maybe two, for these two to become ready anyway. i've seen snakes housed togeather before. i thought it was no prob. the people at the pet store told me it's ok, as long as they're fed seperate, and they seem to get along in the mean time. which they seem to. so, i'm not sure what to do. i have my ideas, but i'm not sure.
this has gone from a sexing issue, to an ethical issue. which i don't like. so, i'm sure i'll figure out what to do. it looks like i'm gonna keep them both. and find an adult male later, if need be. they have to be housed togeather for now. until i can get to the store and get another lamp and heat pad. i've only got one each. the oakeetee likes to stay in the warm area, and the albino in the cooler area anyway. so, they should be fine until tommorrow. when i get them situated, i'll post some pics.

marco
 
la testerosa, too bad you're thinking your getting the third degree...you asked for an opinion on what you should do and we thought we were helping. If you don't have the money to keep two snakes in separate vivs, regardless of sex, then you should only keep one snake since housing them together is really not encouraged. Too bad you had to find out you need to spend extra cash$$ after you got her/him.

Perhaps you can temporarily house one in a snakeproof plastic tupperware container and "share" the uth? My uth is not glued to anything (I kept the plastic on the sticky side) and it could be used to heat one half of two containers placed side/side.

As for sexing, if they have more corn snakes at the pet store, you may want to compare the tail widths/lenghts like snakessss mentioned. If you notice differences with your 2 and the ones at the store, then you may be able to determine the sex and if you need to trade one.
Don't give up, you are in the right place to get help about corn snakes! Good luck and keep us posted on your new "babes".
 
i think that u were giving the guy the third degree, i know that it is not very good for the snakes to be housed togther but if the tanks is fairly big it is fine for 2. and MALES have the shorter tales and the go from fat to small suddenly. Females have tails that slowing get skinnier (all info from corn snake manual) if u get a male and a female it would be better to house them seperatly until they are ready to mait.
 
I'd like to see a pic of your okeetee. Where did you get her/him from?

heeey..you don't want to keep it anyway...it's far to moist in BC for an Okeetee.. ;-)

he/she should be living in Alberta..like with me! :crazy02:

Kathy
 
Spike12,

I do not know what version you have of the Corn Snake Manual, but mine says:

Males' tails run thicker for the first couple inches just past the vent, whereas females' tail-bases taper quickly, starting right past that point.
Click to expand...

I house in mine big terrarium (36x36x48Inch) 3 females together whitout any problems. Also in smaller terrariums (24x24x28Inch) I keep 2 males or females together.
Only if they are of a different sex you should keep them apart.
This is something I also did not know in the beginning and got 7 eggs from a one year old female, which was at that time only 160 Gram. She was in the big terrarium and had luckily enough exercise all the time to be ready to push out all the eggs.

Rob.
 
Spike12 said:
i think that u were giving the guy the third degree, i know that it is not very good for the snakes to be housed togther but if the tanks is fairly big it is fine for 2. and MALES have the shorter tales and the go from fat to small suddenly. Females have tails that slowing get skinnier (all info from corn snake manual) if u get a male and a female it would be better to house them seperatly until they are ready to mait.
Click to expand...

Just about everything you've written in this post is incorrect. I don't mean to flame, but you really should know what you're talking about before you offer advice and attempt to correct other keepers' statements. :rolleyes:
 
Personally, if you want to keep the snakes together (I'm not getting into a fight I promise)...

PLEASE get them sexed by the vet or qualified herper because it would be horrible to have a surprise that they are male & female & wanted to breed to early.

Just my .02 :D
 
In terms of sexing juvenile corns - tail shape is not at all reliable for babies under 6 months. It is often hard to be sure based on tail shape even with proven adults.

The usual method is popping, in which pressure is put on the base of the tail to evert the hemipenes in males. This should be done by someone with experience or tissues can be damaged. It is also not very accurate if the person doing it isn't experienced or doesn't know how to do it correctly - most often males do not 'pop' out because the technique is wrong and you have a male that you beleive is a female.

Probing is possible on youngsters and is more accurate than popping, but requires a lot of experience. Unfortunately, assuming that you have 2 females and can buy a male later (given Murphy's law!!) is the least likely to happen - they are likely both males - the vast majority of corns I see in pet stores seem to be the males -

The best solution is to have an experienced breeder sex these for you by popping, but there are not a lot of Canadians, or many from your area, on this forum. There is a breeder in Mission B.C. who might be able to help (usually a small fee) - you can pm me for further info if you wish - not sure exactly where you are located,

mary v.
 
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