How to Sex Every Animal-Edition V-Snakes!

These Techniques may be applicable to Boas, Pythons, and Colubrids-Sex determination for snakes can vary somewhat depending on the species and taxa. Some species can be sexually dimorphic in size, with females being larger or heavier bodied than males. Males can also sometimes have comparatively longer and more gradually tapered tails than females with slight hemipenial or cloacal bulges, while females, by comparison, may have comparatively shorter, more rapidly tapered tails. This technique however, also has the highest margin of error, and is often not always a reliable means when relied upon in of itself.

-“Popping” is a technique which relies upon the careful and gentle manipulation of a snake’s cloacal or ventral scale to evert the presence of hemipenes (to determine males), or the absence of hemipenes (to determine females). Popping is a technique which requires some previous experience in order to be performed accurately and to prevent potential injury to the snake. This technique should be best performed by a veterinarian or other experienced reptile keeper or breeder. Popping, however, is not always the most preferred technique, however, when it comes to large pythons and boas, or other large, heavy-bodied, or muscular snakes.

*Figure 1. Example of the “Popping” sexing technique for Snakes showing the hemipenes at the vent in males, or absent in females. Credited to Brian Gundy.

-“Probing” is the other common technique used to determine sex of snakes, although this method may not always be suitable for sexing young, neonate, or hatchling snakes. This technique requires careful and previous experience, which should only be performed by a veterinarian or other experienced reptile keeper or breeder to prevent the possibility of injuring the snake and to gain an accurate reading. This technique involves using a lubricated, stainless steel rod (such as those available in commercially available probing kits) of appropriate size and length to be inserted into the snake’s sub-caudal scale pockets (located on the underside of the snake’s tail). The distance in which the probe can be inserted slowly and deliberately into these sub-caudal pockets while counting the number of sub-caudal scales is the main idea behind this method. Exact sub-caudal counts can vary somewhat depending on the species, although generally, females only have shallow, scent gland pockets consisting of only one to three sub-caudal scales, while males have much deeper hemipenial pockets consisting of at least three or more sub-caudal scale rows. It is very important to never force a sexing probe further than it can be gently inserted, or else doing so can cause internal damage to the snake.

*Figure 2. Example of the “Probing” sexing technique in Snakes using a probe to show the depth of the hemipene pockets and sub-caudal scales of male (top) and female (bottom). Credited to Cornsnake.co.uk.

 -Some groups of snakes, most notably the boas and pythons, or boids, also possess some other sexual characteristics. These are most notably the presence of vestigial cloacal spurs near their ventral scale and tail, along with internal remnants of a pelvic girdle. The size and length of these spurs can sometimes be used to determine the sexes somewhat, as males generally may have longer and more prominent spurs, although females can also have prominent spurs as well. Some of these other methods can be used in lieu of when a snake may be too large to be able to perform “popping” or “probing” upon. Parthenogenesis has also been documented in some species, although it remains to be common in snakes.

-Venomous Species, or “Hots”-Sexing methods and techniques, for the most part, are similar between venomous and non-venomous species of snakes, with the only major difference being venomous species must be safely and properly tubed or otherwise restrained prior to sexing to prevent an envenomation.

*Figure 3. The vestigial, or pelvic spurs near the vent in boas and pythons, or boids. Credited to Reptile.Guide.