I have had my ball python 'Earl' since 2008 we got him in september of 08 right at the age he was able to be sold. (Very young) We gave him the name Earl because of he got lose and we found him in the washing machine before we put the clothes in so it reminded me of the show 'My name is Earl' where the guy is always getting in accidents or in trouble but we never actually knew the gender. Is there anyway we can find out without probing? He is fully handleable so I can feel around if needed.
If you try to tell the gender of your snake by popping you can break its back. If you try by probing you can damage the internal structures. But that is if it is done by you. The most accurate way to tell if a snake is a boy or a girl is by probing. Where they stick a blunt metal needle into the vent area of the snake. They don't like it but if it is done by a professional it will not hurt the snake. The other way is by popping the snake. This is getting the males penis to come out of the vent opening. But this needs to be done at a young age. Like around the first month or two of life. After that the snake gets sufficient muscle control to prevent that from happening. But there is one other way. You can get the snake genetically tested. Where they take some saliva and run it thru a test to determine if it is a male or female. But this way is very expensive. I would just go with probing the snake.
Any experienced reptile vet can easily and harmlessly probe the snake for you. Here's a video on probing:
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com http://www.cornutopia.com/Corn% 20Utopia% ...
its best to let an expert to do it. Doing it the wrong way can harm your pet
Ask a herpetologist.
