# what sex is this Honduran Milk Snake.



## snakes and lizards (Jul 19, 2009)




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## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

With most snakes it is impossible to tell from an image, you'd need to get the snake probed.


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

If it’s mouth is usually slightly open then it’s most probably a female ..

Sorry , couldn’t resist it 


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## snakes and lizards (Jul 19, 2009)

LiasisUK said:


> With most snakes it is impossible to tell from an image, you'd need to get the snake probed.


Yep ill it probed, just longer tails are male's.
Thank you.


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## snakes and lizards (Jul 19, 2009)

Zincubus said:


> If it’s mouth is usually slightly open then it’s most probably a female ..
> 
> Sorry , couldn’t resist it
> 
> ...


Thank you.


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## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

snakes and lizards said:


> Yep ill it probed, just longer tails are male's.
> Thank you.


Not always.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

There's another way to tell. If the base of the tail tapers sharply behind the vent, its female. If it stays parallel for several scales past the vent, then tapers gradually towards the tip, it's male.


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## snakes and lizards (Jul 19, 2009)

wilkinss77 said:


> There's another way to tell. If the base of the tail tapers sharply behind the vent, its female. If it stays parallel for several scales past the vent, then tapers gradually towards the tip, it's male.


Thank you i think i have a male but i get it probed.


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## Malum Argenteum (5 mo ago)

Once a person is past the casual keeper stage of the hobby, I think learning how to probe snakes is in order. 

The most conservative recommendation on this is to get in touch with an experienced keeper or a vet who will show you how, but I think people with a decent amount of herp keeping experience should be able to teach themselves from learning the relevant anatomy from photos and text and then watching a couple videos.


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## Swindinian (May 4, 2020)

Malum Argenteum said:


> Once a person is past the casual keeper stage of the hobby, I think learning how to probe snakes is in order.
> 
> The most conservative recommendation on this is to get in touch with an experienced keeper or a vet who will show you how, but I think people with a decent amount of herp keeping experience should be able to teach themselves from learning the relevant anatomy from photos and text and then watching a couple videos.


😳 I have a probe kit but would be too worried about rupturing a female in pursuit of checking for a male.

Though I have only witnessed probing twice (apart from YouTube videos).
I have also seen a few people popping hemipenes, and wondering if they were putting too much pressure on the vertebrae.
It’ll be way more experiences before I commence snake probing.


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## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

Swindinian said:


> 😳 I have a probe kit but would be too worried about rupturing a female in pursuit of checking for a male.
> 
> Though I have only witnessed probing twice (apart from YouTube videos).
> I have also seen a few people popping hemipenes, and wondering if they were putting too much pressure on the vertebrae.
> It’ll be way more experiences before I commence snake probing.


The key is to use plenty of lubricant, very little pressure, go slowly and gently twirl the probe between your fingers. If you feel resistance at a depth of just a few scales, you've got a female. As soon as you feel resistance, stop.


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## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

You have to probe them very hard to hurt them, the only way to learn is to do it. I saw someone probe once or twice and then bought some probes and tried it, there's not really any other way to learn. 

Though I know a lot of experienced keepers who can probe but just don't like doing it as it makes them uncomfortable. I am the 'prober' among my friends haha, I often get enlisted to check genders on animals. 

Popping only really works for tiny baby snakes in my opinion, you have to push really hard with adults to pop them and that concerns me more than with babies. Often babies will relax their cloaca to piss/musk/shit on you anyway when you hold them so it's not that big of a deal. 

The main issue with probing is that a lot of species differ in depths, so you get some species where the female will probe as deep as a male of a different species. I have probed a lot of species now but I often struggle to remember the depths for all of them, especially ones that I don't breed myself, so it helps actually helps to have a group of animals to probe so you can compare different animals. Certain species the males and females probe very similarly, particularly some musky colubrids.


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