Anyone else discover your snake isn’t who you thought they were? I had my very first one come up today, and boy am I flabbergasted!
Bought this stunning “gal” as a few month old hatchling. Was sold as a female, and I probed her the week after I got her. Female.
So two years later here I am, hoping to breed this stunning girl that’s around 1400g+ and bowl wrapping. Stuck a male in, and immediately saw them thrashing around.
So I checked again.
And lo and behold, I just have a big chunky boy that showed me his hemipenes when I probed him this time
Any one else have close calls due to false probing/popping?
I have heard of this happening, but never experienced it. Sorry to hear, and that now you have to change plans and a longer time frame. This would be such a downer and I would be bummed if it happened to me. But it would give me a reason to buy another one or 2,3,4.
Mis-sexed a hedgehog once and let the “boy” hang out too long with the brother…imagine our surprise when we heard the tiny little squeaks and opened the hide!
Had the same thing happen to me. I bought two siblings, the first because it was the only male available in the combo I wanted and the female because the pattern and look was so beautiful I couldn’t pass on it. I spent 4 years trying to get the female up to size. She kept going off feed, which should have been a clue. Finally got her up to 1500 grams and put her in with a male. The thrashing sounded like they were killing each other. When I opened the tub one came flying out. Put her with a female and she/he was locked in a half hour. The frustrating thing was I would have bought her as the male and could have used here a year in, if she had been correctly sexed. Also, as she wasn’t female everything I had planned for her was a bust.
That’s a bummer. Gorgeous snake, though. It is ashame that you have waited years and now have plans down the drain. I’m sorry you’ve had this happen.
I haven’t had it happen yet, to my knowledge. Came close last summer to doing it to somebody else, though. I look at tails, candle light-colored babies, but that’s for fun. I officially sex hatchlings by popping. (Older unproven animals get probed.) Males are marked as male with one viewing of hemipenes. Females are popped at least 3 times before they’re marked female. I recheck everybody when listing them for sale, and again before they go into a box for shipping. Last season, that final check revealed hemipenes on a “female.”
I purchased an adult “female” once only to discover it wasn’t a female after all. I took the sellers word for it and after quarantine I paired it to a male in my collection. It didn’t take long for the fireworks to start. They about tore the rack down fighting. I learned a lesson from that experience.
I just wanted to share this bit of experience that i had with a proven breeder female (proven by me as well as the male.) I put the male in her and she was just not feeling the male i put in. She immediatley started to beat the ever loving ■■■■ out of him. So just be aware that trashing does not always mean that your “girl is boy” she just may not be" feeling" him
I thought that could be why! When Minerva gets nervous, he’d corkscrew and squirm bad, so I thought it was maybe just the spider gene. Talked to a breeder friend and he mentioned to try sexing again, just in case, so I did. It’s been a wild experience with this snake
Believe me when i tell you, this has happened to me and just about half my entire collection …
I want to have girls because they get so much bigger! But apparently that’s not what Mother Gaia has in store for me… I’m a relatively new keeper. I just passed half a decade, and I don’t know how to pop my animals yet. I can’t probe them either. So when i buy an animal, it’s a vet visit to find out for sure, and that often doesn’t happen within reporting time, as I won’t take an animal straight from the shipping box to the vet. Anyway, lets go down the list, shall we?
My first snake, bumblebee bp José: sold to me as female, but i think i always knew. He wasn’t from a reputable place, being first snake and all, so not surprising. #2, MBK: also sold as girl. Now he’s 4 years old and he is tiny even for a boy. Definitely NOT a girl. #3: Dumerils Boa, found out in the reptile store as i was holding him. The owner probed him. #4: and easily the one that hurts the most, my IMG Boa. Leo. ( His name was supposed to be Cleopatra!) I was so stoked to have a girl… Negative. Lol, I love Leo, don’t get me wrong, he’s a wonderful animal with a great temperament. But IMG is probably one of the only morphs that i would want to work with if i started breeding. I wanted a female so i could grow her up to size first since males reach breeding size significantly quicker. Now I’ll have a really old male by the time I get a female big enough.
I bought a VPI as female and when I went to pair it I got my first experience with thrashing. I felt bad for giving the poor guy I put with “her” such a fright. Definitely a plan changer.
There is no excuse for this anymore with sex test available, sex should now be guaranteed. Even if the breeders chooses not to test there should be guarantees, especially with high priced animals. There are breeders who make mistakes, there are breeders who aren’t diligent, and there are breeders who knowingly sell males as females (and vice versa). Either way the consumer should be protected against this, it’s better for the hobby going forward imho. Breeders either get it together, or pay for the testing.
DNA sexing is still quite new, and not everyone knows about it or has the overhead to shell out for testing every animal they produce. That said, sex is guaranteed under the MM default store policy:
Seller guarantees the sex of the animal being delivered, unless clearly stated on the ad that the sex is unknown or not certain.
Temperature-sexed offspring are not guaranteed.
If Seller ships a wrongly-sexed animal as proven by the Buyer, they are responsible for FRR.
Claim Period is 7 days and Return Period is 1 week.
As you can see, there is a full refund and return if the buyer proves the animal was mis-sexed within the claim period. The issue is not all buyers read the default policy, nor do they immediately have the animal verified to be the gender it is. It’s the responsibility of both parties to make sure everything is right, not just the breeder.
I do agree, sex testing would be expensive. Especially with no bulk deals. There should be bulk deals, jmo. But that’s the cost of doing business. Breeders can put it into the price of the animal, or just guarantee that they didn’t make a mistake in sexing. Trust me it’s going to hurt my pocket as well, but if we go that route it brings in another level of trust with new and old keepers alike.
As far as the buyer immediately having the animal sexed. Well the word I’m going to focus on is immediately. Many new and old keepers just don’t know anyone who can sex a bp, and reptile vets are tough to find. To get the animal sexed by test will take longer than the claim period. Also many don’t know how to sex bps themselves. To put this on them just doesn’t sit right with me.
Bulk deals often don’t really help out smaller hobbyists who are only producing a handful of clutches per year, especially if it’s a species with a smaller clutch size. By specifying the sex of the animal in a listing, the breeder is already guaranteeing that they didn’t make a mistake. As for passing the pricing onto the customer, some already do, others just factor testing into production costs. That said, there is always a chance that the breeder or even the testing could be wrong.
This is where I think that MM does need to update the policy, and I actually agree with you on all except your last line, because no matter what the buyer will always have the responsibility to verify the animal received matches the visual and attributes of the animal they purchased, no matter technological advancements in testing.
I would love to see MM update the policy and/or add a feature where a buyer can perhaps be prompted to purchase a DNA test after they purchase an animal. Whereby if they do proper registration via MM/RGI, document the process of the first shed in the new home, and send in the sample in a timely manner, the results would be covered under the sex guarantee. I feel like that gives reasonable coverage to both parties.
or 2,3,4.
His name was supposed to be Cleopatra!) I was so stoked to have a girl… 
Negative. Lol, I love Leo, don’t get me wrong, he’s a wonderful animal with a great temperament. But IMG is probably one of the only morphs that i would want to work with if i started breeding. I wanted a female so i could grow her up to size first since males reach breeding size significantly quicker. 
Now I’ll have a really old male by the time I get a female big enough.