I’ve been able to successfully sex most of my clutch by popping. Though there are 2 pythons who do have very slight protrusions. Nothing near the obvious hemipenes observed on the other males.
Is it possible to have protrusions on a female? I’ve never seen it in any of my larger girls when sexing.
Yes. I was told scent glands but after this article unsure.
I sex right out of egg while they are well hydrated and almost pop themselves while I wash them. I look for the wider spaced and slightly curved in whitish structures I call “horns” in females but maybe those are what the article is talking about and the fine red tubes you sometimes see really are scent gland ducts.
If all else fails send a shed in for testing on the ones you aren’t sure of.
This is why I have a probe kit as a backup. Of course, I won’t probe a hatchling right out of the egg. I usually wait until they are about 100 grams if I’m unsure about the sex, and then probe them after one last popping session just to make sure.