Sexing Ball Pythons

Hello!
I’m new to this forum and to ball pythons in general, but I recently got my first python! She’s been a blast and makes me want to get a few more (and start getting into the crazy genetic side of the hobby).
I just wanted to know if any of you know good ways to sex the pythons. I got mine from a humane society, who said that she was female, but I’m not sure how they checked, or if they were just going off what the original owner said. I’ll post pictures if that will help, but I wasn’t sure what would be the most helpful position to put her in.
Thanks for your time!

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You need to get your Royal probed or popped to check the sex. Either by a breeder of them if they’re happy to help you, or a reptile vet :relaxed:

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Okay thank you! Are those typically pricey procedures?

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Often a breeder will do it for free just to help and show you how to do it.

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Unfortunately, until you are experienced enough to do it safely yourself, those are the only options.
Thats other than seeing behaviour at breeding time when you put them together.

Edit: on reflection, I started with popping but only new borns as its easier with them as they have less muscular control, I left probing till I was much more experienced.

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Opps. Just noticed your new to our forum.
Hi and welcome :slight_smile:

Hi and welcome.

I haven’t tried probing, however I have heard of horror stories. So I won’t try it. We pop ours, we got a couple of breeders to show us, it is simple but must be done with care.

Do you want to know the sex of your current snake or future ones? Either way, if your collecting a snake a breeder might be willing to help.

Depending on where you are, reptile shops (with experience) might help too.

There are a lot of YouTube videos however I’d still encourage to be shown how to do it before trying yourself.

Not sure if it will cost much but as long as your comfortable with popping then you won’t have to pay out for every snake.

I wasn’t sure if there was a risk of injury if I tried breeding her and she ended up being male. If that is a safe way to do it then I will probably just stuck with that, as I’d like to breed her anyway, but if there’s a fair chance she could be hurt/stressed/traumatized then I may look into getting her checked.

Yes, I briefly googled the terms and they seem a bit testy to try, but I am interesting in both breeding her and simply finding out.
Thanks for your reply (and yours, @ascended )

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Sometimes people get popping and/or probing wrong so that’s a risk anyway, so Its best to observe their behaviour when you first put them together.
There are some videos on youtube that show male female + behaviour and describe male Plus Male behaviour from when they have got it wrong.

Since she’s a rescue with unknown background, genetics and health history, I’d reccomend keeping her back as a pet, and instead starting a breeding venture with a good base of healthy stock from reputable breeders. Just because you have an animal and enjoy them doesn’t always mean it’s advisable to breed that animal, and in many cases it’s much better not to. Since you’re relatively new to ball pythons, she’s a great introduction to the hobby and can help you learn to perfect your husbandry, learn skills such as sexing and get familiar and comfortable with their needs and handling.

Then, when you decide you’re ready to start breeding, you can figure out what traits and projects you want to work with and invest in some quality breeding stock to get started with.

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Also, you would need to familiarise yourself with sexing ball pythons if you plan to sell any. Or pay for someone else to do it.

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