Males, Females and spurs

[sawdaddy]

I got a boa last week that was suppose to be a female. When I took her out to look her over, I noticed that her spurs were spread out to far that they literally looked like little legs (sounds like a tongue twister). The boa is about 4 ft long and the spurs with the "leg" attached to it is about 1/4" long. None of my current females really show much as far as spurs. In fact, none of my males have spurs that big so this made me wonder if I actually have a male. Tail shape looks like male, spurs look like male, but it doesn't probe as a male. I could try probing again but don't want to hurt him/her. Is it common for the females to have such large spurs?

[kasper22]

I've heard of females with big spurs, but i've never seen one. If it was sold to you as a female and you probed her as a female then I would say its a female until it doesn't work for breeding

[sawdaddy]

Now how about this. If I assume it's a male, then he's about ready to breed (2yrs old - 4ft). I don't really want to beef him up to breeding female size if he turns out to be a male. I was thinking of puting him in a cage with a ready to breed female just to see what happens. I'm thinkin' that if it is a male perhaps he may start "courting". I know if he/she doesn't do anything that it could either be a female or an uninterested male. Not sure. The spurs just really surprised me. My arm actually gets scratched just by holding him/her.

Thanks for the feedback. If I get a chance I'll zap a photo.

[kasper22]

That's a good idea, I did that with one of mine. She had babies today so I guess I can say she is a female for sure now :'(

[sawdaddy]

Yeah. I suppose at that point it's pretty easy to tell.

[Killer]

Wouldn't you want to quarantine the boa first before putting them in with your collection???

Killer Ken

[sawdaddy]

Of course! I'm not gonna just throw it in with another just to find out right away. I'm in no hurry, just planning ahead. Safety ALWAYS comes first with my babies.