How do you prefer to sex you baby boas?....

[Sojourn]

.....And how did you learn to do it? Before now, we would take our newly acquired boas to our super vet, who was always very accurate with his probing. Now we live more than 500 miles from him, and with all our new babies, I feel I am at a point where I should definitely learn to do it for myself.

Any and all responses are greatly appreciated..... :'(

[ash]

I have a set of probes ,and a book that tell's how to do it ,you are welcome to use ,,, >:(,,JEFF

[Randy_T.]

I have always popped them when very small personally. (I haven't had to do it to very many boas, most neos I have had to sex were pythons)

I learned the popping technique from a couple more experienced herping friends of mine (one was the co owner of the petshop I helped operate/own, the other was a former VPI employee whom I didn't know at the time was extremely knowledgable about that sort of thing.


If you decide to go with learning how to pop try and get someone to show you in person who has alot of experience. (it is fairly easy but takes a delicate hand)

I would suggest using a set of probes.

Good luck.

[RTBoas]

Don't think probing a baby boa is the hot tip?

Of course I have limited knowledge with this topic.

I learned from the man himself, Jeff in his video.

Popping does the trick.

[ratman]

I also learned from Jeff's video. It isn't difficult. You just have to be gentle! :'(

[Jon-e-Boy]

I wouldn't trust popping. Obviously it is easy to tell if it is a male, but very difficult to prove it isn't. Probing is a definitely a tool that needs to be used in boa breeding in my opinion.

Jon

[kryolla]

I probe both sides just to be sure. Gonna do it next weekend. How are the babies doing?

[Sojourn]

I will defintely invest in some probes, and the knowledge of how to use them correctly.

Another way to sex boas that has peaked my interest is spur morphology. There is a definite difference between a male's, and a female's spurs. Not that males have spurs, and females don't. Every female I have ever seen definitely had spurs. Many were much smaller than most male spurs and somewhat recessed in, but other than that, there is a difference in physical appearance. A male spur is curved and best descibed as a claw, very similar to that of a cat's claw, and are almost always visible and more pronounced than a female spur. A female spur is conical, still sharp at the tip, but not very clawlike at all, and generally just point down.

With babies it can be difficult to see without some sort of magnification device, but this is definitely an accurate way to sex adults, and is, in my opinion, by far the least invasive way to sex any boa.

The babies are doing great! Some have had their second shed, and the rest are darkening up working towards a shed. All have wicked appetites, and all but two are readily feeding on frozen thawed pinkie rats. The two seem to have a preference for very small live hoppers.

Thanks everyone for your replies!!!Here is a pic of one of our kids for your viewing pleasure....... :'(

Jesse Van Atta

http://img37.photobucket.com/albums/v114/Sojourn/ohypos/ohypo14d.jpg

[Panama_Red]

It is realy easy to tell them apart by the spurs/ length of tail when you have the litter there in front of you. Of course you have to be 100% positive when selling them so back that up with poping or probing, or both. But it's always fun to take a geuss before hand by looking. I'm still waiting to hear the sex on the reverse striper..

[ratman]

Well that is a pleasure to view! Very nice pink! :'(

[Sojourn]

Ed, I am 99.9% certain that the reverse striper is a male.... cwm13.gif

It literally has the largest, most prominant spurs from the litter. Their shape is very clawlike, and are not recessed in at all, which to me are other indicators. And I can certainly feel the two little "bumps" when sliding the thumb and forefinger down the length of its tail past the vent, which I also believe is a very accurate way to check as well.

Before any are sold I will back this up with probing, but most likely not popping. Thanks again all for your input and opinions.

Jesse