Other ways to sex large retics

[Keith Basiliko]

Hey guys I know this is going to sound stupid but I just got a 17ft retic that is suppose to be a female but I want to make sure before I breed her since I know males can fight with each other so what ways can I double check? I checked the tail length that seems fine I have not learned to probe so I dont want to do that I checked the spurs there are no visible ones and when you pull the scales back a little there are tiny barely there ones which I think means female also are there any other ways you can recommend you can reply here or email me directly @ disturbedreptile@aol.com thanks Keith

[Rbraczyk]

Probing is the only way to be sure, and do be careful.

[snakeman55]

Probing is the only way to be sure, and do be careful.

Exactly. It is most likely a female at that size, but you obviously want to make sure. I would find a buddy that knows how to do it and get another friend or 2 to help and just probe. Believe it or not, they don't usually go crazy when you do it. It's more that they're not crazy about you grabbing their tail. Good luck with it.

[Hennek]

I'm not sure if reproductive tissue can be seen with an x-ray or ultrasound or not, but they might be a less invasive possibility. Just throwing it out there.

[Jim G.]

I too agree that probing is the only method I would trust. A 17' male would be a big one, but they are known to grow larger. My largest male is just over 15' and he is 6 years old.

Jim

[Tom C]

Actually, there are a few breeders that would disagree that probing adult retics is a guarantee.Introducing a proven Male is probably the easiest if your dealing w/ adults.

Tom C

[Jim G.]

Actually, there are a few breeders that would disagree that probing adult retics is a guarantee.Introducing a proven Male is probably the easiest if your dealing w/ adults.

Tom C
Yes, but who in their right mind would take a chance placing a proven male in with another possible male? I would go with probing.

Jim

[snakeman55]

Yes, but who in their right mind would take a chance placing a proven male in with another possible male? I would go with probing.

Jim

I agree.

[Tom C]

Yes, but who in their right mind would take a chance placing a proven male in with another possible male?

So the moral of the story is..."We have alot of mindless breeders"...:D;)

Tom C

[gbo]

take a proven or known male out of their enclosure put them in a container then introduce suspect male into the others cage. youll know in seconds if its a male or female!

[gbo]

worked for me a couple times and no bloodloss!lol

[Tom C]

I agree gbo. Its observable in a matter of seconds and you remove the other retic.I dont know how long it takes to get a bad fight going on, because i have never had two males together for more than a minute or so.

Tom C

[snakeman55]

That is a good method Gavin, but not everyone has an established adult male. It's an excellent point though.

[PadraigC]

yea, thats a great method but, be prepared to breakup a brawl quickly. In my experience Ive never seen bitting(except towards me) towards each other. But the coil throwing and tangling is the worst. One time I got tangled between a sliver male and a sula male. SUla male @8ft the silver at 12 they tangled and while I wwas untagling the silver the sula decided "Who dares break this up" and lunged at my face stopping 6 inches before my nose, man o man would my face would of been red

[nephrurus]

Actually, there are a few breeders that would disagree that probing adult retics is a guarantee.Introducing a proven Male is probably the easiest if your dealing w/ adults.

Yes very easy, it takes less than a minute to figure out the sex if your using a mature known male. It takes a couple minutes before they do much, there is smelling, arching, pushing, shoving, and "running" (snake running) You see an arch, pull him out.

[Keith Basiliko]

So I took your guys advice and put the proven male with the retic and the proven male started arching his back and smelling the suspect one also the proven one was spurring like during courting so what does this mean then they didnt attack each other the suspect coiled with the proven but never hurt the other one so is this a female playing hard to get or what? Also suspect opened her cloaca like a normal female getting excited didnt see any hemipenes so Im really lost with this one to add to the confusion after they did all this for about 2 hours they seperated to there own corners and also there was small blood trails like some times after they lock up and seperate I checked to see if anybody was hurt but they were not so let me know what you guys think thanks

[snakeman55]

Last season we put our now proven Albino male in with our now proven female Jampea. The Jamp had probed an 'in between' depth so I wasn't sure. We put them together and they both acted pretty aggitated. I thought for sure they were both males and was totally pissed. They later made sweet, sweet love and the rest is history.

My point is there are almost no absolutes...

[nephrurus]

As stated the male wil be arching and shoving stuff around, a non receptive female will be wagging her tail, peeing, musking the cage and the male......generally being an unatractive bit*h.