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No this is not an April Fool's Day joke. And the more correct way to put it is that I need gender advice. Is this animal male or female? As Ned Flanders
would say, "This is a dilly of a pickle." So I'm hoping that I can get some feedback/advice.
The animal in question was recently acquired on breeding loan. It is 7 1/2 years old currently weighing 1010 grams and it suffered a prolapse about 1 1/2 years ago that required surgery to repair. At the time of the surgery there was some necrotic tissue that had to be removed. The vet who performed the surgery is said to have been well experienced with reptiles and confirmed to the owner that the animal was 100% female.
Prior to acquiring "her" this past week, "she" was on loan to another mvf member who attempted to breed "her" with a snake from his collection. Things did not go as planned as "she" attacked the potential mate leaving him, well, not as good as he once was. When I picked "her" up last week, we probed "her", which to my understanding had not been done previously since the owner believed the snake to be female based on the vet's information. "She" probed 6 on both sides. Today, "she" was probed again by another mvf'er with more probing experience and he got the identical results; 6 on both sides.
Evidence for being female:
1. The vet who performed the surgery said the animal was female
2. Despite being thermally cycled (into the low 70's) the snake has never gone off feed
3. It's behavior as observed by the owner has always been female-ish
Evidence for being male:
1. This snake has huge spurs (see pic below)
2. It attacked a male when paired up with it
3. It probed 6 on both sides by two different people
I'm not sure how closely the owner has observed past sheds for evidence of sperm plugs so that might be something to look for. What would be the best "trial by error" way of determining gender? Pair her/him up with another male and see what happens? Pair him/her up with another female and see what happens. From what I've heard and read, two females are less likely to attack each other than are two males, so perhaps pairing it up with another female would be the way to go. I'm really looking forward to hearing from some of you as to what you think.
Thanks
Spurs on animal in question.
The animal in question was recently acquired on breeding loan. It is 7 1/2 years old currently weighing 1010 grams and it suffered a prolapse about 1 1/2 years ago that required surgery to repair. At the time of the surgery there was some necrotic tissue that had to be removed. The vet who performed the surgery is said to have been well experienced with reptiles and confirmed to the owner that the animal was 100% female.
Prior to acquiring "her" this past week, "she" was on loan to another mvf member who attempted to breed "her" with a snake from his collection. Things did not go as planned as "she" attacked the potential mate leaving him, well, not as good as he once was. When I picked "her" up last week, we probed "her", which to my understanding had not been done previously since the owner believed the snake to be female based on the vet's information. "She" probed 6 on both sides. Today, "she" was probed again by another mvf'er with more probing experience and he got the identical results; 6 on both sides.
Evidence for being female:
1. The vet who performed the surgery said the animal was female
2. Despite being thermally cycled (into the low 70's) the snake has never gone off feed
3. It's behavior as observed by the owner has always been female-ish
Evidence for being male:
1. This snake has huge spurs (see pic below)
2. It attacked a male when paired up with it
3. It probed 6 on both sides by two different people
I'm not sure how closely the owner has observed past sheds for evidence of sperm plugs so that might be something to look for. What would be the best "trial by error" way of determining gender? Pair her/him up with another male and see what happens? Pair him/her up with another female and see what happens. From what I've heard and read, two females are less likely to attack each other than are two males, so perhaps pairing it up with another female would be the way to go. I'm really looking forward to hearing from some of you as to what you think.
Thanks
Spurs on animal in question.
