SEX! (ing) -Popping Ball Pythons-

ALRIGHTY!

I finally got the photos to a place where I want to share, and although I need a manicure, I think it is finally time to touch on sexing again.

Popping Ball Pythons 101

Are you ready?

YEAH, baby.

So for the sake of exposure, and for the need to allow the snakes to not just be exposed for their private parts, I have included an introductory photo of who I was popping at the time.

Exhibit A: Pewter het Red Axanthic..

For those of you who follow the blog, you know what sex this animal is.

But for the sake of arguement, let's pretend we don't know right now.

Here we have some private parts, aka junk being popped out.

Note the red nubbins popping out of both sides. They are RED.

This is an immature male.

Exhibit B: Cinnamon (het Pied)

Such a pretty critter. I really like this one. Almost a solid stripe... Kept it back for a reason. I hope that some of its babies are similar in scope.

Anyway I digress.

Note the purpley-er (yes, it is a word today) penes, darker in color and more pronounced. In a fully mature male, these will extend completely out, and taper out into a flower-like structure at the ends.

This is again an immature male, but nearing maturity, if not already developing slight plugs.

That white stuff is not plugs. It was urates.

Exhibit C: Pastel Mojave

I love this creature. The colors are amazing the older it gets. 

Makes me want to hold back a few more...

Note the lack of red.. There is pink, there are nubbins, but nothing blood colored, and nothing protuding out very far at all.

This is a subadult female.

Exhibit D: Super Pewter

LOVE this morph. End of story.

Note the lack of blood red, and the nubbins. Females have nubbins, just not very big ones. They are called hemipenal homologues, which means in lamens terms: Fake Non-Functional what would have been a Penis Copies that didn't quite pan out.

Side note: The Clitoris in females is a Penile Homologue in humans.

So, after that massive dose of almost inappropriate information, we return to the topic at hand.

Females will have bumps, but they will NOT be deep red (unless you are pressing WAAYYY too hard), and they will not extend very far at all.

You can also see a casting of something over the vent. That is NOT a sperm plug. It is just a dirt casting, similar to smegma in humans. So... Snake Smegma. Gross.

Do not be fooled. Sperm plugs look like nuns hats. Really.

Well... Mostly.

Top right is a proven breeder adult male sperm plug.
Bottom right and left are developing males that have yet to prove out.

So you can see the possible confusion over a basic casting of a female... So be careful.

There you go, my friends. I hope you learned a lot. I hope this was worth the wait.

Anything else you want to see? Shoot me a note/e-mail/comment and I WILL get to it, I swear. I do read them every day.

Have a great weekend, my friends.