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Anybody candle sex their corns?

Tavia

Tavia

Elemental Exotics
I'm planning on breeding in the next 3 or 4 years. So far that I've been able to find the closest person who can pop a snake around here is 2 1/2 hours away in another state. I don't want to attempt to try myself without seeing it done first. I know Kathy Love has a video of it on her site, but my computer doesn't show videos. Since I was thinking of getting a pale morph for my breeding pair I was thinking candling could work. I'm planning on selling any babies as "pets" & don't really need to know for sure what they are, having a fair idea is better than the pet stores. Any comments would be great. Thanks
 
Tavia said:
I'm planning on breeding in the next 3 or 4 years. So far that I've been able to find the closest person who can pop a snake around here is 2 1/2 hours away in another state. I don't want to attempt to try myself without seeing it done first. I know Kathy Love has a video of it on her site, but my computer doesn't show videos. Since I was thinking of getting a pale morph for my breeding pair I was thinking candling could work. I'm planning on selling any babies as "pets" & don't really need to know for sure what they are, having a fair idea is better than the pet stores. Any comments would be great. Thanks
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Excellent question. I'd like to hear answers on this, too.
 
I have tried it with the light ghosts but I do like to confirm it by popping. It wouldn't work on a dark pigmented snake...
 
At the IN Expo in Nov, Terri (crackerhead) showed a few of us how to sex them with a bright light, which I would assume is the same thing sans the potential for burning your snakes tail off! I had to come home and do it again several times on my males. I *think* she said this only works for hatchlings or very juvenile snakes, tho. And definitely not on dark snakes as Jen mentioned.
 
LBoz said:
At the IN Expo in Nov, Terri (crackerhead) showed a few of us how to sex them with a bright light, which I would assume is the same thing sans the potential for burning your snakes tail off! I had to come home and do it again several times on my males. I *think* she said this only works for hatchlings or very juvenile snakes, tho. And definitely not on dark snakes as Jen mentioned.
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Yeah, I was thinking of candling more as a term.
I used to use a bright flashlight to examine snake, turtle, and lizard eggs, way back when.
So, Lori, do you think you can accurately do it now? To said juveniles, and/or lightly colored older snakes?
What do you see,...just extra stuff in the area...as opposed to females, and no stuff, in the area...???
 
If the candle is small and the snake is large, you can insert the candle at the cloaca and gently slide it toward the tail. If the snake is a male, the candle will actually travel inside of the hemipene to a depth of several (7to10) sub caudal scales. On a female the candle will only penetrate 2 or 3 scales.

This is a not often used method. I was surprised to see it mentioned here, as candling is not used with snakes as often as it is with dinosaurs.
 
LBoz said:
At the IN Expo in Nov, Terri (crackerhead) showed a few of us how to sex them with a bright light, which I would assume is the same thing sans the potential for burning your snakes tail off! I had to come home and do it again several times on my males. I *think* she said this only works for hatchlings or very juvenile snakes, tho. And definitely not on dark snakes as Jen mentioned.
Click to expand...

wade said:
If the candle is small and the snake is large, you can insert the candle at the cloaca and gently slide it toward the tail. If the snake is a male, the candle will actually travel inside of the hemipene to a depth of several (7to10) sub caudal scales. On a female the candle will only penetrate 2 or 3 scales.

This is a not often used method. I was surprised to see it mentioned here, as candling is not used with snakes as often as it is with dinosaurs.
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Lori, I think we should start off the new year by anesthitizing and immobilizing Wade, and then give him a good candling at every orifice.
Since you are a Registered Nurse and I am also a Medical Technologist, I think we would be the appropriate individuals to conduct the procedure.
He is at that age that a regular candling is indicated, and I think it would allow him to start off his new year a healthy and perky friend, father, and snake-keeper.
 
I did mean candling as a term, will probably use a small flash light. Mainly I wanted to know if it will work on baby ghost or lavender corns. I'm pretty firm right now about geting a pair of ghosts, but I'm still considering lavender, or maybe something else. I won't be able to buy them until about the middle of '09, so have awhile to think about it.
 
You can use a flashlight but it will need to be a much bigger snake.

Actually, you simply need to learn to probe snakes. It is not that hard of a process and is the only surefire way to determine sex. If you are buying babies in ’09 you won’t be breeding for 3 years. That gives you plenty of time to learn the process. Sometime in the next three years you will find yourself in Utah and I will personally teach you how to do it.


vetusvates said:
Lori, I think we should start off the new year by anesthitizing and immobilizing Wade, and then give him a good candling at every orifice.
Since you are a Registered Nurse and I am also a Medical Technologist, I think we would be the appropriate individuals to conduct the procedure.
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I will PM my phone number to you and we can make arrangements for the time and place. Boy are you trying to scare the wrong guy. Wait until I tell She Who Must Be Obeyed!!
 
Oh, and sorry for the confusion regarding "candling." I was thinking of the old time methods for ears. I didn't realize that it was a common term for sexing with a light.
 
LBoz said:
Oh, and sorry for the confusion regarding "candling." I was thinking of the old time methods for ears. I didn't realize that it was a common term for sexing with a light.
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I think, historically, people used it to determine if chicken eggs were fertile and alive. I used to do it with snake/lizard/turtle eggs in a totally dark room with a bright (single-bulbed) flashlight. You could even see the embryonic heart beating, and later the little critter (snake or lizard) wriggling around inside.
Since you will be gloved-up with the candles, flashlights, probe kit, etc.---I will be in charge of keeping Wade's wriggling to a minimum.
 
This ones for Wade. I found some info on a show in Salt Lake, do you know if they have it once a year? Or more often? The last one was in September. I do have some phone numbers for some of the sponsors so if you don't know I can still give them a call. Think some of the breeders there would be willing to show me how to pop/probe a snake? Thanks everybody for your replies! I got a laugh or two out of it as well. ;~)
 
The show in SLC is every year. The guy who puts the show on is Guy Verslusis. He owns Envy Reptiles and can answer any questons. I can too for that matter. Yes there will be many venders there who would show you how to pop/probe a snake. If you are really into snakes you wouldn't want to miss the show anyway. Let me know if I can answer any more questions.
 
Is it really feasible to probe a hatchling? I've always worried that the probe would either be too big, or thin enough to easily puncture something... popping seems much easier, and fairly reliable.
 
I probe hatchling Ball Pythons, but I would never consider probing a hatchling Cornsnake. Popping is the way to go with hatchling Cornsnakes. I find the popping process much easier to do then probing in the first place.
 
Wade, is the next SLC show going to be in September too? Are they always on the weekend? I've got family that live around there I could stay with. If it's on the weekend I won't even have to miss work! I'll certainly be at that show, maybe we'll see you there!
 
As far as I know the next show will be in Sept. Yes they are always on a Saturday and Sunday. I will be at the show and may be a vender. Another person who is here on CS.com often is Tonya, of Snake Creations. She may be a vender there as well.
 
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